Know Your Enemy: The Miami Marlins

Last season wasn’t great for the Miami Marlins. They did finish in second place in the National League East, but they didn’t play .500 baseball and were 20 games back of the Washington Nationals.

Before the offseason, former owner Jeffrey Loria sold the club to Bruce Sherman, who pulled in interest from some former athletes, including Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter. The deal was official in August, and Jeter was named Chief Executive Officer of the team. Under him, the team made several moves that will have an impact this year and for several seasons to come.

The first move the Marlins made during the offseason was sending second baseman Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners. He was due to make $10.5 million this season and is under control through 2021. In an effort to reduce payroll, the Marlins sent Gordon to the pacific northwest in exchange for Nick Neidert, Christopher Torres, and Robert Dugger.

The team was nowhere close to being done. Jeter’s front office sent Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees. In exchange, the Marlins received second baseman Starlin Castro and minor leaguers Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers. The latter’s cousin Rafael Devers plays third base for the Boston Red Sox.

After the trade with the Yankees, the Marlins sent Marcell Ozuna packing. The team dealt the outfielder to the St. Louis Cardinals for Sandy Alcantra, Magneuris Sierra, Zac Gallen, and Daniel Castano.

After the Cardinals trade was completed, Miami moved another Marlins outfielder. This time it was Christian Yelich, who was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers for highly-touted prospect Lewis Brinson and three other prospects: Isan Diaz, Monte Harrison, and Jordan Yamamoto. And after trading their starting outfielders, the Marlins brought back a former Marlin: Cameron Maybin, who signed a one-year deal worth $3.25 million.

As a result of those moves, the Marlins are not expected to be a competitive team this season. The acquisition of Castro didn’t provide the Marlins with an upgrade from what they likely would have gotten out of Gordon at second base. Maybin is a major downgrade from any one of the three outfielders the team traded away, and he’s just one player.

On top of all of that, the team didn’t make any acquisitions for its starting rotation and will likely lean on Jose Urena and Dan Straily to lead the charge in 2018.

It will likely be a rough season for the Marlins, with the odds that they’ll finish in last place in the NL East very high.