Atlanta Braves have to wonder: just how much would Christian Yelich cost?
The Ozuna Deal
Right off the bat, I’ll suggest that the Giancarlo Stanton trade was unique, given the circumstances. Since GS held all the cards, I think the Marlins were perhaps lucky to get what they go for him.
But the Ozuna trade might not have been much better than that.
Miami received these players from St. Louis in exchange for Ozuna:
- RHP Sandy Alcantara
- RHP Zac Gallen
- LHP Daniel Castano
- RF Magneuris Sierra
Were you expecting these guys to be from among the best of the St. Louis roster? Guess again.
Other than Alcantara, none of the rest breached the St. Louis Top 10 – at least from the perspective of MLB Pipeline. He was variously listed in the 5-10 range, depending on who you would ask.
Alcantara is now the new #1 for Miami, though, Sierra their #5, and Gallen is now the 15th best Marlins prospect.
Maybe is would help for perspective to note that even at those numbers, Alcantara still isn’t considered to be a Top 100 overall prospect.
MLB Pipeline projected Alcantara at a ’50’ grade overall with Sierra getting the same 50 grade as a hitter/defender (“elite level“). Gallen got a 45. Castano doesn’t have a grade – or even a reference – from the rankers I checked into.
Yet that’s what landed St. Louis a controllable (2 years) slugging outfielder in his prime – and he’s still not being paid that much (perhaps $11 million in 2018).
Honestly, I’d think other teams might have jumped in if they’d known this was the price of a seat at the table.
Time to Lick Their Wounds?
Maybe that’s part of the reason that the Marlins are taking a moment to consider their situation before launching into negotiations for Yelich – because they haven’t done a very good job on their other deals this off-season.
Perhaps it was that the Marlins were almost too familiar with the lesser Cardinals’ prospects, having already vetted them in preparation for a possible Stanton exchange. One “on” those names, the Cardinals were perhaps successful in keeping them in play while downplaying those that the Marlins should have had more interest in – higher up in the Cards farm ranks.
Everyone would concede that because of the longer level of team control than Miami has with Yelich, the return for him should indeed be “more”.
But if the Ozuna deal is to be some sort of yardstick, then Miami might be better served to find somebody in their Front Office who can help them a bit better with the analytics in valuing their own players.
Oh snap, that’s right… that guy now works for the Braves.