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When the Marlins lost Dee Gordon to an 80-game suspension for a failed drug test, it seemed like the kind of outcome that could cost both the Marlins and Fantasy owners their seasons. Gordon made the leap to superstardom, and his combination of strong contact skills and plus-plus baserunning made him look downright irreplaceable in both Fantasy and in Miami's lineup.
Well, it might have held true for your Fantasy lineup, but Miami really hasn't missed Gordon. The Marlins have gone 31-25 since Gordon's suspension and find themselves surprisingly locked in a playoff race. They also find themselves potentially without an obvious place for Gordon to play when he returns.
Gordon's replacement, Derek Dietrich, has been an on-base machine, hitting .305/.392/.448, while playing passable defense at second, long his biggest weakness. And, while Dietrich could move to third base without much problem, Martin Prado has been holding down the hot corner, hitting .308/.354/.399. Prado and Dietrich are both capable of helping in the outfield as well, however the Marlins already have too many options out there as well, with Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna enjoying career years, Giancarlo Stanton obviously locked into right field, and Ichiro Suzuki forcing his way into more playing time with a turn-back-the-clock season for the ages.
The Marlins' offense is, pretty stunningly, one of the best in baseball, and it's hard to see exactly where Gordon fits. Marlins President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill told the Miami Herald in recent days the team will be "creative" in how it deploys Gordon, and still has a month to figure it out -- Gordon is eligible to return from his suspension July 29.
With Gordon a month out, we're close enough to start looking at what his role might be, and whether it is worth stashing him in Fantasy.
In short, if you've got the roster space, Gordon is almost certainly worth stashing, especially in category-based leagues, because he can help make up any deficit in stolen bases quickly in the final two months of the season. However, given the way the Marlins have played in his absence, he might not be looking at an everyday role; Dietrich and Prado have been too productive to justify sitting either a majority of the time.
There are a few ways the Marlins could get Gordon back into the lineup, of course. The first is with a trade, by either moving one of Dietrich or Prado, or an outfielder -- most likely Ozuna -- for pitching depth. The Marlins' overabundance of hitting options hasn't extended to the starting rotation, which remains very weak after Jose Fernandez.
The other option would be to try out Gordon at shortstop, where Adieny Hechavarria has been the Marlins' lone weak spot. He ranks 167th out of 169 qualified batters in wOBA on the season, but also rates out as the fifth-best defensive shortstop in baseball this season, per FanGraphs.com. Gordon certainly has the athleticism to handle shortstop, but rates out as a massive negative in his time there, with a -23.3 UZR/150, which makes it a more difficult question than it might seem at first.
Right now, then, there just isn't an obvious place for Gordon every day in Miami. The Marlins could always try to trade him, but given that he will be returning just two days before the deadline from a performance enhancing drug suspension, it's hard to see a strong market developing. That would, of course, give Gordon a much clearer path to playing time, but it feels like a huge long shot.
The good news is, these things tend to work themselves out eventually. Before the season, nobody expected the Marlins to have too many players to play everyday, and more likely than not, they won't by this time next month. Someone will get hurt, or go into a deep slump, or get traded, and it will be easy to slide Gordon back into the top spot on the lineup card.
And, of course, the Marlins' success only serves to make Gordon a more attractive Fantasy option when he does come back. If they keep hitting like this, Gordon should have plenty of opportunities to score at the top of the lineup, and you know they're going to let him run.
There are reasons to be skeptical of Gordon coming back from suspension, but the upside is still high enough that it is absolutely worth stashing him. And it will become more and more obvious as we get closer to his return.
