Marlins trading at a pace not seen since '05

MIAMI -- Finalizing a trade that sends Casey McGehee to the Giants for pitching prospects Kendry Flores and Luis Castillo caps one of the busiest three-week offseason stretches in Marlins history.

San Francisco announced the deal on Friday night, and the Marlins on Saturday announced Flores will be added to their 40-man roster. Castillo is expected to open the season at Class A Advanced Jupiter.

The decision to trade McGehee, the National League Comeback Player of the Year in 2014, came the same day Miami acquired Martin Prado, who will take over at third base, from the Yankees.

"We love [Prado's] athleticism," president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. "We love what he brings defensively to the table and the fact we control him an additional year. He brings athleticism to both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, and the control. We know we have him for two years. Casey was on the brink of free agency. Given the opportunity, we felt it would be a good fit to bring Martin over."

Video: Marlins welcome Gordon, Latos and Morse

Flores and Castillo are two promising right-handers who were brought in to help replenish a Minor League system that has taken a jolt from six trades since Nov. 28.

The last time the Marlins had a stretch where they made six trades in less than a month span came in 2005. That year, however, the team was unloading its high-profile players for mostly prospects. Among the moves were Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell going to Boston and Carlos Delgado being moved to the Mets. Now, the focus has been adding to the Major League roster.

Miami dove into its offseason with a big splash, signing Giancarlo Stanton to a record-setting 13-year, $325 million contract on Nov. 19. The club started making deals the day after Thanksgiving, with the acquisition of right-hander Aaron Crow from the Royals on Nov. 28. Since, the club has acquired second baseman Dee Gordon (Dodgers), right-hander Mat Latos (Reds) and signed free-agent first baseman Michael Morse.

Hill has made it clear the team is aggressively exploring trades and signings to make the Marlins a contender in 2015.

"As we headed into the offseason, priority one was taking care of the big man [Stanton] and making sure he was part of our future," Hill said. "We've done that. And then it was adding to this team. We felt like this team was good but it wasn't where we needed to be. We needed to add more talent to get us over the hump."

In all, the Marlins traded 13 players, including seven pitchers, to acquire Crow, Gordon, Dan Haren, Miguel Rojas, Latos, Andre Rienzo, David Phelps, Prado, Flores and Castillo.

"We love the moves we've been able to make," Hill said. "We've checked off a lot of boxes in terms of what our goals were and what we were wanting to accomplish."