Miami Marlins need to make a splash at the trade deadline

Miami Marlins owner Bruce Sherman made a major announcement recently about the trade deadline. He said that GM Kim Ng will have enough resources to improve the team at said deadline. This is huge news, as the team has traditionally chosen to be "cheap" for lack of a better word. The question is how far should The Fish go? I already wrote about the team pursuing pitching help, but what about a big splash?

The Miami Marlins can go for a big splash at the trade deadline.

If the Miami Marlins want to make a big splash then the target is very clear. It has to be a big bat for the middle of the batting order. If The Fish want to go all out, then why not go after the best possible likely bat on the trade market: San Diego Padres LF Juan Soto?!

Let's get something out of the way, the San Diego Padres are not going to rebuild and will almost certainly try to contend next season. They invested a lot of money in multiple long-term contracts and they won't be trading those guys. I'm talking about Joe Musgrove, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Yu Darvish. They owe them $750 million starting from next season. I repeat $750 million!

There's pretty much no chance that they will extend him considering how much they already owe. Let's not forget that Soto already rejected $440 million from the Washington Nationals. I just don't see San Diego paying him more than that. Soto is a free agent after next season, so San Diego may want to trade him now while he's at his peak value. They can also wait until the off-season, or not even trade him until next season's trade deadline.

Realistically, while Juan Soto would clearly help San Diego make the playoffs next season, trading him to improve their lackluster farm system might make better sense. Soto is a career .284/.423/.520 hitter, but batted just .236/.388/.390 for San Diego in 2022 and is batting .265/.419/.479 this season.

Should the Miami Marlins trade for Juan Soto? It will cost too much, but is it worth it? I don't see it happening but one can dream right?