MLB.com ranks the Marlins trade deals

How good were the Marlins when it came to the MLB Trade Deadline last week? MLB.com takes a look.

Evidently, the Miami Marlins front office knew what it was doing.  In the most recent analyst by Mike Rosenbaum of MLB.com, the team from South Florida had three of the top six trade deals at the trade deadline. He looked at the best prospects that moved across the baseball landscape.

Yes, the Marlins are being praised for traded deals. If someone last season would have said Derek Jeter was on the right path by making trades in his second season as Marlins CEO, they would have been booed out of the building.

As Rosenbaum explains… “When it was all said and done, five players from MLB Pipeline’s freshly updated Top 100 Prospects list had been dealt, including two ranked inside the top 50“That number is up from last year, when two Top 100 prospects were moved ahead of the 2018 Trade Deadline, but down from the seven in 2017 and eight in ’16,”

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There were 32 players ranked on team Top 30 lists sent packing this season. There were 41 prospects traded in 2018 and 39 players in 2017.

The Marlins were right in the middle of it all, making the right moves at the last minute, even if giving up Zac Gallen was a gutsy move. Miami continued to add more depth with power-hitting infielders and top-line outfield prospects.

The Marlins acquired outfielder Jesus Sanchez from Tampa Bay in return for Nick Anderson and Trevor Richards. Sanchez was a player the Marlins had on their radar in the offseason, possibly as a trade chip for catcher J.T. Realmuto. Rosenbaum ranks this deal No. 2 overall.

“Sanchez, 21, had been one of the more consistent hitters and fastest-rising prospects in Tampa Bay’s system since they signed him for $400,000 out of the Dominican Republic in July 2014,” he writes. “Over parts of five seasons in the system, the left-handed-hitting outfielder produced a .298/.342/.389 line and had already advanced to the Triple-A level in 2019 when the Rays dealt him to Miami.”

The deal the Marlins made, giving up Gallen for Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Jazz Chisholm was right behind the last deal at No. 3. Chisholm, Miami’s shortstop of the future, struggled at Double-A, but has a power bat and is a slick-fielding infielder.

“Chisholm’s stock has taken a hit this year with his struggles in Double-A, where he’s batted just .204 with a nearly 34 percent strikeout rate in 89 games,” Rosenbaum added. “But the toolsy, left-handed-hitting shortstop remains a high-ceiling player, one who has homered 18 times this season while swiping 13 bags in the Southern League at age 21.”

Rosenbaum turned right around and assessed the move the Diamondbacks made to acquire Gallen from Miami, which he considers the sixth-best move of the deadline. The 23-year-old has the makings of a solid front-line starter in the Majors. Despite a losing record, 1-3 with a 2.72 ERA, there is plenty to like about how the youngster has command on the mound in only a handful of starts on the MLB level.

“The Marlins acquired Gallen from St. Louis in the December 2017 Marcell Ozuna trade, and he’s subsequently blossomed into one of the better young, cost-controlled arms, raising his profile with improved stuff and command,” he added.