Miami Marlins: Derek Jeter to be active at Winter Meetings

Derek Jeter rocked the baseball world on Saturday with the trade of Giancarlo Stanton. Expect Jeter to be very active in his debut at the Winter Meetings.

The Miami Marlins will go into the Winter Meetings with their biggest asset/burden already off the books. That will allow them to give their full focus elsewhere. There are a number of lower-profile, but equally important trades the team will be considering.

Miami will be very active at this years Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida. As the team is now in full rebuild mode, they’ll listen in on just about everybody. There are a few players who should be safe, and others that’ll they’ll actively be trying to move.

These Winter Meetings are the most important the Marlins franchise has had in a number of years. Derek Jeter can’t afford to make any false-steps in his inaugural week of wheeling-and-dealing as an owner.

How Jeter performs will set the stage for the Miami Marlins farm system for years. Who he is able to trade, and what he is able to get back will have endless repercussions. A number of undesirable contracts currently only have one year left on them; those will be hard to move.

They are high value, with little chance of return. Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa, and Martin Prado aren’t even a “plan B” for most teams. They’re a “plan J”; possibly a “plan R”. But these are the contracts he needs to move most.

One deal that you can almost guarantee will be completed is the flip of Starlin Castro. They recently acquired Castro from the Yankees in the Giancarlo Stanton trade. His salary is similar to what they would have paid Dee Gordon this year, which is to say too expensive.

The market for second basemen is flooded this offseason, so that doesn’t bode well. But they should still manage to bring back a couple of mid-level prospects for him.

What the team might look like one week from now

It’s very possible that you’ll need to “search engine” more than half of the players on the Miami Marlins roster for 2018. JT Realmuto will be behind the plate, Justin Bour will be at first base, and Brian Anderson will be at third. Beyond that, it’s anyones guess.

JT Riddle and Miguel Rojas won’t be promised anything up the middle.

The pitching staff is also up in the air. Presumably, Miami is going to try and add some near MLB ready talent to the staff. If they’re able to add anything significant along this vein, it’ll likely come in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. That would mean Marcell Ozuna was traded, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Next: The Miami Marlins/Giancarlo Stanton trade isn't so bad

News is going to be coming fast for Marlins fans during the Winter Meetings. Stay posted to Marlin Maniac, and follow me on Twitter to stay up-to-date with everything the Fish are doing in Orlando. If they play their cards right, they might emerge with a top 15 farm system.