Miami Marlins May Put Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and J.T. Realmuto on Trading Block
Looks like the Miami Marlins are going to be the team to watch before the trade deadline because there's a possibility that they will start a fire sale to unload three of their top players.
According to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Marlins are going to be "wide open" at the deadline if they fail to climb up the standings. That means they are willing to listen to offers for outfielders Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna, and catcher J.T. Realmuto.
All three are under club control for a while, so they should draw a lot of interest from contenders before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31. Yelich is signed through the 2021 season with a club option for 2022. Ozuna has two more seasons under club control and he has a team-friendly contract. Realmuto is signed through 2020.
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The Marlins are currently in fourth place (24–33) in the National League East and their chances of making the playoffs don't look too good right now. In any case, this may be a good opportunity for them to bolster their farm system.
Meanwhile, observers have speculated that the Marlins will probably get a decent haul in return for Yelich, Ozuna and Realmuto.
"It's tough to consider what the Marlins could receive in return for the three without diving into each potential buyer's farm system, but consider this — for three guaranteed seasons and two option seasons of Adam Eaton, the Nationals gave up arguably their three best pitching prospects, two of which ranked among the top 100 (or top 50, depending on your prospect analyst of choice) in all of baseball," Joe Lucia wrote in his report for The Comeback.
Lucia went on to say that the Marlins might not get maximum value for them, though, if there were a lot of sellers before the trade deadline.
Now if only they can find a way to unload Giancarlo Stanton and his bloated contract.
