With the acquisition of shortstop Jose Reyes, the Marlins considered themselves to have one of the best infields in professional baseball.
Except there's one problem... One of the key components of that "dream infield", Hanley Ramirez, wants to be dealt because he'd have to switch from shortstop to third base to accompany Ramirez. And he doesn't want to do that even though Jeffrey Loria has made the team exponentially better, including moving the team to brand new ballpark.
Although his stats declined drastically last season, he is still one of the best up-and-coming players in baseball. And the Marlins realize that and they know they could get a lot in return for him if Ramirez gets his wish.
However ESPN's Buster Olney reported yesterday, "If Ramirez wanted to be traded, the Marlins probably couldn't get a lot for him, because of his price tag and the growing questions about his play."
I couldn't disagree with Olney more. Ramirez is still a great player, despite his bad season last year. Every player seems to have one of those seasons in which they struggle, but then they somehow return to their true form the following season. And I expect Ramirez to do that for the upcoming 2012 season. And not to mention, Ramirez is still young (27 years old) with many years of great baseball in front of him.
Ramirez is a six-year pro and has been an All-Star in three of those seasons. Over his young career, he has batted a healthy .306. His career numbers include a .306 batting average, 134 home runs, 434 runs batted in and 216 stolen bases.
However, if a team chooses to deal for Ramirez, it will come at a hefty price after he signed a six-year extension with Miami in May 2008, worth approximately $70 million.
He is still under contract with the Marlins for the next three seasons and the team currently owes him $47 million until 2014.
Ramirez had also told the Marlins that he'd move to third base under one condition: the team restructures his contract and benefit him more for doing something that he doesn't want to do. His agent has since refuted this report, but there is still a good possibility that it is true since Ramirez has seen disgruntled since the acquisition of Reyes.
This apparently made owner Jeffrey Loria and Co. distraught and they instantly declined Ramirez's proposal. This could also potentially be the biggest reason that the Marlins part ways with the three-time All-Star.
To his resume, Ramirez has won a batting title with a .342 average and has had career-highs of 33 home runs, 51 steals and a .954 OPS.
Ramirez is a talent that will not go un-noticed. But of course, this could all be a ploy by the Marlins' front office, as to just make headlines and stir things up within the organization. However, this could be real and Ramirez could get dealt. We will find out in the coming weeks as to what happens with the Marlins.
Here are some possible suitors for Ramirez with some combinations of deals the Marlins could go for:
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Washington Nationals for 3B Ryan Zimmerman
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Boston Red Sox for SS Jed Lowrie, RP Daniel Bard, P Felix Doubront and RF Che-Hsuan Lin
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to New York Mets for 3B David Wright
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez and CF Chris Coghlan to Kansas City Royals for LF Alex Gordon, 3B Mike Moustakas and SP Jeff Francis
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Milwaukee Brewers for 3B Casey McGehee, P Tyler Thornburg and 2B Scooter Gennett
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Cleveland Indians for 3B Lonnie Chisenhall, P Justin Masterson and C Lou Marson
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Chicago White Sox for 3B Brent Morel, P John Danks, and P Matt Thornton
* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez and P Leo Nunez to Atlanta Braves for CF Michael Bourn, 3B Brandon Hicks and P Jair Jurrjens
