Miami Marlins

Outfielder Cameron Maybin struggled at the plate during the 2017 season, but the Miami Marlins have provided him with another opportunity.

On Wednesday, the Marlins announced the deal with Maybin (h/t Joe Frisaro of MLB.com) after Tim Healey of the Sun Sentinel first reported Maybin had signed with the Marlins and was already at spring training. He previously played for the organization from 2008-10.

Maybin's somewhat journeyman career has contained stints for the Detroit Tigers, then-Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros.

He finished the 2017 campaign on the Astros after they acquired him from the Angels in August before the waiver trade deadline.

In all, Maybin slashed .228/.318/.365 in 114 games for Los Angeles and Houston in 2017. While his 10 home runs tied a career high and his 33 stolen bases were impressive, he struggled to make much of an impact for the Astros during the pennant race, with a .186/.226/.441 slash line in 21 games.

A thumb injury was partially to blame for limiting him to just 94 games in 2016 during a second spell with the Tigers. He was more effective in those games, though, slashing .315/.383/.418 with 15 steals.

At his best, Maybin is a speed threat on the bases, which makes up for his lack of game-changing power. He tallied 40 stolen bases in 2011 for the Padres and has 164 in his career.

However, that speed didn't translate into particularly impressive defense in recent years. According to FanGraphs, Maybin was responsible for minus-11 total defensive runs saved above average in center field in 2016 and minus-16 in 2015.

Those numbers were a far cry from the plus-14 he posted in the same category in 2011 for the Padres.

Despite the injuries and declining defense, Maybin has shown enough at the plate and as a speedster on the bases for the Marlins to offer him a deal. He is just 30 years old and theoretically still in his prime, and Miami will look for consistent production amid a rebuild in 2018.

The Miami Marlins will wear Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hats before Friday's Grapefruit League opener to commemorate victims of the school shooting.

According to the Sun Sentinel's Tim Healey, the Marlins will don the Stoneman caps during pregame workouts prior to commencing spring training against the St. Louis Cardinals. MLB's uniform restrictions will likely prevent the team from sporting the caps during the exhibition contest at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.  

Seventeen people died after a gunman opened fire at the school in Parkland, Florida. Rookie outfielder Lewis Brinson, who is from nearby Coral Springs, told Healey that he visited hospitalized shooting victims over the weekend:  

"I wanted to go visit them. It doesn't matter if they were brother, if they were kin, if they were kids I never met before. I wanted to show them I'm here for them. We're all thinking about them, and I know the city of Parkland and the state of Florida is behind those kids. They're warriors. The stuff that they've been through — 17-, 16-, 15-year-olds shouldn't have to go through."  

UPDATE:

According to MLB, all 30 clubs will wear the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School caps before their opening exhibition games: 

#ParklandStrong: All 30 teams to don Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS caps before games this weekend with option to wear in-game. pic.twitter.com/FLNqcFalBx

— MLB (@MLB) February 21, 2018

Teams will also have the option to wear the apparel during the contests.

Christian Yelich said the September 2016 death of ace starting pitcher Jose Fernandez served as an unexpected turning point for the Miami Marlins organization, leading to the offseason overhaul that included his trade to the Milwaukee Brewers last month.

On Tuesday, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com passed along comments from Yelich, who said the Marlins felt they were in a position to contend for a World Series title until Fernandez died in a boating accident:

"From talking to the guys there—the guys who got traded and some of the guys who are still there—the consensus from our clubhouse is that everything changed after the tragedy with Jose. I think everybody figured our window to win was with him. You have a bona fide ace, a No. 1 starter, and you kind of have something there with that. It's nobody's fault what happened. It's a tragedy in every sense of the word. Nobody could have seen that coming."

Ray Sanchez of CNN noted last March the final report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission determined Fernandez was intoxicated and speeding while piloting a boat that crashed into a jetty near Miami Beach, Florida, killing himself and two passengers.

The Cuba native, who was 24 at the time of his death, emerged one of the best pitchers in baseball. He posted a 2.58 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 589 strikeouts in 471.1 innings across 76 starts for the Marlins.

He was the rotation cornerstone for a budding roster that also featured a lineup with Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon.

