Hanley upset at potential position change?

The buzz this off-season has been that the Miami Marlins will make a hard run at Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez would be more than accommodating to move to third base. It was perfect fit. Reyes and Ramirez are close friends, they would make a great left side of the infield and make the Marlins offense extremely productive. Eh, guess not.

Last night on Twitter, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald revealed some shocking news. This is extremely contrary to what we have been hearing for a while now. We have heard that the Marlins and Ramirez are set to move him to third to accommodate Reyes. Now we get this major shocker.

Ken Rosenthal on Fox Sports is reporting that the Marlins initial offer to Reyes was 6 years $90 million. Many in baseball do not believe that he will sign for less then $100 million. This was only the Marlins first offer and we are not even sure if any team will even out bid the Marlins initial offer. He did offer that the Marlins want Reyes as badly as the Reyes wants the Marlins. He cited Ozzie Guillen and Miami’s weather as major reasons why.

In that same article, Rosenthal questioned whether the Marlins should trade Ramirez. While Ramirez would bring in a lot of talent to the Marlins team, his value is at its lowest right now. The team would be selling low. Also, for a team that is promising to be in contention next season, does trading your best player really make you a better team? The team would then need to sign Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder to attempt to get the offense back to the same level it would be at with Hanley.

Personally, I am a little skeptical about the source that Clark Spencer is citing. Not saying Spencer is not a credible source, but his source may not be. Think about this for a second, when Reyes had his daughter, who was named the Godfather? 

Yesterday, Kevin Burkhardt from SNY was reporting that the Marlins are very confident that they will sign Reyes and that Hanley has already okay’ed a position change.

The Marlins front office has been very non-committal about a potential position change for Ramirez. Ramirez was also very clear last week when he told MLB.com that “I consider myself a short stop.” In that same interview, Ramirez sounded more then excited about the possibility of the Marlins adding Reyes.

Basically what I am saying is, there are a multitude of different “sources” and rumors flying out there constantly. A reporters job is to report what he hears from his source, whether the rumor is true or not, the reporter has an obligation to mention it. There could be a new report out in another three hours talking about how “Ramirez is thrilled to be the Marlins third basemen. Until the Marlins sign Reyes or Ramirez makes a statement himself, the entire process of free agency is very fluid.

Reyes would not name Ramirez his daughter’s Godfather if they were not close. Hanley would not sound so excited to add Reyes to the team if they were not close. Pay close attention to what happens. Who knows, maybe Hanley is right and the Marlins plan on moving Reyes?

However, I have some news that will upset many Marlins fans. Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post has just confirmed the Marlins are trading for Fonzi.