Early Sunday morning, tragic news broke in the baseball world that 24 year old star pitcher Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins passed away in a boat accident along with two of his friends. It's just flat out devastating not just for Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins, but his family and friends.
He was easily a top-five pitcher in baseball and you can argue no pitcher in the league had a brighter future than Fernandez. He would have been a free agent after the 2018 season and he would have easily made over $30 million per season. Fernandez was a dominant pitcher at home and each time he'd pitch in Marlins Park it would be "Jose Day".
For the Marlins going forward, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian said it best as saying that this will set the Marlins back a decade. It's a strong statement, but Kurkjian is correct because he was the co-face of their franchise along with Giancarlo Stanton and he was a pitcher that you can build your franchise around although there were rumblings the last few weeks before his death that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs were going to make a run at Fernandez via a trade. Those three teams would have had the assets to entice the Marlins in a possible trade.
Fernandez did mean a lot to the city of Miami and he was one of their best athletes over the last few years along with Stanton. He did a lot for the community and was a leader of the Marlins team and most importantly their pitching staff. It's sad that a tragedy has to bring a city together, but that's what typically happens when something of that nature happens.
Lastly, the Marlins are doing the right thing by retiring Fernandez's number 16 because of how much he meant to the Miami Marlins franchise, the city of Miami, and what could have been for years to come. This is such a sad story and it's a shame that this tragedy is what Fernandez will be remembered for.
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