None of those players remain with the team following a massive winter shake-up.

Yelich told Crasnick they felt the players were in place to make a serious surge into the championship conversation, but it didn't happen without Fernandez, and the franchise decided it was time for a change:

"We went through that rebuild, and we were so close. We had all the pieces. If a few things break differently, you never know how things turn out. I think a lot of the guys feel that way. We were really close and had a chance to do something special with that group. We just weren't able to get it done. And when you don't get it done in this business, teams have to move on. That's what happened with us."

Along with his trade to the Brew Crew, Stanton was shipped to the New York Yankees, Ozuna was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals, and Gordon was sent to the Seattle Mariners.

The Marlins mostly received prospects in return to jump-start a new rebuilding effort.

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Dan Straily said he's "glad" the organization traded outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich, adding, "If they don't want to be here, good for them."

On Friday, Steven Wine of the Associated Press relayed comments from Straily, one of the veteran players not dealt so far during the team's offseason overhaul. 

"I really agreed with what happened," he said. "I feel like with the pieces they brought in, this might flip around a little quicker than people realize. I'm not saying today, but I'm excited to be here and try to mentor guys coming into the big leagues for the first time."

The Marlins' new owners, led by Bruce Sherman and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, entered their first winter in charge with a goal to dramatically reduce the team's payroll.

In an eight-day span starting Dec. 7, they traded Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners, Stanton to the Yankees and Marcell Ozuna to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yelich's agent, Joe Longo, responded to those moves by telling ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick his client's relationship with the franchise was "irretrievably broken" and he sought a trade before spring training.

Miami granted Yelich's wish by shipping him to the Milwaukee Brewers in late January.

Straily is taking a different approach. The starter, who's under team control through 2020, told the AP he hopes to see the retooling process through to the end.

"That's the goal," said the right-hander, whose $3.375 million salary ranks seventh on the team. "I want to be part of the rebuilding and part of a championship."

Straily, who owns a 4.25 career ERA in six MLB seasons, should serve as the ace of a Marlins starting rotation that's otherwise devoid of proven talent.

Former Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria will reportedly not be sharing profits from his sale of the franchise with Miami-Dade County.

According to the Miami Herald's Douglas Hanks, Loria's attorneys have informed county officials "not to expect any profit-sharing revenue from last year's $1.2 billion sale."

The Associated Press' Tim Reynolds confirmed the report and added Miami-Dade County officials are "livid."

According to Hanks, an agreement between Loria and the county stated he "must share 5 percent of any sale profits with Miami-Dade and the city of Miami if he closes a deal by April 2018." That's after the city and county borrowed nearly $500 million to help build a new stadium.

The Marlins, meanwhile, paid $150 million toward the construction project.

Loria officially closed a sale of the club to a group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter on Oct. 2.

However, Hanks wrote Friday that "Loria could deduct team debt, certain expenses and taxes tied to a sale, and county officials and team executives were privately predicting Loria wouldn't agree to give up any of his revenue from the October sale to Derek Jeter and partners."

Loria, 77, originally bought the team in 2002 for $158 million.

Outfielder Christian Yelich no longer wants to be part of the Miami Marlins organization, according to his agent. 

Per ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, agent Joe Longo described Yelich's relationship with the Marlins as "irretrievably broken" and said the 26-year-old should be traded before spring training begins:

"The relationship between player and team is irretrievably broken. It's soured. He's part of the old ownership regime. The new ownership regime needs to get new parts into this plan and move forward, and he needs to get on with his career where he's got a chance to win. The big issue is him winning and winning now.

"He loves the city of Miami. He loves the fans. He's had nothing but a good experience in South Florida, and he feels sorry where they ended up. But I think having him report [to spring training] and attempting to include him moving forward is going to be uncomfortable for both sides. I don't see how it's going to work."

The Marlins have been among the most active teams this offseason, though their moves have largely been subtracting talent and payroll from the MLB roster. 

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reported in October that Marlins ownership intended to cut at least $50 million in 2018 salaries to get the payroll down to $90 million.

