I‘m not the biggest fan of Kim Ng as the Miami Marlins GM. Can you blame me? Can you really? The worst part is when actual trade negotiations come out and make her look even worse at her job. Apparently Kim wanted too much from the New York Yankees and a major potential trade didn’t go down. Let’s talk about this trade idea and why it was so incompetent for Kim to botch it.
Kim Ng could’ve improved our offense and failed at accomplishing it.
The Miami Marlins have a historically bad offense and badly needed bats. We also have a surplus of starting pitching and had the chance to sell high on injury-prone Pablo López. The New York Yankees were interested and trade details were being worked out. Then came Kim Ng’s offer…
Keep in mind that by the point of the trading deadline, Pablo López has not pitched more than 122 innings in a season due to injuries. He was injury-prone and set to hit free agency in two years. With a starting pitching surplus, trading him for hitting made perfect sense. Kim Ng even had a specific target from New York: 2B Gleyber Torres. Torres batted .278/.337/.535 with 38 home runs and 90 RBI. Yes he struggled since, but he’s on pace for over 20 home runs this season, and maybe less pressure would awaken the former elite prospect’s bat.
Not convinced? Gleyber Torres has 2.6 WAR, which is higher than any hitter on the Miami Marlins and is higher than Pablo López’s 2.4. Pablo was pitching like an ace, despite his advanced metrics indicating that it was a fluke. We were going to sell high, but Kim Ng couldn’t get out of her own way and wanted too much.
It wasn’t enough to ask the Bronx Bombers for Torres, Kim Ng wanted top New York Yankees SS prospect Oswald Peraza. Peraza currently has quite a bit of upside. We didn’t even need him, Torres was tenough. Once we wanted more the New York Yankees pulled out. Pablo López’s ERA’s since June per month? 5.34, 4.65 and 5.06. Kim Ng had the chance to improve our offense and botched it with an unreasonable request.