Marlins need to learn from the Washington Nationals

What do Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jesus Luzardo and other Miami Marlins players have in common? Well, they're going to hit free agency in the next few years and don't have extensions with the team. With The Fish potentially rebuilding, or at least selling off some pieces. Marlin players are constantly being talked about in trades, so now one has to wonder what's next for the once again struggling franchise.

Miami Marlins might learn something from the Washington Nationals.

The Miami Marlins' division rivals up in Washington have a different view on their rebuild. Having one of the best farm systems in the game, the Nationals are also actively looking to extend their core players. This is highly admirable and is easily something that The Fish should be in the news for as well. We should be hearing more about extension discussions than trade discussions.

It's true that the Marlins did recently extend a key player, but that was under a previous front office regime and may have been a rare situation. There haven't been any publicly revealed extension talks, let alone actual extensions made since then. Washington has been having extension talks with SS CJ Abrams. Abrams is a former top prospect who started his break-out last season.

Since last season, Abrams has batted .252/.308/.435, with 25 home runs and 84 RBI, in 187 games and 711 AB. So far this season, he's batting .277/.337/.520, with 7 home runs and 20 RBI in 36 games and 148 AB. What's interesting is that extension talks with Abrams are after he was acquired for ANOTHER player, who REJECTED an extension. I'm of course talking about current New York Yankees RF Juan Soto.

Washington couldn't extend Soto when they were launching a rebuild, so they acquired prospects for him and then here they are with CJ Abrams. The new star player who they can use as a foundational piece and extend. Imagine if the Miami Marlins did things like this? Imagine if The Fish cared this much about signing players to extensions? It would be a much better future for the team.