The Marlins are entertaining offers for outfielder Marcell Ozuna, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports. Ozuna has reportedly drawn interest from the Athletics and Cardinals this offseason, with the latter expected to make a bigger push after losing out on Giancarlo Stanton.
Ozuna, 27, is coming off of his second consecutive All-Star run with the Marlins. He racked up a career-high 4.8 fWAR in 2017, slashing .312/.376/.548 with 37 home runs in 679 PA and tying Cody Bellinger and Charlie Blackmon for third-most homers in the National League. While he may not reach Giancarlo Stanton-levels of production, he’s no poor man’s slugger, and could certainly help supplement a Cardinals offense that ranked fifth-best among all NL teams in 2017.
Ozuna isn’t the only one attracting interest in the wake of Stanton’s flip to the Yankees; ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick also speculates that the Marlins could move outfielder Christian Yelich, though they plan to sit tight on newly-acquired second baseman Starlin Castro until the right offer comes along. The Cardinals may have a leg up on negotiations for Ozuna and Yelich, as they already pitched the Marlins on several of their top-shelf prospects last week.
