The Marlins have one of the league’s most pitching-heavy rosters, with an established group of young starters and some more well-regarded prospects nearing big league readiness. With the team expected to look for upgrades both behind the plate and in the outfield this winter, the Fish have seemed speculative candidates to make one of their controllable arms available to bolster other areas on the roster.
Miami’s at least debating that possibility, as Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports (on Twitter) the team is considering whether to trade one of their arbitration-eligible hurlers this offseason. Sandy Alcantara, Pablo López and Elieser Hernández are each controllable through 2024 via arbitration, and Morosi suggests the Marlins could be open to moving someone from that group.
Alcantara would seemingly have the greatest appeal on the trade market, but it’s also possible Miami could make him off limits. There’s reportedly been optimism about their chances of working out an extension with the All-Star hurler, who was one of just four pitchers to eclipse 200 innings this past season. Alcantara, who is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $4.5MM arbitration salary, worked to a stellar 3.19 ERA despite that heavy workload, inducing grounders on over half the balls in play against him.
López has been one of the league’s steadier, more underrated hurlers over the past couple seasons. Going back to the start of 2020, the right-hander has a 3.26 ERA/3.21 FIP across 160 innings. Only projected for a $2.5MM salary, López’s resume should pique the interest of plenty of pitching-needy clubs. But his status could be complicated a rotator cuff strain in his throwing shoulder that cost him essentially the entire second half of 2021. López landed on the shelf in mid-July and didn’t return until the final day of the season, when he tossed 1 2/3 innings in a deliberately brief start.
Hernández is coming off an injury-impacted season of his own. The righty missed two months early in the year with biceps inflammation, then suffered a quad strain in his first start back that cost him another two months. He made eleven starts altogether, posting a 4.18 ERA with quality strikeout and walk numbers but an extremely high home run rate. He’s projected for a $1.4MM salary.
With all three pitchers likely to have bargain salaries in 2022, general manager Kim Ng and her staff needn’t feel any immediate financial pressure to move Alcantara, López or Hernández this winter. But it’s little surprise the Marlins are at least considering that course of action, since trading one of those starters looks to be the most straightforward way to acquire controllable position player talent. Even if Miami moved one of the aforementioned trio, they’d still have Trevor Rogers, Sixto Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett and Zach Thompson among their big league ready rotation options, with top prospect Max Meyer on the doorstep as well after a dominant season in Double-A.
This is a great problem to have….. just don’t trade away the wrong one. No pressure at all.
Easy decision to make, pick the guy with the worst injury and offer him to the Padres!
If I’m the Marlins I try to combine Hernandez and Sixto Sanchez in a trade for the best catcher I can get. They should be able to get a nice return on those 2 highly regarded players but I think it’s possible they both end up with long term health concerns. I could see the Red Sox or Cubs maybe moving off a catcher. The Braves might be willing to trade Williams Contreras since they have Langeliers waiting in the wings. The Giants are out of the question now with Posey retired. Who else has surplus catching? The Marlins dream scenario is begging Posey to come out of retirement. That’s not happening though.
Here’s a chance for John Mozeliak to right a wrongful trade he made. He traded Alcantra and others to the Marlins for a sore armed outfielder who was a flash in the pan for 2 years with the Cardinals.
Alcantra would be a great asset to the Cardinals rotation!!!! Plus he’d look great back in a Cardinals uniform!!!
The Cardinals have game ready players in the minors and players on the current roster who could be a benefit to
Gorman and Liberatore should be a good starting point coming to Miami.
As a Phillies fan I would love to see if DD could pry away a Neidert or Castano in a larger trade in hopes of getting a bargain. the added SP depth would be nice.
You can never have too many good pitchers.
Sox will give u Zach Collins for a starter!
You can never have too much starting pitching.
Hey, Jeter. You have solid arms. Move the fence in, huh? FA’s will come. As much as everyone considers Milwaukee a hitter friendly park, it was in the middle of the league in runs scored due to their pitching.
I see Mattingley wanting Bellinger from the Dodgers, fits a need for both sides with the Dodgers acquiring a starter along with freeing up payroll to resign Scherzer and possibly Taylor
Dodgers could be given the option to handpick any Marlins starter for Bellinger and they wouldn’t do it.
-1.5 war! really?
Yes, they’ll be banking on a rebound season. Alcantara as is would be the Dodgers #3 starter and that’s before any big moves
A players value on a team doesn’t change because there are other better players there. alcantara is a top of the rotation pitcher and Marlins would receive a hefty package in exchange for him
You don’t trade a 26-year-old recent MVP for a pitcher. Tony Gonsolin or Bobby Miller has as good a chance of succeeding as anyone the Dodgers would get from the Marlins. It would be Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas all over again.
I agree that the Dodgers are not ready to give up on Bellinger. But I disagree that Gonsolin and Miller are at the level of Sandy Alcantara, look at both results and innings pitched and Alcantara has upped his game.
Bellinger has 2 more years of control. If he does return to MVP form the Marlins will not be able to pay that salary after these 2 years are up.
Not sure they’d really have interest in Belly. Alcantara has 3 years of control and more value than Bellinger does right now. Dodgers aren’t a team that needs to sell anyone low either..
There’s that word no GM wants to hear. “IF”
I think for Sandy Alcantara, Fish would want both Diego Cartaya and Miguel Vargas. I think that is unlikely to happen. Fish seem to have won the Gallen for Jazz deal.
Jazz for Gallen is way too early to call.
The Fish look like they got the better end right now but Jazz has some holes in his swing. I’d lean on the Fish taking the deal but I’ve seen too many guys go the way of Bobby Crosby after a year. Gallen was really electric his first year also.
