MLB Trade Rumors: Miami Marlins not trading “key” pieces

The Miami Marlins have been slumping of late. The team has lost 4 straight and have gone just 24-35 since losing Jose Fernandez to Tommy John Surgery, which has the team a season high 7 games under .500 and 8.5 games behind the first place Atlanta Braves.

Despite all these struggles, the Marlins are not looking to sell at the trade deadline and are actually more likely to buy than sell at this point, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald:

“We aren’t looking to trade any of our key pieces,” said Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill.Hill did not distinguish “key” players from those who aren’t considered as such. But you can be sure the hands-off list includes Giancarlo Stanton, whose name is constantly thrown around in trade rumors around this time every year. Christian Yelich, Casey McGehee, Adeiny Hechavarria and Marcell Ozuna likely fall into the same category as Stanton.

We all know the Marlins are not going to consider trading Giancarlo Stanton until after the season, if he rejects any extension overtures from the team. It makes little to no sense to trade him without gauging his interest to stay in Miami, which likely could be minimal.

The Marlins are not likely to trade Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna as each have put together promising sophomore seasons and look to be key cogs for the Marlins next winning team. Both make the minimum at this point and are worthy investments for the Marlins to keep around.

Hechavarria is a player that the Marlins oddly value too highly, despite him lacking the skills to be an everyday starter. Despite his .279 wOBA, the Marlins are unlikely to give up on Hech.

The surprise name that the Marlins are not looking to move is Casey McGehee. He is an interesting buy low/sell high guy that the Marlins should cash in on. He’s never hit this well in a Major League season before and his .371 BABIP is bound to regress at some point.

McGehee is not likely to have this continued success next season, but is still of value to a team seeking an immediate upgrade for the stretch run. Like Michael Jong of Fishstripes pointed out in an article last week, the Marlins could likely add an impact prospect in return for McGehee:

What is that worth? With that value, a deal could snag Miami a B-rated prospect, and Miami would ideally look for someone in the infield. Players of that caliber in the middle infield according to John Sickels of Minor League Ball before the 2014 season include Alen Hanson of the Pirates, Alexander Guerrero of the Dodgers, and Micah Johnson of the White Sox.

With the loss of Fernandez for the season, the Marlins are more likely to trade for an arm to help their rotation this season and next than to sell off their players. Whether this is the right baseball move is yet to be seen. More than likely, the team wants to show Stanton they want to win, not collect more prospects to win in a few years.