The Marlins want to re-sign impending free agent Martin Prado and could offer the third baseman a two-year deal, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Prado, who will turn 33 in October, has long been a quality contributor and is amid yet another solid campaign. In 136 games and 590 plate appearances, Prado has slashed .309/.361/.418 while grading as a plus defender for the sixth straight year. Prado was also effective last season, his first in Miami, as he batted .288/.338/.394 and accounted for 3.2 fWAR in 551 trips to the plate.
Prado joined the Marlins in a December 2014 trade that has served Miami well. In addition to Prado, the Marlins acquired right-hander David Phelps from the Yankees for a package including righty Nathan Eovaldi and first baseman/outfielder Garrett Jones. Phelps has been terrific this season, while Eovaldi was inconsistent in his first year-plus as a Yankee before undergoing Tommy John surgery last month. Jones appeared in only 57 games with New York last year and is currently playing in Japan.
If Prado leaves Miami after the season, he’ll join his fifth major league team (he has also played for the Braves and Diamondbacks). That might mean landing with yet another NL East club, Philadelphia, which FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported Thursday could have interest in him. Prado is set to conclude the four-year, $40MM contract he signed with Arizona in 2013, and the career .293/.342/.424 hitter should be in line to match or surpass his current average annual value of $10MM during the offseason.
For the Marlins, losing Prado could lead to Derek Dietrich taking over at third base. Dietrich has mostly played in the infield, including logging time at third base, since making his major league debut in 2013. The 27-year-old has slashed .271/.364/.397 in 371 PAs this season.
The Yankees lost this trade by a mile. I really liked Martin Prado and didn’t like the trade when it happened.
Also, this trade happened because of the acquisition of Headley for Solarte, the latter of which has been the better player while playing at the league minimum. So all in all, the Yankees downgraded their third base position twice and eventually ended up spending more money in the process.
That’s true, Solarte has more home runs, rbi’s and a better batting average.
That is true but Solarte is a terrible third baseman while Headley is still good over there. Headley is also a better baserunner and a little better at drawing walks. Solarte has been worth about 1.7 WAR this season while Headley has been worth 2.1 WAR. Most of the difference is defense, but Headley is still the better player.
Yeah seriously overpaid… Anyways the Yankees are getting younger..
Given how weak the free agent class is, I think Prado gets 3 yrs.
I don’t see why he can’t get 4 years like Zobrist. Both are super utility guys about the same age when they hit free agency.
This. Plus Prado is will be 33 years older this FA while Zobrist was 36 in last year’s FA.
Would love to see the Braves reunite with Prado