The Miami Marlins have been pilloried for their proposed trade that would send, well, everyone who makes money to Toronto for 7 players, including some youthful talent and high ranking prospects. The Marlins have done this before, blowing up their team, usually after a championship, but never a season after opening a taxpayer funded stadium and signing mega deals to many of the traded players. Jeff Loria, the owner of the team, is a renowned cheapskate, and this smacks of penny pinching, not to mention a terrible bait and switch on the city of Miami.
A point has been made, a legitimate point, I think, that if this were any other team, in any other situation (in terms of stadium and history, anyways) some people might even say that this was a good trade from the Marlins perspective. They were a 93 loss team last year that had fired their manager, was aging and play in a division with at least 3 teams that are world series contenders. The Boston Red Sox were in this situation this year, throwing good money at bad, and they were able to unload their big money, free agent contracts on Los Angeles. They were applauded for being able to do so, and the Dodgers were rightly questioned for taking on that kind of money.
But this isn’t about the Red Sox, because the Marlins have a history of contract dumps. If you compare the players involved, the Marlins received a much better return, with three players likely to make the opening day roster next year, 3 top prospects and another pitcher that the Marlins liked. If this were another team, we would be marveling at the fact that they unloaded so much money from a team that did nothing last year, pulled in such talent in return and seem to have resolved to set forth with a fresh start.
Look at the team going forward, and I’m reminded of a team like the Washington Nationals just a few seasons ago. Obviously, the talent level isn’t quite at the Strasburg/Harper level, but only because those guys are once in a generation talents. They acquired Jacob Turner from the Tigers last year and Nathan Eovaldi from the Dodgers, who are both regarded as stud pitching prospects. They also netted Rob Brantly, who was going to be the team’s starting catcher anyways, from the Tigers. They still have Logan Morisson and Giancarlo Stanton in the heart of the order, and now have a solid defensive unit behind them with newly acquired Adeiny Hechavarria and Yunel Escobar. And this is the young major league club, as it presently stands.
As I stated, they acquired some highly rated prospects from the Blue Jays as well, even if they aren’t ready yet, such as outfielder Jake Marisnick, a future center fielder and pitcher Justin Nicolino. As Ken Rosenthal noted, in this deal alone, the Marlins acquired 32 player/years while giving up only 12.
The players haven’t matured yet, and the Marlins have taken a serious step back in the short term. They got younger, filled future holes with young talented players, and if need be, they have cash to throw around if they wanted to patch some current holes. This is a team that took a bold, painful step, doing what it takes to be successful in the long term, This is a team with a fresh start with an eye on the future. This should be a team with a bright long term outlook.
You know, if it weren’t the Marlins,
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