The Brewers are the latest team trying to make a Christian Yelich trade happen

The Brewers are officially interested in Marlins standout Christian Yelich, according to SiriusXM’s Craig Mish. Last we checked in with the whole Marlins/Yelich situation, we learned that the relationship between the player and the team was irreparably broken and that his agent was publicly begging the team to trade him somewhere so everyone could be happy again.

Or, at least as happy as possible considering that Yelich apparently feels trapped in a cell of the new owners’ making in Miami, but ownership would really like to have him stick around.

Now that another team has thrown its hat in the ring, following the Braves, Dodgers and some others, the Marlins have a real decision to make. Do they start shopping him in earnest again, as they seemed to be at the Winter Meetings and shortly after that? Or are they going to let the Brewers leak that they have a lot of interest and have put together an official trade package to their sources and then let things lie?

Without knowing what the trade offer is at this stage, there are a few things that happen in the negotiations if the Marlins decided to engage. They could get snookered again and accept a few prospects that probably won’t turn into anything, or they could unload a contract that needs to be unloaded.

The most likely candidate if they push hard for the latter is pitcher Wei-Yin Chen, who is owed $10 million in 2018 and $42 million combined in the two seasons after that. He might not even pitch this season because of an elbow injury, so the Brewers would be taking on a lot of money to hopefully rehab him for the future. The last time he pitched more than 100 innings in a season was in 2016, and he put up a 4.50 FIP and a 1.28 WHIP. Milwaukee could take him on, hope the tear in his elbow heals up, and that he can contribute.

They also have to be completely fine with getting Yelich and taking on Chen if Chen doesn’t bounce back and return to his old self sometime in the next season or so. That’s a distinct possibility, and a major reason the Marlins probably want him off their roster ASAP. We’ll see how this pans out, but now that teams are letting people know that they are very much in on Yelich and have their offers set is forcing the Marlins to respond in some way, eventually.

He’s unhappy, there are offers on the table, and the Marlins could leverage the deal to get someone else off their books. It certainly seems like we’re heading toward a Yelich trade before this season kicks off.