3 worst trades in Miami Marlins history

Christian Yelich
Christian Yelich | John Fisher/GettyImages
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2. THE CHRISTIAN YELICH TRADE

Do you remember former Miami Marlins LF Christian Yelich? Yelich played for The Fish from 2013 to 2017 and had a pretty interesting career with the team. He was yet another future NL MVP that the team gave away for nothing.

The Miami Marlins gave away Christian Yelich.

Christian Yelich debuted in 2013 and batted .288/.370/.396, with 4 home runs and 16 RBI in 62 games and 240 AB. He was worth 1.6 WAR for this solid performance. 2014 was Yelich's first full season and he batted .284/.362/.402, with 9 home runs and 54 RBI in 144 games and 582 AB. He was worth a very good 3.8 WAR for that season. In 2015, he followed that up by batting .300/.366/.416, with 7 home runs and 44 RBI in 126 games and 476 AB. He was worth 3.6 WAR that season.

Yelich wasn't a power hitter, but he was excellent at hitting for contact and getting on base. In fact, that season the Miami Marlins extended him for 7 years and $49.57 million. In 2016, Yelich batted .298/.376/.483 with 21 home runs and 98 RBI in 155 games and 578 AB. This was his power breakout and he was worth a great 4.9 WAR. Yelich's final season with The Fish came in 2017, when he batted .282/.369/.439 with 18 home runs and 81 RBI in 156 games and 602 AB. He was worth 3.7 WAR.

On January 25, 2018, the Miami Marlins traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers for a package of prospects: OF's Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison, 2B Isan Diaz and RHP Jordan Yamamoto. Oh boy. Christian Yelich batted .327/.415/.631 for Milwaukee in 2018 and 2019. He had 36 home runs and 110 RBI in 2018, and 44 home runs/97 RBI in 2019. He won the NL MVP in 2018 and was the runner-up in 2019. Oh and he was worth 7.3 and 7.0 WAR those seasons. Injuries hurt him since, but just those two seasons...

Lewis Brinson, the supposed star of the return, batted .203/.248/.325 from 2018 to 2021. He's now in the San Francisco Giants system and has a career -3.6 WAR. Harrison batted .175/.230/.263 in 2020-2021 and is now back in Milwaukee's system. He's been worth 0.1 WAR for his career. Diaz batted .185/.275/.287 from 2019-2021 and is now in San Francisco's system. Finally, Yamamoto has a 6.20 ERA/5.44 FIP in 90.0 innings pitched in 2019-2020. He has seemingly been out of the game since 2021.

NEXT: Worst trade in Miami Marlins history

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