How the Miami Marlins can shock everyone...

The Miami Marlins can afford top free agents. It's not a question of having the resources, as a question of Bruce Sherman willing to spend. I already went over all of the reasons, why there's no excuse for The Fish not to spend. If smaller market teams can be big players in free agency, so can The Fish. That said, I'm not expecting Sherman to give anyone a $100 million contract, but there's a special case here...

The Miami Marlins could be able to land Shohei Ohtani.

A couple of weeks ago, I would never have imagined that I'd be writing about Shohei Ohtani as a Miami Marlins target. Not only that, but it's a bit too early to talk about free agency. There's still the playoffs and The Fish have a shot to make them! Shohei Ohtani is a two-way superstar who is currently batting .304/.412/.654, with 44 home runs and 95 RBI in 135 games and 497 AB. He also has a 3.14 ERA/4.00 FIP, with 11.4 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 23 games and 132.0 innings pitched.

Shohei Ohtani is the favorite to win the American League MVP award. He's also looking at the biggest contract in Major League history...that is until he suffered a serious injury. Ohtani might need Tommy John Surgery, or another surgery, but he won't be pitching next season. In fact, considering his previous Tommy John Surgery it's time to wonder if he should continue pitching at all. Why not focus on hitting instead? Ohtani and his agent however are adamant that he will pitch again.

It's this situation that has me thinking. Shohei Ohtani went from a two-way superstar looking at a record contract to a player with some serious questions surrounding him. Will he end up getting a second TJS? When will he be able to pitch again? Will he be as effective post-surgery? Does it make sense for him to just focus on hitting? If he focuses on hitting, can he prove himself in the field as a defender? The issue is that teams don't really like signing designated hitters to long-term lucrative deals, and he's completely unproven in the field in the Major Leagues.

With all of these questions, he might consider going the Carlos Correa route and signing a short-term deal with an opt-out. A deal that would give teams time to see how his future looks like more clearly. Of course chances are he'll still sign a massive long-term deal, and if he looks at short-term deals he'll probably look at West Coast teams. What if though? The Miami Marlins should be ready...