Evaluating the Jake Burger trade and the rest of the Winter Meetings

[Kevin Barral]

Fish Unfiltered—Episode #65

Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout bring on guest Alex Krutchik, who provided on-site coverage of the just-completed Winter Meetings in Dallas. They discuss the polarizing Jake Burger trade that netted the Miami Marlins three prospects, the selection of catcher Liam Hicks in the Rule 5 Draft, the inconvenient results of the 2025 MLB Draft Lottery and renewed rumors about Jesús Luzardo being on the trade block.

Find Fish Unfiltered on the Fish On First YouTube channel, our new-look Apple Podcasts channel and wherever else you get your pods. FOF's audio programming also includes The Offishial Show, Swimming Upstream, Big Fish Small Pod and more.

Read more about how Liam Hicks fits with the Marlins moving forward, what the Opening Day roster could look like in Burger's absence and the consequences of receiving the No. 7 overall draft pick.

The FOF Top 30 list has been updated to incorporate Burger trade acquisitions INF Max Acosta (#22) and INF Echedry Vargas (#27) as well as Hicks (#30). 

Follow Kevin ( @kevin_barral), Isaac (@IsaacAzout), Alex (@AlexKrutchikFOF) and Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) on Twitter. Join the Marlins Discord server! Complete Miami Marlins coverage here at FishOnFirst.com.

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[rurrusuno]

The main thing I don't like about this trade is that none of these prospects are even amongst our top 15. So this is the front office taking a chance and hoping that one of them emerges with a surprise season in 2025. It's strange that the Marlins decided to let go of Burger when he was a controllable player and still had a 6-figure salary going into next season. For now, this trade is a slight short-term win for the Rangers.