Miami Marlins pay steep price to acquire Dee Gordon

Late Wednesday afternoon the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers reached an agreement on a six player trade that allows each team to address a need but by most accounts heavily favors the Dodgers. Miami receives infielder Dee Gordon and right-handed Dan Haren in the deal. Los Angeles will obtain four players in return: left-handed Andrew Heaney, right-handed Chris Hatcher, infielder Enrique Hernandez, and catcher Austin Barnes.

The Dodgers will also reportedly pay Haren’s $10 million salary for the upcoming season.

Gordon is the piece that the Marlins were in pursuit of here and he’ll likely step right into their lineup providing a significant upgrade at second base. Gordon is not without his limitations, however. The 26 year old is coming off a career year, though his numbers in the second half were a significant disappointed compared to his first half. Overall the speedster batted .289/.326/.378 in 650 plate appearances, while leading the major leagues with 12 triples and 64 stolen bases.

Gordon is facing arbitration for the first time as a Super Two, but will be under team control for the next four seasons.

Miami will likely slide him into the lineup at second base, bumping Donovan Solano and/or Derek Dietrich to a bench role. Gordon is a natural shortstop and the team could move him back there, but they are fond of Adeiny Hechevarria’s defense so a change may not be in consideration immediately.

In Haren the Marlins acquire a veteran starting pitcher that they’ve been reportedly searching for to boost the rotation. The catch, however, is that Haren may not end up pitching for the Marlins this coming season. The veteran signed with the Dodgers prior to last season in an effort to remain close to home with his family. Earlier this offseason, as his name first started to crop up in rumors, he expressed a desire to remain in the LA area – going so far as to state that if he’s dealt to a team outside the city, he may simply retire instead.

How Haren will react to this deal, knowing that the Dodgers would be paying him to pitch elsewhere, remains to be seen.

While Gordon certainly provides some value to the Marlins – he’s hardly expected to replicate what he did a season ago – the cost that the team paid to acquire him defies most expectations. The notable piece, of course, is Heaney.

The left-handed ranks among the Marlins top prospects in a farm system limited with high-end talent. The 23 year old struggled in a handful of starts with the Marlins during the season, but continued to post strong numbers in the upper minor leagues. He split the 2014 season between Double-A and Triple-A, making 23 starts with a 3.28 ERA, 1.136 WHIP, and 143 strikeouts in 137.1 IP.

Entering the 2014 season, Heaney was viewed as a potential #2 starter for the Marlins with the expectation that he’d be ready to step into the rotation full time by season’s end – giving the Marlins a formidable duo between him and Jose Fernandez. That hope didn’t exactly work as planned, between Fernandez’s injury and Heaney’s inconsistencies.

Hatcher made 52 appearances out of the Marlins’ bullpen this past season, posting a 3.38 ERA and 1.196 WHIP. With a strong strikeout-to-walk ratio, he figures to give the Dodgers with another solid option for the pen amid the collection of high-priced arms already in place.

Hernandez made his MLB debut with the Houston Astros in July and was traded to the Marlins at the trade deadline. In all he’d appear in 42 games on the season, seeing time at every defensive position aside from first base and catcher. He hit .248/.321/.421 in 134 plate appearances.

Barnes hit .304/.398/.472 in 548 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A. He spent some time at both second and third base in addition to catching.

Los Angeles ends up acquiring four seemingly useful pieces in the deal with Miami, but it remains to be seen how they all fit into the team’s plans. The Dodgers have a deal in the works to acquire Jimmy Rollins from the Philadelphia Phillies and some have suggested that some of the players involved in this deal could be flipped to Philly to complete that deal. Los Angeles has also been rumored to have interest in Cole Hamels, lending some to speculate that Heaney could ultimately be on the move again as well.