Ozuna

Don't Look Now!

All winter long we have been hearing the rumblings about the Marlins' desire to trade Marcel Ozuna. For some reason, Ozuna and owner Jeff Loria have developed an antagonistic relationship, and Loria has instructed his staff to "send the kid packing". This idea has never really made any sense to me.

On February 15, 2008, Ozuna was signed by the Marlins as a non-drafted free agent. He performed exceptionally well throughout his minor league career, and, at the age of 22, was promoted to the Big Club on April 30, 2013. He performed well in his first stint in the majors, but suffered a thumb injury on July 22, and went on the DL, had surgery, and was finished for 2013. In 2014, he played 153 games in CF, had 23 HR's, 85 RBI's. He hit .269, but slugged .455. He had a .985 fielding pct, and had 10 assists.

Why would a team, built from the ground up, want to trade a  a "young, 5-tool, cost controlled" player, who was a home grown talent, with a huge upside? (especially in the power category) I understand them "asking for a huge return", since he does have a significant upside......but why take a chance that you get back players that "don't pan out", especially considering that they'd probably need to sign another OF to take his place?? (Gillespie is solid, he just doesn't have the potential upside)

It's my belief that the Marlins should keep Ozuna in CF for 2016.....unless they are going to go out and sign Cespedes to play LF, and move Yelich back to CF.

Copy & Paste the link below..... Apparently, the Marlins' new manager (Mattingly) and their new hitting coach (Bonds), both want to "keep Ozuna around", because they believe in the talent. I'm not a big Mattingly fan......or a Bonds fan, but we need to trust that these two guys know SOMETHING more than Loria, and hopefully.....he will stop interfering......and listen to the coaches that he hired to "make baseball decisions".

"http://inningseaters.sportsblog.com/posts/10459820/marcell-ozuna-trade-not-happening-thanks-to-don-mattingly--barry-bonds.html"

From The Bleachers,

Montu Masters