Over the past week, the Miami Marlins have been rumored to be hot on the tail of free agent shortstop Jose Reyes. They have been notably aggressive in their pursuit of Reyes, meeting with him the first day free agency began and supposedly making quite a competitive offer. The Marlins are close to being a competitive team in the NL East, and signing Reyes would bring them even closer to that goal.
There's only one problem with this idea, though: the Marlins' franchise player, Hanley Ramirez, currently plays shortstop. And just yesterday, rumors came out that suggested Ramirez is not excited about the idea of moving to another position:
Source: H. Ramirez is not at all pleased at prospect of changing positions if
#Marlins sign Reyes; the two aren't the friends many portray. (Clark Spencer, Miami Herald)
The Marlins have not asked Ramirez yet how he feels about switching positions, and Ramirez has couched his public comments carefully so as not to lean one way or the other. In other words, there's no way of knowing exactly what's going on in his head right now, so this report could be exactly right or dead wrong. Heck, Ramirez himself may not know exactly what he wants quite yet.
If this rumor is true, it'd present the Marlins with a sticky situation. Ramirez will need to move off shortstop eventually; his defense has always been a weak part of his game, and it's been suggested numerous times that he'd be a better fit elsewhere on the diamond. Maybe centerfield, third base, second base -- any of those positions would work. Shortstop is a demanding position, though, and Ramirez doesn't quite have the range that you'd ideally like there.
One way or the other, the Marlins are in for an exciting offseason. Whether that excitement includes a healthy dollop of drama...well, we'll just have to see.