With Hanley Ramirez in Los Angeles and the Marlins entertaining offers for Josh Johnson, let's check out the latest items out of Miami..
- Two executives who spoke with the Marlins say that the club is willing to move Johnson for a huge return, but would prefer to build with him and a lineup of Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Reyes, and Logan Morrison, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter).
- Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports opines that the Marlins conned Miami into giving them a brand-new ballpark under the guise of needing more revenue to be competitive, only to revert to their old chop shop ways.
- As offensive as it may be to see the Marlins unload Ramirez's contract to improve their bottom line, there's a lot of baseball sense in their trade, Keith Law of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd). He points out that Miami received a solid pitching prospect in Nathan Eovaldi while not having to cover any of Ramirez's contract.
- The Red Sox are among the teams said to be interested in Johnson and former teammate Cody Ross would be happy to see the pitcher in Boston, writes Ian Browne of MLB.com. “I mean, he definitely would help any team,” Ross said. “He’s a bulldog. He’s one of the premier pitchers, an ace. I’ve always said that he is one of the most competitive players I’ve ever played with. He’s a bulldog.”
- Given all of his ups and downs, it's hard to say what version of Ramirez the Dodgers are receiving, writes MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince.
It would be one thing if they moved Stanton, but they moved a guy with a downright awful slash line over 2.5 years and are shopping a guy who’s injury history is just awful.
As far as Sanchez, they got Turner back for him. I wouldn’t complain there.
100% agree. Brantly wasn’t a bad throw in either. I think the Hanley move was done in part to free up cap and create a more positive atmosphere in that dugout. They still have quite a few solid pieces to build around.
Eovaldi is a nice piece as well.
his slash line over the last 2.5 years is .269/.350/.435. that’s 13% better than league average. among shortstops and third basemen, it’s even better
and even if it were bad, what would be the point of looking at his slash line over the past 2.5 years? he was great year and a half ago — and for 4 consecutive seasons before that — and has been merely average in 180 games (~1 season) since then
Because they are valid questions to whether this is the Hanley Ramirez from here on out. I’m not saying the Dodgers made a bad move buying low on him. The Marlins made a smart baseball move by their calculation, they didn’t move a guy who most would feel is a franchise cornerstone anymore.
For some reason, I always though JJ would look good in a Red Sox Uni. Well, maybe thats because I am primiarily a Boston fan, but still. Would be a good fit, I think.
I think he’d fit well myself but it sure wouldn’t look good if they traded for him and he found himself back on the DL, which seems to happen to every star player in Boston.
Depends on what they have to give up to give him. I think he would thrive in Boston.
I’d like to see it too. Always been a big JJ fan. I think he’s worth the risk regarding his health woes.
Yes, you’re right, Keith Law. It does make financial sense to trade HanRam — if nothing else then to save on cooling fans in the dugout. But all that’s lost in contracts that handcuff the team over the next 2-3 years to Bell, Buerhle, and Johnson, and they haven’t even extended their biggest hitter: Stanton.
It’d be one thing if they actually got some decent prospects out of it. Look who they got selling of Beckett, Uggla, and Cabrera.
the marlins got hanley ramirez (and i think anibal sanchez) by selling off josh beckett and lowell, and aj burnett walked in free agency, not a trade.
i honestly fail to see how a team ~7 games out
-trading an expensive player who’s defense may necessitate a move to the OF soon, where the Fish have LoMo, Bonifacio, and Stanton, and getting a decent rotation piece in return
-trading an impending free agent (Anibal) and an decent-but-not great 2B on the wrong side of 30 (Infante) and getting a fair return (it was a good deal for both sides).
-discussing trading 1.5 years of an injury-prone starting pitcher in a sellers’ market.
constitutes a fire sale.
Reactionaries gonna react.
it’s not a fire sale, but it’s reasonable for people to be frustrated with them. they didn’t just move hanley, they moved him for cash. at his lowest value. for not very much
– it would be different if they paid a bunch of his salary to get a good return
– it would be different if they didn’t pay a bunch of his salary but still got a good return
– it would be different if hanley had rebounded and they were trying to sell high on a player they didn’t want to keep
as it is, they gave up a very talented young player for not much more than money. unless they spend that money right away, marlins fans should be upset
The Marlins did have a deal going with the A’s though, right? I don’t know the particulars besides that the Marlins were willing to kick in half of Ramirez’s contract and that still gave Beane pause.
