The Marlins’ offseason trade interest in Willson Contreras was fairly well documented, but it appears he wasn’t the only Chicago catcher pursued by the Fish. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Marlins also made an “aggressive” attempt to acquire Yermin Mercedes from the White Sox but couldn’t convince the South Siders to part with him. “Aggressive” is a relative term, but in the case of Mercedes, nearly any focused effort to pry him away could’ve been seen as such prior to Opening Day. He’d logged only a single MLB plate appearance prior to the 2021 season and entered the year as a 28-year-old with 53 Triple-A games under his belt. Scouting reports on Mercedes have universally tabbed him as a DH-only prospect who lacks a true defensive position.
There’s been no ignoring Mercedes’ remarkable breakout at the plate to begin the season, however. The bat-first characterization of his skill set looks to be well deserved, as he opened the year with an incredible eight consecutive hits and is now 16-for-32 with a pair of homers, three doubles and four walks to match his four strikeouts. Mercedes obviously won’t sustain a .538 average on balls in play, but at least early on, he looks the part of a strong DH option. Even with some regression to be expected, the torrid start has surely quelled any temptation for the White Sox to trade the “Yerminator.” The Marlins, meanwhile, figure to continue looking for catching help this summer and into next offseason, per Mish and Jackson.
A few more notes out of South Florida…
- While the Marlins may be seeking catching help now, they had one of the game’s top all-around backstops not long ago. Miami traded J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies prior to the 2018 season, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal sheds some light on talks that took place with another interested party: the Reds. Talks between Cincinnati and Miami weren’t a secret at the time, and it’s been previously reported that current second baseman Jonathan India and catcher Tucker Barnhart were among the players who could’ve potentially been sent to the Marlins in a Realmuto deal with the Reds. The breaking point in talks, according to Rosenthal, was that the Reds staunchly refused to part with flamethrowing righty Hunter Greene in the deal. Greene was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 Draft, and while he’s since had Tommy John surgery, he remains a highly regarded pitching prospect. Then again, righty Sixto Sanchez, whom the Marlins actually did pick up in their eventual trade of Realmuto, is widely considered among the game’s top overall young talents.
- Corey Dickerson doesn’t appear to be in the Marlins’ plans beyond 2021, Jackson and Mish add in the previously linked Herald column, making a trade at this year’s deadline appear possible. Dickerson stood out as a rather logical on-paper trade candidate in the first place, as a veteran on an expiring contract with an up-and-coming team that most do not expect to contend for a playoff berth. Dickerson, who’ll turn 32 in May, has batted just .259/.314/.402 through his first 243 plate appearances as a Marlin dating back to 2020. He inked a two-year, $17.5MM deal to serve as Miami’s primary left fielder, and while his power and exit velocity have dropped off, his strikeout and walk rates have actually improved a bit with the Fish. As of this year’s July 30 trade deadline, Dickerson will still have $2.97MM remaining on this year’s $8.5MM salary, plus an additional $1MM owed to him in the form of a deferred signing bonus. The Marlins could need to absorb a portion of that sum in order to bring about a trade.
Imagine if they got Yermin. Might of not had the torrid start but who knows. IMO smart that the red didn’t give up Greene. Hopefully their young outfielder can start to hit.
India/Barnhart was a solid offer. I thought Marlins were gonna take that until Phillies dangles Sanchez out there. Even w India’s early pro struggles – that offer had the higher ceiling. Sanchez was unloaded at his peak value. That being said – hard to pass on pitching prospects !
Phils sure could use Dickerson back in the lineup. Apparently nobody wants the CF job.
Not saying Dickerson would make a huge change but when the division is super competitive I feel like the Marlins wouldn’t give him to a rival. Even if the Marlins are in 5th by deadline I still can’t see it unless there are clear favs
Trust this Rockies fan, you don’t want Dickerson in CF. Strictly LF or DH. Worst OF arm I’ve seen since Johnny Damon.
As long as we’re going down memory lane, the Damon reference for some reason reminded me of the Delmon Young throw from the 2012 World Series.
Ever watched Khris Davis throw?
“Mercedes obviously won’t sustain a .538 average on balls in play”
Careful, Steve, you’ll get White Sox fans hounding you that players frequently outplay their peripherals.
I think most Sox fans understand this. Hence why some called for us to trade Avisail Garcia at his peak and why some didn’t want Colome back this year.
Yermin Mercedes is super valuable while Jimenez is out. Next year, not sure where he will play with Vaughn being presumptive DH but the Sox have a legendary team in their hands for the next coming years.
I think next year you will either see Vaughn and Abreu splitting time at first, or even a carousel between Eloy and Vaughn in Left/DH and Vaugh and Abreu at 1st/DH. Either way I am all for it with those 3 leading the way.
Legendary team of highly touted prospects. A la Braves 2019. Good luck w that
if you’ve actually watched mercedes hit, you’ll have seen that he’s clearly the best hitter on the white sox. if he isn’t the full time dh until he gets injured or becomes too old, the white sox will be MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE!!!!!!!!! vaughn and especially collins will never be able to carry mercedes’ jock strap! just watch the games, and if you know anything about hitting, you’ll see.
