Miami Marlins Thinking Trade After Adam Duvall Signing?

The Miami Marlins just made a major splash with Adam Duvall, but that doesn’t mean they’re done making some offseason noise.

Monday afternoon, the Miami Marlins made a somewhat uncharacteristic move when they signed Adam Duvall.

However, according to Craig Mish, the Marlins might be getting ready to do something much more in keeping with their track record. Then again, maybe Derek Jeter and Co. are just really confident that some eleventh-hour deal is going to make the universal DH happen again in 2021.

But if the universal DH doesn’t happen, Miami Marlins fans should start preparing themselves for a Garrett Cooper trade.

Moving Jesus Aguilar could also be an option, but current hot stove chatter is all about Cooper. The Mish report has both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres cited as interested parties, and implies that additional teams have interest as well.

Now, as this is the Marlins, it is fair to speculate to what extent a Cooper trade would be about cutting costs. Scheduled to make $1.8 million in 2021 after a pre-arbitration settlement, that’s not an insignificant amount of money for cost conscious Miami. On the other hand, plenty of big league teams spend that kind of money on a part-time player. Overall, he’s very cheap, and under team control until 2024. Baseball evaluators know what Duvall is- the jury is still out on Cooper.

So if Miami does move him, it isn’t likely to be for nothing. Cooper was second in average and fourth in homers for the Marlins in 2020, all while playing in significantly less games than everyone ahead of him. Strictly going by pace, you can argue he was Miami’s best hitter last year without sounding too crazy.  And remember, that Duvall option for 2022 is a hefty $7 million by Marlins standards. A figure that is certain to be more than the cost of buying Duvall out after this season and paying Cooper whatever he’d earn next season.

That would suggest three possibilities are on the table for Miami; two of them with an eye towards 2021, one of them with an eye towards the bottom-line.

One, this could be a money move. Not unreasonable given the Starling Marte and Duvall investments, but disappointing for fans and the clubhouse. Money saved this year might just be used to support those higher cost moves.

Two, Cooper is traded for an MLB ready player to fill another hole on the Marlins roster. Could the Miami Marlins pry a piece for the bullpen, or even the rotation, away from the Dodgers or another club? Perhaps a second basemen, or competition at catcher? Or maybe the player isn’t quite MLB ready-could the Padres be induced to give up one of those Top 100 prospects they’ve been hoarding?

Lastly, is this about moving money in order to justify another free agent signing? Unloading Cooper’s salary likely makes it a lot more palatable to pay Mark Melancon, Trevor Rosenthal, or even 2020 Marlin Brandon Kintzler to close. This last scenario is the one I’d put my money on.

Whatever the Miami Marlins decide to do, it should make for an interesting week.