Giancarlo Stanton, Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna have all been traded. Stanton and Gordon were owed $35.8 million next season, per Cot's Baseball Contracts. Ozuna signed a $9 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday to avoid arbitration, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. 

Yelich figures to have substantial trade value for the Marlins because of his age and team-friendly contract. He's due to make $43.25 million over the next four years with a team option for 2022. 

A first-round draft pick in 2010, Yelich has hit .290/.369/.432 with 59 home runs in five MLB seasons. 

Starlin Castro has yet to play a game for the Miami Marlins, but the four-time All-Star reportedly knows he doesn't want to be on the team when the 2018 season begins. 

Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Castro wants to be traded to avoid being "part of another rebuilding process the way he was with the Cubs."

Castro was dealt to the Marlins as part of the deal that sent Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees last month. 

The Marlins have been one of the most active teams this offseason. Stanton, Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna have all been traded as part of a front-office initiative to cut payroll. 

In addition to Castro's desire to be traded, MLB.com's Jon Morosi reported on Dec. 28 the Marlins have also had discussions with teams about dealing outfielder Christian Yelich and catcher J.T. Realmuto. 

Castro is signed for a total of $21 million through the 2019 season with a team option for $16 million in 2020, per Spotrac. 

The 27-year-old Castro spent the previous two seasons with the Yankees. He posted a career-high .792 OPS in 112 games during the 2017 season. 

Arte Moreno has a mixed record in his time owning the Los Angeles Angels. Some good. Some bad. Some in between. Not the best owner. Not the worst.

But for years after Moreno bought the team from Disney in 2003, there was one thing he was known for that convinced fans he cared about them. Arte Moreno was the guy who took over the team and immediately lowered the price of beer at the ballpark. No matter what else he did, he was the guy who made beer cheaper.

"The People's Owner," Forbes called him.

Derek Jeter should click the link.

First impressions matter, and if Moreno would always be the guy who gave you a drink, Jeter is on his way to always being the guy who traded the MVP...and pushed Mr. Marlin out...and turned Marlins Man into a former season-ticket holder.

He came in as the guy who could save South Florida from Jeffrey Loria and David Samson, who were hugely (and rightly) unpopular as owner and president of the Miami Marlins. Three months later, he's the guy who already has some in the area convinced he's going to be just as bad as they were.

It doesn't matter that in many ways the perception is worse than the reality. The perception matters, and it's bad enough to make you wonder who would ever be a fan of this team. Who would ever buy a ticket?

First impressions matter, and this is the first impression Jeter has left since he and his investment group paid $1.2 billion to take over the Marlins.

"It's because he doesn't know what he's doing," said Jonathan Zaslow, host of the Zaslow, Romberg & Amber morning show on Miami's 790 The Ticket. "It really is that simple. He's a shortstop. No more, no less."

Jeter may well turn the Marlins into a winner before he's done. He may prove to be as successful as an owner as he was as a shortstop. He might build a winning team and rebuild relationships with the community that suffered under Loria and Samson. It's entirely possible the early baseball decisions he oversaw and directed will prove to be the right ones.

But this is where he starts. Unless and until some of those other things come through, this is what Jeter the owner will be.

He's not The People's Owner. He's the shortstop who doesn't know what he's doing.

He's the guy so out of touch that the day the Marlins traded MVP Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees—Jeter's former team!—at the winter meetings in Orlando, Jeter was back home sitting in a suite watching the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football.

It doesn't matter that he stayed back in Miami to announce a charity initiative to help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, Miami and Key West. It doesn't matter that while the headlines read "Jeter trades Stanton," he's actually the CEO and it was general manager Mike Hill who worked out the trade. It doesn't even matter that rival executives are near-unanimous in believing the Marlins did the right thing by moving Stanton's massive contract.

In fact, the early reviews on Jeter as owner are that he's a good listener and a hard worker. People who have met with him say he seems committed to player development and scouting in a way Loria wasn't and that the franchise has a direction it never did when Loria and Samson were in charge.

"There's a feeling it's going to be a good place to be a baseball person," said one Marlins employee, who nevertheless asked not to be identified.

Veteran baseball officials with rival teams offered cautious praise for the Marlins' early moves since Jeter officially took over the team Oct. 3. As unpopular as those moves have been with fans in South Florida, there's a general consensus in the game that Loria's mismanagement had made them necessary.

