The Luis Arraez trade may be just the beginning for Miami.
“The entire team is up for grabs,” one rival exec says.
Ace left-hander Jesus Luzardo and star closer Tanner Scott got many hits in winter and probably remain the most coveted Marlins. Luzardo (elbow) looked good in his first rehab start and has two more years of control to go. The Cubs and others could use Scott, brilliant last year.
Josh Bell and Jake Burger, like Arraez acquisitions of the previous regime, also could go.
The Arraez deal wasn’t only surprising for its timing but also by the financial arrangement — whereby the previously profligate Padres got the shallow-pocketed Marlins to not only take Woo-Suk Go’s $4.5 million deal but pay down Arraez’s $10.6M salary to the minimum.
Dillon Head, whose comp on the upside is Kenny Lofton, is the key. Outfielder Jakob Marsee and infielder/outfielder Nathan Martorella are predicted to be OK big-leaguers while Go is said by two scouts to be terrible (they used saltier language).
The Marlins also are expected to lose their excellent manager Skip Schumaker after the team agreed to drop the 2025 team option. Whether he lasts the year is a question, but someone should hire him (his old Cardinals team?).
Cardinals manager Oli Marmol and Blue Jays skipper John Schneider look vulnerable, but shouldn’t someone look at those front offices?
With Tyler O’Neill starring in Boston, that’s a full outfield-plus the Cards gave away (Randy Arozarena, Adolis Garcia, Tommy Pham). The Jays’ backup plan to Shohei Ohtani seemed to be useful utility players, which is a weird plan.