Brewers the latest to benefit from Marlins’ fire sale with trade for Christian Yelich

Christina Yelich joins fellow outfielders Ginacarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna as parts of the Marlins’ fire sale after a Thursday trade to the Milwaukee Brewers. (Patrick Gorski/USA TODAY Sports)

Less than four months ago, when the Miami Marlins signed off on the 2017 season with a loss in Game 162, their starting outfield and top three hitters in their batting order were Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton — three young stars who, when considered together, represented the biggest reason for hope at the end of an 85-loss campaign.

But by the close of business Thursday, and with 2018 spring training less than a month away, all three were gone.

Stanton was traded to the New York Yankees in a December blockbuster, Ozuna was shipped to the St. Louis Cardinals days later, and on Thursday the Marlins sent Yelich, their center fielder and primary No. 3 hitter last season, to the Milwaukee Brewers for four prospects — the latest move in the stunning dismantling of the Marlins under new owners Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter. Yelich, 26, had made clear to ownership his desire to be traded following the departures of Stanton and Ozuna, and the Marlins spent much of the past week engaged in negotiations with the Brewers and other teams.

“Honestly, it was getting exhausting,” Yelich said in a conference call with reporters. “I’m glad it’s over.”

Within hours of the completion of the Yelich trade, the Brewers announced the signing of free agent outfielder Lorenzo Cain to a contract reportedly worth $80 million over five years contract.

The addition of Yelich and Cain represent a major coup for the Brewers after a 2017 season in which they fell just one game shy of a wild-card berth, and signals a push to compete with the Chicago Cubs — who finished six games ahead of Milwaukee in 2017 — for the NL Central crown this season. Cain, 31, was a standout on the Kansas City Royals teams that went to the World Series in back to back seasons, winning it in 2015. Yelich is young, productive (a .290/.369/.432 career slash line) and under team control through 2021 (with a club option for 2022) for $44.5 million guaranteed.

“In a relatively brief time, Christian has emerged as one of the most skilled players in the league on both sides of the ball,” Brewers General Manager David Stearns said in a statement. “It is rare when an organization gets a chance to acquire a player with Christian’s talents at this stage of his career.”

The Marlins’ haul for Yelich was equally impressive — they received the Brewers’ first-, sixth- and 14th-ranked prospects, according to MLB.com, in outfielder Lewis Brinson, infielder Isan Diaz and outfielder Monte Harrison, respectively. Brinson was ranked as the 18th-best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. The fourth prospect in the deal was right-handed pitcher Jordan Yamamoto.

Jeter, the Marlins’ CEO following the sale of the team last fall, has faced withering criticism from his fan base and much of the national media for the team’s offseason strategy, but has argued that trimming payroll and building up the farm system was the only path to sustainable success. Aside of the three outfielders, the Marlins also sent second baseman Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners, where he is expected to play in the outfield.

The Marlins’ fire sale has contributed to one of the slowest winters in recent history for free agents, as teams that might otherwise consider a splashy signing — including, most recently, the Brewers — instead filled their needs with one of the Marlins’ castoffs. But once Yelich was dealt, the market was bound to loosen, and free agents such as Cain would soon find landing spots.

Ultimately, that took less time than anyone could have imagined, with Cain signing the largest free agent contract so far this winter — with stars such as Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta and J.D. Martinez still available.