LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. _ Marcell Ozuna is just about your newest former Marlin.
Miami agreed to trade Ozuna _ their Gold Glove, Silver Slugger left fielder _ to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, a source told the Sun Sentinel. He is the third All-Star to say so long to South Florida in six days.
The deal was pending a physical. The Cardinals are reportedly sending four prospects to the Marlins, including right-handed pitcher Sandy Alcantara. He touches triple digits with his fastball and was ranked as St. Louis' No. 9 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.
Ozuna is scheduled to hit free agency after the 2019 season. Projected to make $11 million via arbitration in 2018 after his breakout year, Ozuna was an expendable _ but valuable _ piece for the Marlins as they begin their rebuild under CEO Derek Jeter.
For the Marlins, this is another step in that offseason roster deconstruction. It started with Dee Gordon, continued with Giancarlo Stanton, now includes Ozuna and could send more Marlins packing in the coming days and weeks.
They have already traded two-thirds of what was baseball's most productive outfield in 2017, and it's possible the third player, Christian Yelich, could also be moved.
For the Cardinals, Ozuna is a consolation prize. They chased Stanton _ and had a deal in place with the Marlins for him _ but were rebuffed by NL MVP, who refused to waive his no-trade clause to head to St. Louis.
Those negotiations served as groundwork for this deal. The Cardinals, loaded with pitching prospects in particular, were in a prime position to beat out a half-dozen or so other teams who were interested in Ozuna.
And unlike with the trades of Stanton and Gordon, in which the primary benefit to the Marlins was shedding more than $300 million in their combined future salaries, the win here was expected to be the prospects.
Alcantara, 22, throws hard (touching 100 mph), has a high ceiling (front-of-the-rotation starter) and is ready or close to ready for the majors (debuting this past September). In eight games as a reliever, Alcantara allowed six runs (four earned) in 81/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking six. Young for Double A, he had a 4.31 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and .262 opponents' batting average. He struck out 106 batters in 125 1/3 innings.
Combined with Jorge Guzman, a 21-year-old righty whose fastball sits at 100 mph, the Marlins in recent days have acquired to of the hardest-throwing minor league pitchers in all of baseball.
This past season, Ozuna put together a strong offensive campaign for the entire year for the first time in his career. He set personal bests in most major offensive categories, including average (.312), OBP (.376), slugging percentage (.548), home runs (37) and RBI (124). He received a few down-ballot NL MVP votes, finishing tied for 15th.
