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Yankees Editorial: Martin Prado is Yankees loss, Miami’s Gain

By Michael Cambria

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Martin Prado is the kind of player everyone wants to have around their clubhouse. He is the rare five-tool ballplayer every team dreams of having in their lineup each and every day.

Though the tenure was short, Martin Prado sure did earn his pinstripes with the New York Yankees. He became a team leader, and just when he figured to be the every day second basemen for the Yankees in 2015, he was traded to the Miami Marlins for the wildly inconsistent right-handed flamethrower Nathan Eovaldi in December because the Yankees were in dire need of starting pitching.

The Marlins, behind superstar Giancarlo Stanton and the newly acquired Martin Prado are certainly on their way to success in 2015, while the Yankees are trying to find a way to avoid a third straight year of no baseball in October.

Prado, 31, thought he would remain a Yankee after they traded for him from the Diamondbacks during last seasons trade deadline. In 37 games with the Brombers, Prado batted an impressive .316 with an .877 OPS before being sidelined for the remainder of the season due to an appendectomy.

His versatility and leadership will certainly be missed around the Yankees organization, and in my opinion, their loss in Miami’s gain.

According to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, Prado quickly realized how good of a situation he is now in with the young and talented Miami Marlins, who are eager for success.

“I’m all in,” Prado told the Post on Monday at Roger Dean Stadium, the home of the Miami Marlins spring training complex. “They have so much talent here it’s unbelievable. I’m really impressed.”

He admittedly said he was ‘shocked’ by the trade that sent him and former Yankee pitcher David Phelps to Miami to bring in Eovaldi as well as Garrett Jones and prospect pitcher Domingo German to the Bronx. Prado and Phelps were also joined by former Yankee teammate Ichiro Suzuki, who the Marlins signed to a one year deal on January 27th.

“It was a great experience to be in New York and the last season for Derek [Jeter],” Prado said of his time in Pinstripes. “We had so many injuries, but when somebody went down, somebody stepped up. It’s a good tradition, it’s a lot of history.”

Now, he’s with the Marlins, who are about winning right now. They’re ready to take the next step and contend with the Washington Nationals atop the N.L. East.

Prado will join Giancarlo Stanton and talented right-hander Jose Fernandez, who he labeled as superstars. Imagine if the Yankees had two young stars of that magnitude?

So yes, you can easily see why Prado is ‘all-in’ with his new team. He’ll likely be the Marlins full-time second basemen and bat second in between the newly acquired Dee Gordon and Giancarlo Stanton.

“You have to have the talent, but you also have to have somebody who can lead those young kids,” Prado told the Post. “I’m open, I can learn from them and they can learn from me. If you don’t go in the same direction as a team, everything is going to fall apart no matter how much talent you have”

It’s no secret that this is why Dan Jennings, GM of the Marlins went out and acquired Prado.

"“The background check we did, checking with teammates he had, and there is one common denominator that keeps coming back,” Jennings said. “ ‘This guys is the best teammate I’ve ever had.’ ‘This guys is the most prepared guy.’ ‘This guy is a class guy.’ ‘This guy elevated everybody.’ It’s refreshing to hear when your peers think of you in this light and openly express it. He’s got a presence about him. He learned from some great guys in Atlanta with Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones and it has segued into who he has become and the character of who he is. He’s a unifier. He can unify your team, and he’s a producer.”"

Let’s not pretend he didn’t learn a thing or two from Derek Jeter in his short time with the Yankees, but that’s rather here nor there.

I wish Martin Prado nothing but the best as he’s set to begin his season with the Miami Marlins.

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