Marlins: Will the team trade prospects this winter?

Will there be a time this offseason when the Miami Marlins deal prospects for veteran hitters to bolster the lineup?

I agree with the MLB.com trio of Jim Callis, Mike Rosenbaum, and Jonathan Mayo. It would be difficult to think that after the Miami Marlins worked so hard to acquire top-level minor league prospects, the front office would trade pieces to the future puzzle of this franchise.

But if this ball club is going to be a player in free agency and potential trades this offseason, then Derek Jeter and Michael Hill have to seriously look at every scenario that will help make the Marlins a winner sooner rather than later.

This is going to be the third season the Marlins have undergone this transformation – one in which the team before the Jeter Era was full of budding stars, but there was little production from them as a whole. Individual effort means nothing if the sum of all the parts doesn’t yield a playoff berth.

And even if Jeter and Bruce Sherman had not acquired the franchise from Jeffrey Loria, there as no guarantee the old guard would have been able to keep everyone under the same roof.

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Loria was sinking the Marlins into a baseball abyss that was growing harder to recover from. It does not look like from the way the deal was made and the immediate changes Jeter made to strip the team of its identity, but he may have saved baseball in South Florida.

Trading Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees has proven to be the right move. Sending Dee Gordon to Seattle yielded pitching depth. Making a deal with St. Louis involving Marcell Ozuna brought an ace in Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen, which then became their shortstop of the future, Jazz Chisholm.

It is all about perspective. And the deal involving Christian Yelich could see this Marlins team keep all four prospects they received in return make the 26-man roster this season.

Now, the Marlins must decide if they are willing to part with other prospects to grab a big-name bat or help a porous bullpen.

In their story, Callis, Rosenbaum, and Mayo discuss one prospect from each organization that may be dealt this offseason. In looking at the Marlins four stops in the minor league system, there are plenty of names to consider. The one player they propose who may be moved in Jerar Encarnacion, the team’s 17th ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

"“It’s hard to envision a scenario where Miami would be trading prospects rather than acquiring them at this stage of the rebuilding process,” they write. “But it has amassed a lot of outfield depth and Encarnacion ranks just seventh at the position on MLB Pipeline’s Marlins Top 30 despite his plus raw power and arm strength.”"

Yes, outfield depth in the MLB Draft this past season and through trades over the last two seasons. Just like the pitching prospects who are moving up the chain and possibly stuck in the minors due to a lack of spots available with the parent club, the same may be said for outfield prospects.

It’s a great problem to have, especially if the Marlins look to add more home-run power this offseason through a trade or two.