Coghlan Injury Could Have Trade Ramifications

    By now, everyone knows the story. Chris Coghlan tore up his left knee on Sunday when he pied Wes Helms with shaving cream after his game-ending hit. Bizarre, but true. Coghlan will miss at least three weeks and could be out six to eight if there's surgery. He was expected to see another doctor on Tuesday for a second opinion, but the initial prognosis is not good.

    The Marlins are calling up Logan Morrison from Triple A to take Coghlan's roster spot, and will have him split time in left with Emilio Bonifacio, at least according to manager Edwin Rodriguez. In addition, Rodriguez said he would consider moving Hanley Ramirez to Coghlan's leadoff spot. A lot of the lineup details were stll sketchy late last night.

    So what does this mean with Saturday's trade deadline looming? While it doesn't necessarily kill a Jorge Cantu trade, it probably has the Marlins thinking twice about it. The original plan, if Cantu was traded, was to call up Morrison, put him in left, and prepare Coghlan to take over at third. Now, with Coghlan out of the picture for who knows how long, trading Cantu would limit the Marlins' options. They would have to go with either Wes Helms or Emilio Bonifacio at third -- possibly for the remainder of the season -- and cross their fingers on the unknown with the rookie Morrison in left. Helms has not shown he's an everyday third baseman and Bonifacio is a wild card. And if the Morrison experiment in left doesn't work out, what then? They can't return to Coghlan and stick hiim back out there. In other words, losing Coghlan to injury AND trading Cantu diminishes their options to a dangerous level.

    If you were the Marlins, what would you do regarding Cantu? Hang on to him, especially now that Coghlan is out? Or roll the dice and trade him anyway?