The controversial Marlins trade wasn't controversial

There was a collective wave of shock among Miami Marlins fans, when the team traded Jake Burger to the Texas Rangers. Even some of our writers weren't happy with the move. It seemed to have come out of nowhere and been largely pointless. Was it really though? Was it a terrible trade or did it have some merit? It's time to really analyze...

The Miami Marlins had a plan when trading Jake Burger.

There seems to be this opinion among some Miami Marlins fans, that Jake Burger was a superstar and a building block that had quite a bit of value. The reality wasn't quite like that. For full disclosure, I called him a "building block" myself this Summer, before I looked at his final stats and really analyzed the big picture.

Jake Burger hit 34 home runs last season split between the Chicago White Sox and the Miami Marlins. He hit 29 in 2024 with just the Marlins. He was clearly a power threat and at first glance a potential middle of the order star. That is of course until you take a closer look at his actual production.

For one thing, he was a terrible defender. He was worth just -1.1 dWAR for the 2024 season. That's why he had to move from third base to first base in the first place. He also wasn't much of a contact hitter or on-base threat, having more strikeouts than hits and having below average batting averages and OBP's the last two seasons. He also naturally didn't walk much.

Putting all of that together, Jake Burger was worth a well below average 0.5 WAR for his production in the 2024 season. That's really bad and almost means that he didn't help the team at all. Considering he'll play almost the entire next season at 29 years old, he was hardly a major piece for the future. He wasn't traded to save money, he was traded because he wasn't important.

Jonah Bride is better than him, and Agustin Ramirez will likely need to be in the 1B/DH mix as well. The reason why the return for him wasn't that high is because he has little value in reality. A 29 year old first baseman who can't run, field, hit for contact or get on base well is worth preciously little in today's game. The Miami Marlins made the right call.