Miami Marlins sell high at wrong time with Jon Berti trade

In all likelihood, the Miami Marlins just did the smart thing.

Jon Berti has been traded from the Marlins to the Yankees.

As per usual though, they did it in the most frustrating way possible from the standpoint of their beleaguered fanbase. The latest example of this time honored Marlins practice sees super-popular, super utility player Jon Berti being dealt to the Yankees in exchange for a pair of low A prospects a day before the season opener.

The Miami Marlins did well when they hired what seemed like 1001 new analytics people this offseason. Unfortunately, they still seem to be missing that ONE person in the front office to teach owner Bruce Sherman something about optics.

With Opening Day less than twenty-four hours away, there's really no way to view this development in a positive light for the 2024 version of the Miami Marlins. Had this happened a month or so ago, perhaps when they first acquired another super-utility type in Nick Gordon, fans could have tricked themselves into believing the intention was to clear salary to bring on higher impact help at starting pitcher, designated hitter, or third base. Virtually all of the attractive options that existed then are gone now though, meaning that Miami seems likely to pocket those savings aside from whatever league minimum salary they'll need to shell out to whoever they call up from the minors to fill the void. Dane Myers earned the spot, while Xavier Edwards more clearly replaces the type of player just lost.

However, if you accept the fact that the Miami Marlins don't much care about 2024 performance (and that you should come around to not much caring either)...the move makes a lot of sense. Miami just acquired two outfield prospects with offensive upside and the potential to even stick in centerfield in John Cruz and Shane Sasaki. That's a relatively impressive haul for someone who technically is a bench player, and in all likelihood just had their career season.

Selling high on Berti is the smart business decision. Doing it this close to the first game of the season? That's where the terms like cold, clinical, and cheap start to apply.

At this point, only two things are certain. For one, the Yankees just got themselves a great veteran addition to their clubhouse. For another, Marlins fans should expect this to be the first of many coldly calculated and clinical decisions of the Peter Bendix era.

All Marlins fans can do is hope that more often than not, those moves end up paying off.