"I don't think anyone in baseball would disagree with what they're doing," one American League executive said. "If anyone does, they don't know the depth of the debt issues they were facing."

It was never realistic to try to build a winning team right away, even with a lineup that produced more runs than the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017. Keeping the team together would have required a payroll rise from $115 million to around $140 million, and adding enough pitching to have a chance to compete may have required spending $170 million or more. With the Marlins' subpar revenues and weak farm system, that was never a workable option.

It may well be that Jeter's biggest early problems have been the result of perception more than reality. Then again, it's a perception he has helped feed, and perception matters.

First impressions matter, and this is the first impression Jeter and Co. have left in their new home.

"We now know that Jeter will be just as unpopular as Loria, though fiscally smarter, and that he doesn't care what you think," Greg Cote wrote in a Dec. 9 column for the Miami Herald.

The danger in that comes if fans respond by saying they don't care what Jeter says, or even what he does. That's what happened with Loria, perfectly expressed by a woman I spoke to at a Marlins spring training game in 2013, for a story that ran on CBSSports.com.

"It's almost like they defy you to care," Susan Hart said that day.

Whatever else happened, that part was supposed to change the day Loria sold the team. That, as much as selling tickets, adding talent and winning games, is the challenge Jeter faces, the one he is having trouble accomplishing.

He needs to convince people to care.

---

The first report that Loria was thinking about selling the Marlins came from Forbes on Dec. 15, 2016. It said Loria wanted $1.7 billion for the team, which sounded absurd for a franchise that had long struggled to prove Major League Baseball could work in South Florida.

Four months later, just after Opening Day, Fox Business reported Jeter's interest in buying the team. The legendary Yankees shortstop seemed to quickly become MLB's preferred buyer, and while it took all summer, the group led by Jeter and Florida businessman Bruce Sherman were unveiled as the new owners in an Oct. 3 press conference in Miami. The purchase price was $1.2 billion, with Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reporting that Jeter put up about $25 million of his own money.

However much money was his, there was never any question about who was in charge or who would get the credit or the blame. Jeter is the CEO, and it's not just a title. Even before the sale was final, every Marlins move was linked to the rookie owner.

Right away, there were issues. Jeter asked the outgoing ownership team to fire ex-manager Jack McKeon, Hall of Fame advisors Andre Dawson and Tony Perez and Jeff Conine, the former player who became known as "Mr. Marlin." He would later backtrack slightly, offering them contracts at $25,000, according to Bleacher Report sources, but the effect was the same. Four big, popular names who were associated with the Marlins under Loria were suddenly gone.

So was television announcer Rich Waltz. Jeter later blamed Fox Sports for the Waltz firing, but a source said Jeter was the one pushing for "a new voice."

Various Marlins executives were also dumped, which isn't completely unusual when a new owner takes over. Loria was known for giving big contracts to his favorites, and it was understandable Jeter would want to make his own decisions. But even one of those moves blew up after Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported Dec. 1 that the Marlins had fired longtime scout Marty Scott while Scott was recovering from cancer surgery.

By that time, though, the bigger issue was Stanton, who led the league with 59 home runs and became the first Marlin to be named the National League's Most Valuable Player. Jeter's Marlins were talking seriously about trading him, and the reaction in South Florida wasn't good.

When the Marlins eventually traded Stanton to the New York Yankees on Dec. 10, the reaction was even worse.

---

For all the other moves Jeter's Marlins have made, it's the Stanton deal and the decision to rebuild that has caused by far the biggest local stir. While executives around the game saw it as the necessary dumping of a contract that never had made sense for a team with below-average revenues, local fans saw only echoes of previous Marlins fire sales. This was the same franchise sent into sell mode by Wayne Huizenga immediately after it won the 1997 World Series, the same team that traded Miguel Cabrera in 2007 and Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle in 2012.

"Baseball has betrayed South Florida," popular Miami sports talk host Dan Le Batard bellowed at Commissioner Rob Manfred in a contentious Dec. 20 interview on ESPN Radio.

