Marlins Official Reveals Haul Demanded From Red Sox For Jose Fernandez

Wondering why the Boston Red Sox didn’t make a strong push for Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez at this week’s Major League Baseball winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn.?

Miami’s asking price might have something to do with it.

“We thought we might be able to piece something together with the Red Sox,” a Marlins official told Peter Gammons. “With E-Rod (Eduardo Rodriguez), Mookie Betts, Christian Vazquez, Yoan Moncada and another pitcher I thought we had something that might work.”

So, there are a few possibilities here.

1) Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill was drunk, in which case we hope he took an Uber if he decided to leave the Opryland hotel.

2) This official was drunk, in which case maybe he thought he’d screw with Gammons for a laugh.

Or …

3) The Marlins thought it was a legitimate framework for a potential trade, in which case Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski probably hung up the phone within seconds.

It’s completely understandable Miami asked for the moon. Fernandez is just 23 years old and is one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball when healthy. The Marlins should land a huge haul in any trade involving the right-hander in spite of him already having one Tommy John surgery under his belt.

But those demands simply are outlandish. Rodriguez has top-of-the-rotation potential, Betts already is evolving into a star, Vazquez should be a starting catcher and Moncada (Boston’s top prospect) is a special talent the Red Sox invested $63 million in last winter. It’s not even worth speculating about the “another pitcher” because the conversation should have ended long before that point.

And it probably did.

Thumbnail photo via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports Images