Yelich: Jose Fernandez's death was catalyst for Marlins' rebuild

The 2017 Miami Marlins were bursting with potential. They had three franchise outfielders in Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna, one of the fastest players in baseball in Dee Gordon, as well as breakout catcher J.T. Realmuto. Now, after a series of offseason trades, Realmuto is the only one still in South Florida.

Yelich, who was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers last month, said the death of ace Jose Fernandez in 2016 is what ultimately led to the recent tear-down, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.

"From talking to the guys there - the guys who got traded and some of the guys who are still there - the consensus from our clubhouse is that everything changed after the tragedy with Jose," Yelich said. "I think everybody figured our window to win was with him. You have a bona fide ace, a No. 1 starter, and you kind of have something there with that. It's nobody's fault what happened. It's a tragedy in every sense of the word. Nobody could have seen that coming.

"We went through that rebuild and we were so close. We had all the pieces. If a few things break differently, you never know how things turn out. I think a lot of the guys feel that way. We were really close and had a chance to do something special with that group. We just weren't able to get it done. And when you don't get it done in this business, teams have to move on. That's what happened with us."

Related: Stanton says Fernandez predicted he'd be a Yankee

The Marlins locked up young talent during the last rebuild, signing Yelich to a seven-year, $49-million extension not long after Stanton signed a 13-year, $325-million deal.

A year after Fernandez's death in a boating accident, the team was sold, payroll was slashed from $115 million to $90 million, and another rebuild was embarked upon.