Making sense of the Miami Marlins offseason so far

The fire sale appears over, for now. It’s easy to feel like all  hope is lost for this upcoming season.

The Miami Marlins were called a “minor league team” by beloved Marlins Man at the recent “town hall meeting”.

There is a lot of hostility surrounding the Marlins and south Florida right now. They’re in the early stages of their second rebuild in a publicly funded stadium. The main issue Marlins fans face is that the fire sale was yet another salary dump.

As upsetting as it all is, the moves were necessary for the future of the team.

The big moves are over

Let me start by saying that I do not blame the Marlins for trading the three players. They realistically did not fit in to the Marlins long term plans, as I stated in my previous article.

Marcell Ozuna is represented by Scott Boras and with his contract expiring after the 2019 season, there was no way the Marlins would be able to resign him.

Giancarlo Stanton took up too much of the Marlins payroll. It was widely known that they would not be able to afford him going forward, and with his injury history, moving him was the wisest decision.

Dee Gordon will be turning 30 right after the start of next season. A player with his skill set does not age well, so they wanted to move him a year early instead of a year late.

The issue I have is the return they received in these trades, more specifically, with the Marcell Ozuna trade. Last season Marcell had an MVP caliber season in which he hit .312, with 37 home runs and 124 RBI.

The Marlins did not receive a single prospect in the top 100 prospects according to MLB.com.

Why these trades were made (other than to save money)

Looking at the Miami Marlins bare farm system before these trades, it was obvious that most of their top prospects would not be MLB-ready until around 2019. They needed a couple of seasons to develop.

The hope is that after a season or two of grooming, prospects will move way up the boards and become top prospects. The Marlins hope they are ready to contribute around 2020-2021.

The Marlins recognize that velocity is the best way to build a pitching staff. In this age of long balls and strike outs, they are hoping to get guys with swing-and-miss stuff. They have had success with hard throwers like Carter Capps, Kyle Barraclough, and most notably, the late Jose Fernandez.

Pitchers with electric arms are what the Marlins have been targeting. But with that also comes with an inclined risk of injury. Prospects such as former second overall pick Tyler Kolek underwent Tommy John surgery, and hasn’t been the same since.

Miami Marlins building blocks

If the Marlins hold on to Christian Yelich, JT Realmuto and Justin Bour, they’ll still produce a bit of excitement. Picking up some veterans on team-friendly contracts could round out the roster and make the team competitive in the short term.

They can expedite the rebuilding process by moving this veterans at the trade deadline for more prospects.

Next: Miami Marlins overhaul should go beyond personnel

Looking at the contracts that have been signed so far, this free agent class is taking less than their market value.

It’s easy to see the logic behind the trades the Miami Marlins have made. I am hoping they will make some moves to bring in some veteran leaders. That would make this season more bearable.