The Marlins have announced that they have activated veteran infielder Martin Prado from the 10-day injured list. He’ll take the place of utilityman JT Riddle, who’s headed for his own IL stint with a forearm strain.
Prado, 35, is back in action in time to feature as a trade candidate — in theory. Trouble is, his nosedive at the plate has shown no signs of abating over the past three years. And his latest hamstring injury is the latest in a string of leg maladies.
When the Fish inked Prado to a questionable three-year extension late in the 2016 season, he was putting the finishing touches on a solid campaign and was still at least carrying a recent track record of slightly above-average offensive work. Three years and $40MM seemed like a rather heavy commitment, particularly for an organization with the outlook of the Miami club, but he’d have been a reasonably sought-after free agent had he not re-upped with the Marlins.
That deal has turned out to be a complete bust in spite of the best efforts of the respected veteran. Prado has played in only 142 games, slashing a combined .244/.277/.319. While he’s still a solid defender, Prado is a negative on the basepaths and has in the aggregate played at or below replacement level.
Perhaps it’s still possible to squint and imagine a contender taking a flier on Prado as a 25th man who’d contribute in the clubhouse. He has been on a tear on his rehab assignment; if he shows up to the majors looking particularly spry, there’s an outside chance at a trade. Even then, it’s tough to imagine the Marlins shedding any noticeable amount of salary or recouping anything in the way of prospect value in return.
At this point, Prado should be traded to a contender or released so he can join a contender. Same with Granderson, so Harrison can be called up. Playing time should be for the young guys on the Fish.
What makes you think that any contender would want them?
Grandy has consistently been traded to a postseason contender for the past few years, as a bench bat with some pop once rosters expand in September and Prado is a versatile vet, who’s still a decent hitter when fully healthy.
Harrison should be up by September but Diaz is def ready to be our 2nd baseman. Castro needs to be traded ASAP.
Harrison is likely done for the year after wrist surgery.
Prado’s $40 M contract was “questionable”? How about outlandishly foolish and totally inexplicable?
Prado was a 3.3 BWAR player in 2016, and 3.9 in 2017. Yes 40/3 was too much, but it’s hindsight to say that everyone should have known he’d be instantaneously awful.
Father Time defeats all. Prado’s age was all anyone needed to know. However, it’s not the worse case as long as we have Chen, whose contract has worked out far worse. Look at the bright side, at least we don’t have Robinson Cano or Jason Heyward or Bryce Harper’s contracts.
Clearly Loria didn’t care if he stuck it one more time to Miami on his way out with the contracts he handed out to Prado, Chen and Stanton Thank goodness he was gone before the 2017-18 seasons because Yu Darvish and Robinson Cano would probably be Marlins too.