The Marlins continued their fire sale today when they shipped outfielder Marcel Ozuna to the St. Louis Cardinals. Briefly after the trade went down, the Marlins spoke about how Christian Yelich, their last bonafide asset, is the type of player they wish to build around.
Impression have now is marlins intend to hold onto Christian Yelich, so there’s that
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 13, 2017
Fast forward a few hours, and it sound like the Marlins are willing to spare Yelich of a horrible fate.
Marlins are regrouping now and plan to talk to Christian Yelich about how he feels about staying. He’s frustrated to see 3 best friends/top players go. So he may say he wants to go, which may trigger trade of him, too.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 13, 2017
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Christian Yelich DEFINITELY wants to go. This was evidenced a few days ago shortly after Miami dealt Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees.
🤔
— Christian Yelich (@ChristianYelich) December 9, 2017
I don’t blame Yelich for wanting to leave at all. No one wants to be stuck playing for what looks to be a 100 loss team. Especially a player of Yelich’s caliber. He would be stuck in baseball Hell for the next 4 years if the Marlins truly do attempt to build around him.
I wrote shortly after the Stanton trade on how Yelich could be traded, and how the White Sox fit the bill for his services. He is young, controllable, and most importantly, a great baseball player. Unfortunately, the biggest factor here is his control as he is signed for cheap through 2021. It is because of this that the Marlins would ask for a package similar to what the White Sox got for Jose Quintana, which is why earlier I figured the White Sox wouldn’t get involved. But with it becoming more and more clear that Yelich will be dealt, the White Sox might actually insert themselves into the conversation. They definitely have the prospects to get a deal done, and could get pretty creative depending on how interested they are.
If marlins do deal yelich, they will seek an even bigger haul due to 4 years of control. Phillies, dbacks, dodgers, braves are among many teams that have shown interest over last couple years. No serious talks before marlins talk to yelich tho.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 13, 2017
Possible Package?
I don’t want to go out and say “so and so ++ would get Yelich to the White Sox”, But if talks between the two clubs do pick up, I’d expect that the White Sox would have to send at least three players, but more than likely four. Blake Rutherford and Dylan Cease would almost certainly have to go to Miami just to get talks started. From there the White Sox might have to throw in someone like Carson Fulmer and/or a lottery ticket. The point is, the price will be steep for any club to obtain Yelich from Miami. But if Miami asks for one of either Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, or Luis Robert, I politely say no thank you, and hang up the phone.
Potential Lineup
For the sake of this article, let’s say the White Sox do get Yelich before the 2018 season starts. A lineup would look something like this:
CF- Christian Yelich
2B- Yoan Moncada
1B- Jose Abreu
RF- Avisail Garcia
C- Welington Castillo
LF- Nicky Delmonico
SS- Tim Anderson
DH- Matt Davidson
3B- Yolmer Sanchez
All things considered, this is a pretty solid lineup. While the White Sox do make sense for Yelich, we have to remember that he is going to be very expensive, and there are going to be a plethora of teams to compete with in getting him. Rick Hahn knows he will eventually have to trade some young talent of his own, but that is more likely to happen later on. It is because of this that I still say the White Sox more than likely won’t be the team that trades for him, but since they do have the prospects to deal and he does fit their timeline, it isn’t completely out of the question.