Has there been any news about Shane Greene?
What about Tom Green?
What about Mr. Green?
Or Mr Green Jeans.
An astute AL GM should have pried away Mercedes for probably not that much to be at least a part-time DH the moment Hahn made the obvious mistake in foresight of signing washed up Encarnacion in 2020 free agency for significant $$. Glad no one did! The self-scouting of what they had in Yermin to try solving their DH problems was atrocious going back to 2019 when it was a no brainer to make him a Sept call up, yet they didn’t. Better late than never he’s showing he can flat out hit like he has been at all levels.
Mercedes had 53 games in AAA entering last year and was 27. the idea that signing an established vet to play DH over him when the team was hoping to make the playoffs had anything to do with the team’s long-term confidence in Mercedes makes no sense.
Ah yes “the established vet” EE who couldn’t really catch up with anything 95+ before they signed him or Yonder Alonso before him. They had a shot to see Yermin as a 26yo call up playing out the ’19 string. A few of us diehards saw he could legitimately hit while he was a hidden gem, as opposed to a touted prospect. Yes with the goal of making the playoffs in ’20 would have taken the unproven hit machine 10yrs younger than the “risk averse” vet signing that really isn’t so risk averse with players well beyond their prime. Calculated risks.
For starters, Mercedes should have been called up in 2019, after they dumped Manny’s friend mid season. Not only did he rake in Charlotte, he raked in Birmingham, which is not a hitters environment. He had shown enough for a call up.
The White Sox were a fringe playoff team last season. They still were counting on a number of young unproven players at multiple positions. They could have gone with Collins and Mercedes at DH, to given the young players a chance. They also could have used that platoon, and cut EE once they realized he was cooked.
There is no reason why they couldn’t have given Mercedes a chance earlier.
Given that they still had MCann, there
Although the Marlins desperately need a catcher that can hit, Mercedes probably wouldn’t have fit the bill. No DH and below average pitch framing and defense would’ve made a trade for him questionable at least
Marlins should have been more aggressive in trying to bring JT back
Marlins weren’t going to give him the salary he wanted.
Yeah but maybe a free time share on south beach ?
You have a point…
And why not? Jeter is loaded
Actually, the Marlins did offer JT an extension that amounted to about the same AAV as the current contract with the Phillies, but what would’ve amounted to an extra year from what he has now with the extra year.
JT refused it and asked to be traded.
@MarlinsFanBase exactly, they could have gotten him for even less this offseason than what they originally offered. And it would have put an end to their search for a solution at the catcher position. And it would have had the added benefit of humiliating a division rival.
That could’ve been the approach. The problem is that none of us are really sure how Jeter and Co. felt about JT asking to be traded. When they came aboard, they made it clear that they didn’t want any players that didn’t want to be part of the team. This was stated shortly after Ozuna rejected another extension offer from the Marlins, which led him being listed on the trade block with Stanton. Shortly after that statement, Yelich asked to be traded and then JT as well, when the Marlins wanted to rebuild around Yelich and JT. They reiterated their stance about not keeping players who didn’t want to be part of their rebuild and team. I’m wondering if Jeter and Co. may have chosen to not pursue JT because of that.
Contreras should be signed when he becomes a FA at the end of 2022 by the Fish… they definitely need to ship off Alfaro this offseason, and bring in a vet for the 2022 season to bridge the gap to Contreras.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that short of Alfaro morphing overnight into something excellent, the Marlins will be moving on from him at the end of this year…if not sooner.
At this point I’ll settle for 2019 Alfaro
Even that is looking like a hard proposition. I don’t know if it is work ethic or if Covid affected his body that much.
Interesting thing though. Last year’s run seems to have the Marlins now separating the men from the boys in their franchise. Since then…
Harold Ramirez gone. (after they kept him at the alternate site long after he recovered from Covid; and then he gets injured in his first game back)
Jordan Yamamoto done. (remember Mattingly and the front office expressing disappointment in his conditioning after returning from the first Covid shutdown of Spring Training?)
Isan Diaz down. (He’s struggled since being up, but I think his opting out of last season, then opting back in during the playoff hunt and Jazz being brought up, before Isan got hurt, left a bad taste in the mouths of the Marlins brain-trust. Diaz’s days as a Marlin may be numbered.)
Lewis Brinson down. (Kind of long overdue. With us seeing how valuable Sierra in combination with Berti coming off the bench, Harrison showing that he can easily replace him too doesn’t help Brinson’s case. Brinson may be on his last legs with the Marlins. It show something or be gone time.)
Alfaro. (lost his job for the playoffs. This year has continued to show setbacks and minimal or lack of progress. The offseason pursuit of Contreras is the beginning. If Alfaro doesn’t get it together, it’s clearly time to move in another direction for a starting catcher.)