The offseason for the Florida Marlins has been quite a whirlwind and it a surprise twist blew the Marlins way when Dan Uggla stunned the front office be rejecting a four year, $48 million extension. This past season, Uggla had career highs in batting average (.287), home runs (33) and RBIs (105) with a steady salary of $7.8 million.
Why would Dan Uggla reject the Marlins offer? For starters, Dan Uggla has essentially raised the bar on power hitting second basemen by hitting 30 home runs in four consecutive seasons, no second baseman has done that in the history of baseball, not even Chase Utley or Jeff Kent have accomplished that feat.
The Florida Marlins are also hesitant to offer a long-term deal to a player whose production might begin to decline. Dan Uggla will be 31 by Opening Day and if he gets his way will be 36 by the end of the five year deal, something the Marlins want to avoid considering Uggla isn’t great with the glove at second. Uggla is expected to earn $10 million + in 2011 and gradually rise for the next few seasons of his contract.
While these contract talks are akin to the Josh Johnson fiasco of the last offseason, Johnson is four years younger than Uggla at 26 and the Marlins are tend to shy away from offering long-term deals to players who are over 30.
At the end of the day, I expect the Marlins to get a deal done with Dan Uggla just because this is the last thing the front office needs a season prior to the opening of their new stadium, bad publicity and another infamous jettison of a cornerstone player, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis are prime examples.
If a deal gets done, expect for the fifth-year to include somewhere in the neighborhood of a mutual option or a vesting option which would give Uggla his dough if he achieves certain seasonal milestones.
But what if nothing gets done? Here are five possible trade destinations for Dan Uggla if the Marlins deem Uggla out of their range..