Miami Marlins are interested in signing Alex Rodriguez

Although Alex Rodriguez’s playing days with the Yankees are over, there is still a chance he could return to baseball as soon as this week. Rodriguez ending up with the Miami Marlins has been a rumor for what seems like forever now, but it could actually happen now that the Yankees have moved on.

The Marlins recently lost Giancarlo Stanton for the year due to injury, and the team is fighting to stay in the playoff race. Miami currently sits a half-game out of the second Wild Card spot in the National League. Losing Stanton is a crushing blow to their offense, and that has piqued their interest in Rodriguez.

According to Jon Heyman, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is quite interested in bringing Rodriguez on to play first base for the remainder of the year. Miami’s president of baseball operations admitted Sunday that the team is considering signing Rodriguez, but Heyman notes that there is some disagreement within the organization about whether or not bringing A-Rod into the clubhouse would present a distraction.

The Marlins are pretty desperate to add offense in hopes to hanging on in the hunt for a Wild Card spot, but it’s difficult to see Rodriguez helping to soften the blow of losing Stanton. Without the DH spot, Miami would need to play Rodriguez at first base, which he seemed very uncomfortable doing while he was in New York.

Rodriguez was offered a spot with the Yankees as a special adviser, but his release from the Yankees does allow him to sign on with another team if he is offered a spot. Rodriguez stopped short during his brief retirement tour of saying that his playing days were truly over. It’s clear that Rodriguez still believes he can help a team win and wanted that team to be the Yankees. With that not being an option, he could decide to play for his hometown team in hopes of proving he isn’t done as a professional player.

It seemed like the best fit Rodriguez might be able to find going forward would be a team that wanted to bring him in for name recognition in the hopes of selling tickets as he tries to reach 700 home runs. The Marlins would be signing him with the hopes that he could actually help boost the team, which isn’t a guaranteed thing with how he has struggled this season. Relying on a 41-year-old Rodriguez to help your team to the playoffs seems like a tall order, but it’s possible that the Marlins see Rodriguez as their only choice at this point.

Do you think the Marlins will decide to sign Rodriguez? Do you think he is still capable of helping a team reach the playoffs?

Update

This seems to be the most likely outcome of all the rumors, but we’ll see.