This past winter the Marlins were the talk of the town. Rather than cutting salary and penny-pinching, the Fish were binging on “new stadium revenue” while signing Mark Buehrle, Heath Bell, and Jose Reyes.
One disappointing half-season later, the team is selling once again. It started yesterday when the team shipped Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Detroit tigers for pitching prospect Justin Turner.
Turner, forced into the Tigers rotation, had struggled in three starts this season, giving up 1 1 runs in 12.1 innings. In fourteen minor league starts this season, Turner threw 84.1 innings to a 3.16 ERA while striking out 57 and walking 31. Not dominating numbers, but in their 2012 annual, Baseball Prospectus said he could “become Rick Porcello with more punchouts. That’s even better than it sounds.” And he seems on track to do just that. Plus, facing the pitcher three times a game in the DH-less league never hurts either.
Of course, Sanchez is a pending free agent and with the reworked compensation picks for departing players, if a team doesn’t plan on making a large offer, it might be better served to take a lesser package of prospects than the potential draft pick.
Josh Johnson, Heath Bell, and Hanley Ramirez are not free agents at the end of this season, yet all three are rumored to be on the block. Ken Rosenthal reports that all three, plus Randy Choate and recent acquisition Carlos Lee are being made available. Rosenthal reports that the team would “absolutely try and try hard” to trade Bell months after signing him is concerning on several levels.
Bob Nightengale says that the Hanley Ramirez sweepstakes incudes the Athletics, Blue Jays, and Red Sox.
The Oakland #Athletics,desperate for infield help,have jumped into trade talks for #Marlins Hanley Ramirez, joining #BlueJays and #RedSox.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 24, 2012
Ramirez, of course, began his career as a Red Sox and was traded, along with Anibal Sanchez, for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. Unfortunately for Ramirez, since his career year in 2008, where he won the NL batting title, his power and speed have declined to levels not approaching his superstar talent. Still just 28, he’s the prefect “change of scenery” guy to acquire.
Oh yeah, the supervillain part, courtesty of Out of My Vulcan Mind: trade everything!
