Peter Bendix has an interesting explanation for a controversial Marlins trade

Even looking at the picture for this article, you can see the concern in his eyes....the Miami Marlins traded 2B Luis Arraez to the San Diego Padres. It was not a particularly popular move for Fish fans. It seems that now Peter Bendix is on damage control, explaining why the trade was made. I'm not sure that his explanation will convince the majority.

Peter Bendix explains why the Miami Marlins traded Luis Arraez to San Diego.

According to Peter Bendix, there were no better offers for Luis Arraez, before the Miami Marlins traded him to San Diego. He was also worried that a better offer wouldn't be available had he waited. That's of course where the dilemma starts. Is it really true that there were not going to be any better offers by the Trade Deadline? With teams looking to go all-in for a final run, was there no team willing to overpay for Arraez?

It's typically unusual for teams to trade their players this early, so surely there were some teams holding back until knowing their playoff situation for sure later on. The idea that this was the best offer available this season at all, is definitely curious. Of course, it's also hard to believe that Bendix just rushed into a trade.

I'm pretty certain that Bendix was aware of how Arraez was perceived by other teams. I'm just unsure why he didn't think that a better deal could come along. One thing that might be overlooked, is if Luis Arraez really does have the high value that we all thought that he did. Arraez is arguably the best contact hitter in the Major Leagues. The best pure hitter period even. Unfortunately, he's also seen as a massive defensive liability.

Luis Arraez is not a good defender at second base. He's terrible there actually, having a -0.4 dWAR. He can play first base, but having no power he's an unusual fit for that poition. There's also the fact that first basemen have less value than other position player, excluding the elite bats of course. The lack of power further limits his value. It's pretty clear, that if he stops being an elite contact hitter, his value crashes. Perhaps, that's what Peter Bendix was worried about.

Peter Bendix made it pretty clear that the goal is for the Miami Marlins to win 90+ games a year annually. He wants The Fish to be annual playoff contenders. That said, he also wouldn't commit to a timeline of contention. I'm not sure why. It's possible that he doesn't see it happening soon, or maybe that he doesn't want to commit to something that will end up not working out,

The Miami Marlins need to be more transparent with the fans and show us that thee is an actual plan for contention in place.