Grading every team’s World Series chances after the trade deadline
By Brad Weiss
Miami Marlins
When Derek Jeter and his fellow owners bought the Miami Marlins, the hope for Marlins fans was that he would bring that winning attitude to the franchise. However, since taking over baseball operations, Jeter has basically stripped the Marlins of all their talent, as he sent Christian Yelich, Dee Gordon, and Giancarlo Stanton packing to name a few this offseason.
Still, despite the lack of talent on the roster, these Marlins have battled this season, and have been kind of fun to watch in 2018. While they are currently in last place in the NL East, and sitting 13 games back of the first place Philadelphia Phillies, they are capable of beating anyone on any given night.
During the trade deadline, the Marlins were actually pretty quiet, trading away only Brad Ziegler and Cameron Maybin, which is surprising considering they still had a couple of nice pieces to move. One of those players, J.T. Realmuto, is regarded as one of the best catchers in the league, and could have definitely gotten a nice collection of talent back in return if the Marlins made a deal with him.
Another solid player who could have helped a contending team is Justin Bour, who possesses elite power from the left side. Both Realmuto and Bour are still Marlins as of the expiration of the trade deadline, but both could be moved after the season, as their are very few chips for Jeter to play with this winter.
Nobody expected the Marlins to do much of anything this season, and they have absolutely no chance of making it to the World Series. The hope in South Beach is that Jeter knows what he is doing, but it is going to be a couple of years before the fans know for sure.