The Miami Marlins can pick up an elite defender

Neil Raymond

Harrison Bader / Jim McIsaac/GettyImages

The Miami Marlins need to make the playoffs and more help may be necessary. That help may come on the waiver wire. The wire has some former MVP's on it and other useful players (INSERT LAA). Could another such player be New York Yankees CF Harrison Bader. Bader is an elite defender who also brings a potential 20 home run bat to the table. He's a free agent after the season and so is not a long-term commitment if he falters. Let's take a look...

Should the Miami Marlins pursue New York Yankees CF Harrison Bader?

The Miami Marlins need help badly as the team is now under .500 this season. Some OF depth could definitely be an asset. This of course is why Harrison Bader could be a good fit for The Fish. Bader is yet another free agent after the season, who started his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played for St. Louis from 2017 to 2021, batting .244/.323/.417 with 47 home runs and 147 RBI in 451 games and 1451 AB. While the batting line was hardly impressive, he also played strong centerfield defense.

Harrison Bader produced a 5.4 dWAR during that time and 10.5 WAR in general. He split 2022 between St. Louis and the New York Yankees, as St. Louis traded him to the Bronx Bombers mid-season. He batted .256/.303/.370 in 72 games and 246 AB for St. Louis, and then .217/.245/.283 for New York. So far this season for New York, Bader is batting .240/.278/.365 with 7 home runs and 37 RBI in 84 games and 288 AB. He's been worth 0.9 WAR and 0.8 dWAR.

Harrison Bader is a great defender, and the few saved runs could definitely be beneficial for The Fish. He hasn't hit more than 16 home runs in a season (he hit them in 2021), but that's due to him being unfortunately injury-prone. He seems to miss significant time with injuries each season, so that's a problem. That said, we're only talking about Bader being on the team for a month (and at best longer due to the playoffs).

Neil Raymond

Neil Raymond has been a lifelong Miami Marlins fan, with the 2003 playoff run being one of his favorite childhood memories. Neil has been called a "walking encyclopedia" for his knowledge of MLB statistics and the sport's history. He follows every game and actually invented his own statistic for player value on his side project BaseballAnalyzed.com. Writing for Fansided's Marlin Maniac since 2022, he also loves Fantasy Baseball and as such is an FSWA member. Neil also loves to travel, read and follow "Futbol" teams: Germany, Argentina, Greece, Inter Miami, Bayern Munich and NYC FC.