For Le Batard, the issue was whether MLB knew going in that Jeter planned to trade the team's biggest star. Manfred contended that baseball "did not have player-specific plans" before approving Jeter and Sherman as the new owners. Le Batard called Manfred a liar, and it went from there.

It made for great radio, and the commissioner didn't come off well. He struggled to explain why fans should give the Marlins their support and was unconvincing in defending the new owners against charges they are seriously underfunded.

"You have no idea what the cash was in this deal," Manfred told Le Batard. "This club after the transaction had the same amount of debt as it did pre-transaction."

The Marlins' books aren't public, so there's no way to prove whether that is technically true. But the perception that Jeter's group is underfunded is widespread in the game and in South Florida, and Jeter hasn't helped it by continuing to solicit new investors.

Jeter has met with local business executives, a smart and needed move to build community support that was lacking in the Loria days. But when he held a "Breakfast with the Miami Marlins and CEO Derek Jeter" in November, local radio host Andy Slater reported Jeter was also asking people to invest.

SLATER SCOOP: Derek Jeter hosting private breakfast tomorrow. Multiple invitees tell me it’s to gain interest in financially investing in Marlins, advertising, and buying premium tickets. pic.twitter.com/exFlqcF4QL

— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) November 29, 2017

Around that same time, Jon Heyman got hold of an "investment teaser" the Marlins had sent to potential investors. Heyman quoted two people who received the emails as saying the Marlins were hoping to raise as much as $250 million.

At a town hall meeting with about 200 season-ticket holders Dec. 19, Jeter insisted his group has enough money to run the team.

"Our group is a bunch of financially successful individuals, not motivated by near-term cash flow needs," he said, according to a transcript provided by the team. "This is an organization that has been losing a lot of money—a significant amount of money. We did not buy this organization to continue that trend of losing money—and more importantly, losing games. It's been 14 years since this organization has been in the postseason. That's a long time. More of the same is not the answer. There are changes needed. We have a plan. We will put this team in a financially sound and stable position."

To a fanbase soured by previous Marlins sales, that was hardly a satisfactory answer.

It didn't help that when the Miami Herald got hold of a pre-sale document Jeter's group provided to investors, it showed a projected "cash flow" profit of $68 million for 2018. While the projection seemed wildly optimistic, based on negotiating a huge new local television deal and increasing ticket revenue, it fed the image of another owner who cared about his bottom line rather than how many games the team wins or loses.

"Without the previous fire sales, we'd have to have a little perspective," Zaslow said. "Two World Series titles, but they haven't made the postseason in 14 years. Obviously, something needs to change, even if it's going to be bad at first. We've seen what happened in Chicago and Houston. It wouldn't be that big a deal.

"But the whole selling point on the new ballpark was that these types of moves were never going to be necessary ever again. That park opened just five years ago, and all we hear now is how the team is losing all this money. It feels like a scam."

For fans who have been let down before, it's not all that comforting to hear that in trading seven major leaguers since June of this year, the Marlins have begun to remake their system. Eight of the team's current top 15 prospects, as ranked by MLB.com, arrived in those trades. The Marlins should do even better if they trade outfielder Christian Yelich and/or catcher J.T. Realmuto, who both expressed discomfort with the rebuilding effort, as confirmed by Bleacher Report sources. For now, though, the Marlins are telling other teams they plan to build around Yelich and Realmuto.

---

Zaslow also attended the town hall, and he disputed the idea it was a free-for-all with irate fans tearing into Jeter.

"I think Jeter handled himself really well," Zaslow said. "He listened to every fan who had a question, and it was for over 90 minutes. All things considered, it was pretty tame. You had a couple of fans who expressed their anger, one woman who was very sad that Ichiro [Suzuki] is gone, and the absurdity that was Marlins Man."

Ah yes, Marlins Man. He's Laurence Leavy, a local attorney you've no doubt seen sitting behind home plate at every big game in every stadium, wearing a bright orange Marlins jersey. He's the team's self-styled and self-appointed biggest fan, and he announced at the town hall that he hasn't renewed the season tickets he has held since the Marlins were born in 1993.

"I'm very angry," Leavy said, according to Jackson. "This makes us miss Jeffrey Loria. Who would have thought that?"