If the Marlins don’t try use some of that $37 million in the coming off-season, then I’d be ticked were I a fan.
yeah, I agree that they sold him while his stock was low, and likely could’ve/should’ve gotten a better return, but we’re talking a guy that the organization and fans were pretty much over at this point. Hanley’s not, at least right now, the veteran leader you can build a team around. He’s ridiculously immature and always causing trouble.
Could it come back to bite them like trading Miggy did when he was the same way in Florida, yeah, probably. But keeping Hanley in Miami right now is just likely going to be more trouble than he’s worth at this point. And they’re playing horrible baseball right now, and have no chance at anything this year, so why not get what you can for the guys you don’t want to build your team around.
And I don’t by any means think that this team is done spending.. they’re stocking up their farm system, dumping some salary in the short term, and I’m sure they’ll be big spenders in the FA market again this offseason
no disagreement on any of your points here.
i just found the “holy fire sale” talk being bandied around to be a little baseless.
It’s what the Marlins broadcasters said today. If the Marlins don’t turn around and spend that Hanley money on a free agent, then you can call it a firesale. Right now, the Hanley trade is just a salary dump. Although Marlins fans really didn’t like Ramirez anymore, we still would’ve expected a greater return. If Eovaldi turns out good and Hanley doesn’t change, great, but we expect that Hanley money to signing free agents, and good free agents, not ones like Heath Bell.
I really think Johnson is the guy for Texas. He’s Nolan Ryan’s kind of pitcher and he isnt a rental, so they should be ok with any three names from their farm that aren’t Olt or Profar. Or if the Marlins prefer, guys like scheppers or moreland. Not sure what needs they have besides 3rd base and SP
Some bulldog, kid is always hurt. Time to put that doggie to sleep.
Hanley has already hit a 3B and nearly hit one out of the park tonight. Pretty sure the Dodgers are chillin after this trade.
Yeah those 5 ABs really solved all of HanRam’s woes! I’d give it a little bit to see what happens…Although if I were the Dodgers, I’d be pretty pumped replacing someone on the left side of that infield with Doris Murphy even.
from seeing the show “the franchise” i think they will be willing to trade Morrison cause they dont believe he got his mind on baseball 100% but rather on twitter.
From a team that has Ozzie Guillen managing, giving Zambrano another chance, and employing HanRam for as long as they have, I don’t think minds on baseball 100% is the highest of priorities in the organization. Having a venue to show off Loria’s peculiar taste in art may be the highest in priorities.
Zambrano hasn’t been causing any problems for the team this season. He’s had a fairly level head. The problem was Hanley.
I’d be shocked if his mind is 50% on baseball, he sure does seem to be a natural around cameras though. Maybe he should accomplish a little more than hitting .240 with some pop and bad defense before he glorifies himself any further.
It doesn’t look good at first glance since they went all-in and sold the fans on a powerhouse team and already “gave up”, but at least they realized what they were doing was not working before things got worse.
I agree with them trading Hanley, but the return they got for him wasn’t very good. Eovaldi may end up being a decent starter, but why did they have to throw in another piece (low valued one) just to get another mediocre prospect? Hanley is exactly the kind of player they need to get rid of, underachiever who plays lazy and feels entitled because of his past accomplishments. His defense is just sad and when he’s not hitting, it doesn’t really make up for it.
The biggest problem is they don’t really have any guys to fill the holes they’ve opened up. They have two major league ready starters, but their depth is abysmal and they don’t have many young hitters waiting in the wings. Bonifacio can only play one position at a time.
I agree with Jeff Passan…but it comes down to the Marlins not having a true fan base. This week’s Phillies Notebook on PhillyPhanatics dot com will, in part, analyze the difference between the Marlins and Phillies – both free spenders coming into the season, but explain that without a fan base, the Marlins can do what they’re doing, while Ruben Amaro needs to keep his stars (even if he overpays them to the detriment of the success of the team), so as not to erode the goodwill that the Phillies have built in restoring their fan base to what it was a generation ago.
Jeff Passan was chomping at the bits waiting for the Marlins to trade away stars for prospects. That guy has an ax to grind with the Marlins. Maybe Loria didn’t invite him to a media party.
I saw eovaldi plenty of times with the dodgers, he’s solid but needs to develop his put away pitch, good fastball, but reminds me of bills which is bad, but eov is only 22.