Marlins Making Trades of Little Consequence

Do the Marlins get to keep his magic levitating bat? 

Our blogbro SWCS said it best: the Marlins' fire sale has turned into a yard sale.

The Marlins are shipping Edward Mujica to St. Louis for 3B prospect Zack Cox. Mujica will be eligible for arbitration in 2013 (his third arbitration year) and will be a free agent thereafter. The team would have likely owed him a raise from his $1.63 million salary, and instead get a guy who can be plugged in to Hanley Ramirez' spot at some point (the team announced it will assign Cox to Double-A Jacksonville for now). Cox, St. Louis' 2010 first-round draft pick, has no big league experience. The 23-year-old was slashing .254/.294/.421 for the Cards in Triple-A, with 9 home runs.

As with the Omar Infante trade, this is a case of the Marlins dumping a guy who would have been on the 2013 roster, but not a major impact player, for a club-controlled prospect who will plug a hole for cheap. Regardless of whether Cox pans out, I don't think we'll ever regret the Marlins giving up Edward Mujica.

UPDATE: The Marlins have also traded 1B Gaby Sanchez and minor league P Kyle Kaminska to the Pittsburgh Pirates for OF
Gorkys Hernandez and a competitive-balance draft pick. Sanchez was an All-Star in 2011, then promptly lost all ability to hit. The Marlins sent him down to the minors twice this season, as he was slashing .202/.250/.306. Even though the team plans on getting rid of current 1B Carlos Lee (acquired only 27 days ago via trade), they are confident that the 29-year-old Sanchez is not in their long-term plans. He will be eligible for arbitration at the end of the season.

Like Cox, Hernandez is another top prospect whose success is an iffy proposition. Now in his fourth organization, he was hitting .213 in 26 plate appearances with the Pirates this year, his first cup of coffee. The Marlins say they are bringing Hernandez to the big club (presumably he'll take Mujica's roster spot). Now seems like a good time to cut losses with Sanchez, I only wish they traded him a few years ago when his value was highest.