MIAMI — The Miami Marlins should trade for Juan Soto.
I’m sorry, but it needed to be said.
Unfortunately I am laughing to myself as I say it. The sublime Soto, by far the biggest get available on the trade market before this coming Tuesday’s deadline, would instantly cure so many of the Marlins’ ills. The trade is plausible. In theory it could happen.
I am laughing to myself just because these are the Marlins, who never are among league leaders in thinking bold, swinging big and spending big.
If your immediate reaction to “the Marlins should trade for Juan Soto” was to scoff, well, that’s the problem. You are right to scoff. Because these are the Marlins, who recuse themselves to the shadows whenever baseball’s high rollers come out.
Saying the Marlins should trade for Juan Soto is like saying your local sub shop should win a Michelin 5-star rating.
Miami hasn’t taken a seismic, Soto-esque financial swing since 2014 in signing slugger Giancarlo Stanton to a 13-year, $325 million extension. The otherwise penurious Jeffrey Loria opened his creaking wallet and actually did that. Granted, it was a back-loaded contract and Loria knew Stanton would be long gone (and was, to the Yankees) before the mega-money kicked in. Still, it was a big swing, at least the temporary illusion that the notoriously cheap Marlins were ready to play with the big boys.
Fast forward eight years. The Marlins are on the far periphery of playoff contention (sort of) and could be in the mix for a trade or two. What they need — and this is predictable as heat and humidity in a South Florida summer — is offense. Bats. Runs.
We all saw this coming. If only the Marlins themselves had, and had done something about when they should have: Not now but in the offseason. During free agency. But that would have required a willingness for serious spending, which continues an enduring albatross on the franchise.
Free agency is a time that isn’t about trading away top prospects or major league talent. However it is a time for spending a lot of money, which seems to be the rub for majority owner Bruce Sherman the same way it was for Loria.
So here we are. Another mediocre season drones on, plays out. The Fish were 46-52 entering Thursday’s matinee in Cincinnati, once again stuck in that netherworld of not bad, or good enough. They were five-and-a-half games back in the wild-card hunt, needing to leapfrog three other teams.
One problem: Miami, needing to find a spark and catch a hot streak, is 3-5 since the All-Star break. The flow of traffic ahead of them is going 75 mph. The Marlins are in the passing lane doing 74.
The Marlins are powerfully formidable when ace Sandy Alcantara is on the mound, utterly forgettable when he isn’t.
Now, in the cauldron of reports, rumors and speculation leading to the trade deadline, the word is Miami may be listening to inquiries about Pablo Lopez — their only other reliable starting pitcher.
No, please. You don’t trade away one of your few valuable assets for an emergency Band-Aid in late July, one likely too late for this season. Nor do you trade Lopez because you are in seller-mode, waving a white towel and looking to the future (which is taking its sweet time to get here, by the way).
Getting in the game for Soto would change all that, of course. The Nationals corner outfielder is a two-time All-Star at 23, the left-handed bat Miami dearly needs, a long-term answer. Washington being an NL East rival makes a deal with Miami doubly unlikely, but, hey, the big-spending Mets are in play. If the Fish were interested, everybody not named Alcantara should be on the table. And the Marlins now have enough top minor league prospects to sweeten any trade.
Soto would come cheap, too — at least for his year. He’d cost barely more than $5 million for the rest of this season. The trouble is, to sign him long-term would require the Brink’s truck that never seems to know the Marlins address.
OK, let’s stop torturing ourselves with Soto talk and get back to reality.
This franchise, as is, ain’t working.
The Marlins are 24th of 30 teams in run production at an even four runs per game, slightly better than last year’s 3.8 but still woefully subpar. Miami understood it needed to get better and tried, to a degree. Corner outfielders Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler were signed as big free-agent additions, but they have largely disappointed. Both were second-tier adds.
The wheel-spinning is partly why Miami lags 29th in home attendance at 11,544 per game, ahead of only Oakland.
The continued lack of spending underpins it all, and why the idea of the Fish being in the running for Soto is all but laughable. The payroll is up, yes, but that’s relatively speaking. Miami still is 26th in spending at $84.6 million. Six teams are over $200 million. The MLB average is $148M. The other four NL East teams range from $259.4 million (Mets) to $129.3M (Nats).
Home-grown pitching, smart drafting, better analytics and all that stuff can go a long way. But Miami needs to spend to compete in the standings. Of the seven NL teams in realistic playoff contention, six spend more then the MLB average and the only exception, Milwaukee, has a payroll almost $50 million greater than Miami’s.
The Marlins want to be the exception, the Tampa Bay model. Sure enough, the Rays and Seattle are two of six realistic AL postseason contenders that do not spend appreciably more than Miami. But the Fish, until they spend better if not bigger, will continue trying to belong to a club they don’t deserve to be in.
Adding to the conundrum: a burgeoning South Florida sports market that finds the Marlins foundering in both their sport and their backyard.
Football is about to engulf everything again and the Dolphins and Hurricanes both are on the rise. The Heat earn our constant attention. The Panthers are coming off their best season and just made a major trade. Inter Miami’s piece of the pie will only get bigger. Canes basketball has momentum.
And then there are the Marlins, not good enough despite having maybe the best pitcher in baseball, and not spending enough to get there.
Juan Soto is the perfect fit, exactly the left-handed power bat and rising superstar to electrify this offense, team and city.
That the Marlins can’t or won’t get in that game — and that’s it’s so laughable to imagine they would — says much about where this franchise is at and what’s holding it back.