As Leavy no doubt wanted, his speech at the town hall got national attention, in large part because he began by asking Jeter, "Do you know me?"

The better question after the town hall was whether we really know Derek Jeter, and whether we yet know what he'll be like as an owner. The early missteps have harmed his image, but the eventual verdict will depend on whether Jeter can turn the Marlins into winners on and off the field.

Multiple people inside the Marlins front office described him as a hard worker and a good listener, but even they struggled to say what exactly Jeter intends to do with the team. While there's some optimism that he will use the savings gained by trading Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon to fund spending on scouting and development that Loria nixed, Jeter himself has yet to make that commitment.

Jeter has said repeatedly that he doesn't like operating through the media, but his reluctance to speak in anything other than generalities has left it for others to define what he is and what he'll do. Instead of making a Moreno-like gesture and immediately lowering prices, Jeter has allowed the firings and the trades to become his early legacy.

For all the work he has done, the image of the Jeter Marlins so far is of their best player putting on the Yankees uniform Jeter once wore with pride. It's of Stanton using his Instagram account to speak of the "unprofessional, circus times" in Miami, and to use his press conference to suggest Marlins fans "watch from afar" as the team rebuilds.

And it's of the new CEO, skipping that press conference in Orlando and instead sitting in a suite watching the Miami Dolphins play on Monday Night Football.

Images do count, and Jeter should know that as well as anyone. For two decades as the Yankees shortstop, playing in the biggest market and the biggest fishbowl, he carefully preserved his image.

In three months as an owner, he has let that image slip.

    

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter has reportedly projected an increase in profits and a rise in attendance despite the new ownership group's decision to cut payroll drastically since assuming control of the franchise.

According to documents obtained by the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, the front office is projecting a profit somewhere in the range of $23 million and $68 million for 2018. The figures vary because, as Jackson notes, the high end of the projection is "based on the internal projection that Fox will give the Marlins a $44.8 million up front payment as part of a renegotiated TV deal."

Jackson added the Marlins' profits could clock in below $23 million "if ambitious revenue targets aren't met." 

Furthermore, Jeter has initially projected $37.5 million in ticket revenue—which is $7.5 million more than the Marlins generated last season. 

In 2017, the Marlins' average home attendance of 20,395 was the lowest in the National League and third-lowest in Major League Baseball. 

And considering the Marlins have traded reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton, outfielder Marcell Ozuna and second baseman Dee Gordon over the course of the offseason in an effort to trim their payroll, fans could be dissuaded from turning out in 2018. 

That much became clear in December, when Jeter appeared at a contentious town hall meeting for season-ticket holders where fans shared their frustrations with the organization. Laurence Leavy, better known as Marlins Man, told Jeter he didn't want to pay to watch a "Triple A team," per Jackson. 

The Miami Marlins appear set to continue their fire sale by putting outfielder Christian Yelich and catcher J.T. Realmuto on the trade block. 

According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, the team has been involved in "active trade discussions" for both players although no deals appear to be close. Unsurprisingly, the asking price is high for both young players.

The Marlins have been slashing payroll throughout the offseason since coming under new ownership, trading away top players like Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon.

Yelich is not only one of the highest-priced players remaining on the roster but is also the only player signed past 2020. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, he is owed $58.25 million over the next five years and has been "in play" for a deal for the past few weeks.

The 26-year-old hit .282 last season with 18 home runs and 16 stolen bases and already has both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger on his resume. He earned MVP votes in 2016 thanks to his career-high .859 on-base plus slugging percentage.

Realmuto is a bit of a different story considering he still has three more years of team control before hitting free agency. He is eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter.

However, he made it clear he didn't want to stick around for a rebuild with everyone else gone from the roster. Craig Mish of SiriusXM reported the catcher requested a trade in mid-December. Yelich was similarly "unhappy," per Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, although he didn't specifically ask out of town.

At 26 years old with quality power—he hit a career-high 17 home runs last season—Realmuto is already one of the top catchers in the game and won't come cheap.

Although the Marlins could get a good return from both players in a potential deal, it would remove two of the only noteworthy players left in Miami.