LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The deconstruction of what had been the best outfield in the majors continued Wednesday, when the Marlins traded Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals, pending physicals.
Miami and St. Louis had a head start on this trade because they had completed a deal last week for Giancarlo Stanton, who invoked his no-trade clause to reject it. But that left both teams aware of what the Marlins liked from the Cardinals organization to speed this process along. The Marlins received well-regarded fireballer Sandy Alcantara plus three other minor leaguers for Ozuna.
Ozuna and Stanton — both All-Stars last year — are now gone, leaving Christian Yelich as the lone standout outfielder remaining. And the expectation now is the Marlins will at least listen to see how high the bidding gets on the center fielder.
Why stop now?
Don Mattingly, speaking before the Ozuna trade, noted the Marlins have added 19 players since last July’s trade deadline, which predates the sale of the team to Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter. That sale — and the $400 million in debt assumed by new ownership — has only hastened the selloff.
In Stanton, Ozuna and Dee Gordon, the Marlins got out of about $300 million in commitment, including about $43 million for 2018 as they aim to get their payroll to around $90 million, which is now feasible.
The Cardinals, who missed the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 2007-08, had zeroed in on a middle-of-the-order hitter as central to returning to the postseason.
Ozuna, who turned 27 last month, is a free agent after the 2019 season and is represented by Scott Boras, which always heightens the expectation he will not sign an extension and will go into the market. For now, though, the Cardinals get a prime-age player coming off his best season in which he won both a Gold Glove in left and the Silver Slugger. He hit 37 homers, had 127 RBIs and generated a .924 OPS.