After selling off Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna, you’d have to think that Christian Yelich is in play from Miami. But at what cost?
The Atlanta Braves had to sit on the sidelines last week as the Miami Marlins dealt away two-thirds of their starting outfield. With both Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis still entrenched at each corner position, it wasn’t appropriate to consider adding more outfielders.
All that might have changed this weekend, though, as the difficult task of moving Kemp was accomplished in a single, stunning move.
We’ve long thought that should the Braves wish to get younger and cheaper, Markakis would be the easier of that pair to move, so speculation is going to be rampant about exactly what Alex Anthopoulos still has in mind to do now that Kemp is (at least temporarily) a Dodger once again.
Another Direction
For many, though, Christian Yelich has been the prize target already. With his combination of skills, many have thought him perhaps the best of the trio that Derek Jeter has broken up.
Word came as well that he isn’t happy with the direction of his team and would like to be dealt elsewhere, but at last look, the Marlins seem intent on stepping back for a cooling off period before jumping into another deal – if they opt to move him at all.
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
"Those who cover the Marlins said Wednesday (Dec 13) they could see the team waiting till January to deal Yelich, but the general consensus was that he would be dealt, not kept."
O’Brien also suggested that the Braves have shown interest in Yelich in the past, but (a) that was prior to the arrival of Anthopoulos, and (b) he would not comment about specific players.
That said, there’s a lot of teams that would like to have Yelich’s services for their own clubs, and it would be more surprising if AA didn’t at least kick the tires.
But that possibility seems to be on hold for the rest of the holiday season, which leads to my question: how much would Miami want for him anyway?