Fish Food: The latest on Marlins trade rumors

I came into this Fish Food piece thinking I’d pen a response to Barry Jackson’s piece about Jorge Mas and my own personal Christmas Wish List for the team, but ended up spending a little too much of the time I’d put aside for writing today on digging around for trade rumors, so this ends up being an all trade rumor/speculation piece. I’m sure there will be a discussion here at Fish Stripes and elsewhere about what Mas supposedly planned for the team if his bid had gone through in the days to come.

Latest Trade Front News/Speculation Roundup

Christian Yelich:

You could probably rinse and repeat the above paragraph with a dozen teams and it would still be true. It sounds like the Marlins are playing hardball in discussions surrounding Yelich, which they should given his overall value. It seems that the Marlins would be fine keeping Yelich if their price isn’t met.

J.T. Realmuto/Starlin Castro:

Conflicting reports alert. I think we still have to believe that the team wants to move Castro, who was only flipped to secure the Stanton deal. The Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Mets are the two most likely landing spots at this juncture. I kind of feel bad for Castro, who is not a terrible player but has to be pushing aside feelings (if he’s paying attention to the rumors) that he isn’t wanted — not by his former team, not by his current team.

With Realmuto, meanwhile, it would take a Yelich (or better) level deal to pry him from the team. Hard to say whether any team would be enamored enough to swing that, and the Marlins have no real incentive (aside from Realmuto’s desire to be traded, which may fade given enough time) to draw down their expectations in a return package.

Martin Prado

The match that keeps popping up around the internets is with Prado’s old team, the Atlanta Braves. There can be no doubt that a significant chunk of the fan base over there, pining for any form of nostalgia having been subjected to an extended youth movement for years now, would love to have Prado back. And, we know they presently have a need for a third baseman.

The real question is if new Braves GM Alex Anthopoulous values Prado enough as a clubhouse presence and on-the-field asset to swing a deal. In Miami’s eyes, that’s going to mean taking on the entire contract and giving up a couple of token prospects. This is a deal that may yet materialize toward the trade deadline next season, when Prado has proven he can still be productive and healthy after missing so much time last year.

Kyle Barraclough

Barraclough gets lost in the shuffle sometimes amongst the larger trade pieces this team had/currently has, but he has good value in his own right. The club will move him if the right offer comes along but it doesn’t appear they’re actively shopping him around at the moment.

Others

There is definitively a market out there for Dan Straily’s services but it seems like, as with the hitter’s market, teams are waiting for some of the bigger dominoes to fall (ala Darvish and Arrieta) before wading in to the mid-rotation candidate pool. The Baltimore Orioles were among the teams that checked in on Straily’s availability during the Winter Meetings, and the Texas Rangers would undoubtedly be interested. Much like Yelich and Realmuto, the Marlins are rightfully looking for a solid return on their cost-controlled assets. That being said, I’d still consider it an upset for Straily to be on the team when Spring Training opens.

Ditto the domino argument with Brad Ziegler, who showed last season he can still be an effective arm in the pen.

The market on Justin Bour is astoundingly quiet. I know that there is not a strong need for first baseman league-wide, but I continue to believe that MLB is simply missing the boat on this guy, who will be holding it down in the heart of some team’s lineup next season, if not for the Fish.

The team would, of course, love to move Wei-Yin Chen and Junichi Tazawa, but neither appear to have stand-alone value at this juncture.

Barring some late-breaking Marlins news, that’s probably going to do it for us until after Christmas. I wish you and yours a great holiday whether you actually celebrate it or not, and we’ll see you afterward!