Florida Marlins Continue To Stay Active, Trade Dan Uggla To the Atlanta Braves

Despite the offseason being just a little under two weeks old and the rest of baseball pacing themselves, the Florida Marlins are playing beat the clock. It seems like the Marlins are making a deal a day these days.

Over the weekend, the Marlins traded Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin in separate deals and on Tuesday, they traded All Star second baseman Dan Uggla. Not only did they trade those three players, but according to various reports they are also on the cusp of adding free agent catcher John Buck.

Someone should tell GM Larry Beinfest the Major League Baseball offseason is four months, not four weeks.

Uggla is headed north to Atlanta

While the Miller and Maybin trades were a little suprising, the Uggla trade was not.

After Uggla and his camp reportedly rejected a four-year, $48 million contract offer from the Marlins, Florida GM Larry Beinfest had three options.

1. Behind door No. 1 was to trade him during the offseason

2. Door No. 2 offered a trade during the regular season

3. Door No. 3 was to keep Uggla through the 2011 season, lose him to free agency, and collect draft pick compensation because Uggla would have been a Type-A free agent.

Beinfest chose door No. 1.

On Tuesday, Beinfest traded Uggla to the division rival Atlanta Braves for INF Omar Infante and LHP Mike Dunn.

With Dunn, the Marlins continue to try rebuild their bullpen. Dunn is a left-handed pitcher, who throws 95 mph and has a plus slider and an improving changeup.

In 19 innings with the Braves in 2010, Dunn had a 1.89 ERA and struck out 27. However, he did walk 17 in those 19 innings. He is going to have to learn how to harness his control in order to be a dependable reliever for the Marlins.

The Marlins also acquired the soon-to-be 29-year-old Infante. Perhaps Infante is most famous for his suspect addition to the 2010 National League All Star team.

Infante made the All Star team more for his ability to play multiple positions rather than his offensive prowess. Infante did manage to hit a career high .321 last season with eight HR’s, and 22 doubles.

Infante is what he is. He is a solid player, who will do the little things to win, and will play good, but not spectacular defense. Infante played right, left, short, third, second for the Braves last season.

I would guess Infante would play second for the fish, with Chris Coghlan moving to third. Hanley Ramirez and Gaby Sanchez should round out the infield for the Marlins in 2011.

For the Braves, Uggla fell right in their lap. Regardless if the Braves don’t sign Uggla to an extension after the 2011 season, this was a no brainer for them.

To trade two guys they really didn’t need for one of the premier offensive second basemen in the game, is a win for the Braves. Uggla hit .287/.369/.508 with a career high 33 HR’s in 2010. His 5.1 WAR was good for fifth amongst all Major League two-baggers.

Uggla will fit in nicely in the middle of the Braves’ lineup. It seems like the Braves have been looking for a right-handed power bat for the longest time and they finally got one in Uggla. A potential 3-4-5 of Jayson Heyward, Uggla, and Brian McCann sounds pretty good to me.

Now of course we all know the biggest issue with Uggla is his defense — or lack there of. Where Uggla plays in 2011 remains to be seen.

He could play third until Chipper Jones returns. He could also play first if the Braves don’t feel Freddie Freeman is ready for prime time. Uggla could remain at second and then the Braves can put Martin Prado in leftfield.

The Braves are a win now team and Uggla makes them once again a favorite to make the playoffs in the National League.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg