Uggla's Future with the Marlins

I read this piece yesterday and I thought it brought up an important issue.

Dan Uggla has certainly been a nice surprise for the Marlins these past couple of seasons. A Rule V selection, nobody saw his emergence as a reliable power hitter coming. The problem is that Uggla doesn't quite fit in with the whole "defense wins championships" mantra. He also strikes out quite a bit, but then again so does the entire Marlins roster.

Does he deserve a long-term extension? I'm not sure yet. It's difficult to find a 2B with his kind of offensive production, but he is still a liability on defense. The article suggested moving him to 3rd, which isn't a bad idea considering Jorge Cantu is a stopgap option at best. The Marlins did just draft Matt Dominguez last year, but he is not an option anytime soon.

If we do offer an extension, I'm not sure he merits one in the 30M dollar range. A 4 year, 20M dollar deal seems fair enough considering his limitations on defense. Considering the fact we just broke the bank for Hanley and expect to have new revenues pouring in once the stadium is built, the Marlins have few excuses to give Uggla. Then again, they could say that the Ramirez's deal took up any excess cap space they felt like giving away. We'll see.

Heck, if anything, maybe the Marlins will take a look at Jemile Weeks from UM at 2nd base in the upcoming MLB Draft. I wouldn't be opposed to that at all.