Miami Marlins: Top 5 Free Agent Targets For 2017

Free Agent Target # 4: Mark Trumbo, Outfielder/First Baseman 

Circumstance: Marcell Ozuna traded. 

Spoiler alert. Three of these five options either directly involve or consider the possibility of Marcell Ozuna being the Marlins player that plays for another team in 2017. He completely rebounded and resurrected his standing from 2015, even after a rough second half brought his batting average back down to just above his career average. Plus, thanks to that service time manipulation last year, he remains readily affordable and controllable. The power returned, the defensive focus was back, and he was an All-Star.

But, with the game on the line, you’re probably picking at least three Marlins you’d rather have taking that decisive swing than Ozuna. If you’re not running from first to third, he doesn’t scare you.

Mark Trumbo does.

Putting that kind of muscle behind Christian Yelich and Stanton would set up a veritable Marlins Murderer’s Row of power, with the potential for 100 HRs coming from just the heart of the order alone. Trumbo does sport a lower batting average than Marcell, but with RISP, he was a .285 hitter last season.

Just as importantly, for his career, he fairs about the same against righties and lefties alike. Which makes him a perfect option to slide over from left field to first base on days the Marlins face a top lefty starter, solving the Justin Bour platoon issue. Ichiro would just get a start on those days, which in a one day sample size, would probably be Miami’s optimum lineup anyway.

The ability for Trumbo, and Desmond too for that matter, to play multiple positions is a huge boon for a team that had no small share of injuries in 2016. Particularly at first, where Bour missed nearly two months of time. Adding Trumbo is the perfect backdoor way of providing depth there, while still committing to the cheaper and promising Bour at the position.

Ozuna will net a far better return than Bour, and deservedly so. Last year at this time I was proposing the Marlins go after a Zach Wheeler type player, and really Zach Wheeler in particular. The same goes for this season; the only difference is that Ozuna is far more valuable this time around.