What will the return be for one Willson Contreras?
Well considering theres only one of him it’s pretty uncertain. Now if there were two Willson Contreras you could probably get double for both.
Not to be a contrarian, but there is also a William Contreras, while a relation, admittedly a seemingly lesser Contreras.
Miami you’re going to love your new catcher Alejandro Kirk.
Toronto, you’re going to hate Jeff Brigham.
There’s an opportunity to go big here. Lots of names in this post would be of interest to any team, and the Marlins have a need for multiple bats. Ask about Jose Ramirez, Ketel Marte, hell, see what it would cost for one year of Buxton. If they keep waiting for internal development to fix their offense, half these pitchers will be gone via free agency before they get there.
Marte seems like the most logical target. He’s a veteran spark plug with defensive versatility, and the D-backs need a major infusion of pitching talent.
Wouldn’t it make sense to target young position players with term? Doesn’t make a ton of sense to use assets to go for it in 2022 and then not be able to re sign them when they hit free agency
I was going to reply, but Lewis Brinson, Jorge Alfaro, and Isan Diaz told me not to.
Hope the Giants get involved somehow, With Bart now most likely out of the trade market, I’m sure Ramos+ would be a starting point.
Lopez for Ramos + is intriguing for sure.
Trading Ramos is a tough pill to swallow.. hopefully they don’t get cheated because of his dipping minor league #’s from last season.. don’t want another Bryan Reynolds situation
It would be, I’m but not sure he’s going to be the stud Giants fans think he will be, I’d do 1-1 for Myer, but someone like Lopez or Alcantara would take a bit more
If you think the Giants are getting Meyer in a 1-1 deal, I’m going to need your weed dude’s number cause you’re clearly smoking some killer stuff.
As long as Luciano joins Ramos for Myer then i’m down.
Hope the pads look into Alcantara.
Camp, hassell in a package?
No to Hassell.
Offer the Marlins Campusano and see what the offer is. Padres have Nola at catcher for a while and can always draft a replacement catching prospect in the next year or 2.
Wonder what it’d cost to get Max Meyer, Joe Mack, and Jake Eder. Meyer ranked #30 while Campusano is #37. So maybe toss in Reiss Knehr and Euribiel Angeles.
I can see a massive trade being done here with the A’s. A combo of Olson/Chapman etc for a ton of pitching will do the A’s well here
Why would the Matlins want Chapman? The guy hit like .220.
Trade Hernandez and Zach Thompson. They could fetch a pretty solid return and keep the core of the rotation in tact
I know he can’t hit a lick, but what about a defense-first catcher who’s great with pitching staffs — Roberto Perez?
Like someone said, keep the good pitchers.
Andujar, Frazier, Wade, and even throw in Abreu for Alcántara!
Keep dreaming.
MIA should stay with the course. They have a quality pitching staff but not a great one.
They were fortunate to tear down the heaviest contracts so quickly. Only Starlin Castro and Wei-Yin Chen remained through 2019.
The tear down was complete 2020, the same year they went to the playoffs.
I see the issue as not having enough or not good enough scouts evaluating offense. One or two position players won’t make much difference.
and built up a quality pitching staff so rapidly. Still, it could be better.
What about to the Royals for Melendez?
You’re never going to become a good team trading away your best assets. The Marlins have gotten the payroll down to respectability, and have the foundation for a dominant pitching staff. So it’s time for Derick & Co. to explore adding bats by (a) taking on bad contracts (see Wil Myers, et al) and (b) adding through Free Agency.
If anything, I’d look to ADD to the pitching, and really taking it to the next level. The Brewers win with a pop-gun offense and great pitching (defense helps) , and the days when the NL East was a power-house division are long gone.
They’ll never become a good team by fielding 10 major league starting pitchers and one major league hitter in Chisholm. The Brewers at least have Yellich, Adames, Shaw, Urias, Wong, Navarez, Cain…all leaps and bounds better than the jokes the Marlins are running out on offense.
You trade from the deepest part of your roster, and that overwhelmingly is their starting pitching. They traded away Gallen for Jazz, that was trading away from their best assets and it made them a better team. Not sure what your suggestion is, to trade from their most shallow positions?
Their BEST asset right now is the (est.) 56M payroll. And the value of dependable pitching was shown just yesterday; 8M for Andrew Haney is bizarre, even for an organization (LA) that has money to burn.
If you deplete pitching to increase offense, you’re just rearranging the ephemeral deck chairs on the Titanic. You still lose, you just lose in a different manner.
The M’s can own the Florida market; the Rays could win 5 World Series, and not do anything for their brand; that’s just the way they’ve chosen to do business. So there’s some real possibilities in Miami. Take on some bad contracts, shop the FA market, get some bats; bats are easier to get than pitching; AA in Atlanta had little difficulty putting a whole new OF together mid-season.
So if you want to do what you want to do, trade 3 of your pitchers to Baltimore for Mullins and Hayes; then next year, you have to trade Mullins and Hayes for pitching. (And meanwhile, the O’s now lose 4-2 instead of 10-6).
You’re missing important points……
Who developed those pitchers? What’s to say they won’t develop more young pitchers they have on the 40 man roster.
–
Some teams can develop pitchers. Some teams develop position players (that’s the easy part) and elect to trade their surplus hitters for established pitching (think Theo Epstein, Mark Shapiro, etc.). The problem there is that pitchers aren’t computers that have been programmed. They’re human beings that coaching staffs work with daily during the season. It’s seldom that a quality pitcher is traded to a team that can’t develop their own pitchers, and continues to pitch at the level he did with his old team after a year or so….if that.
Heaney** No “E” in “Hays”
Now that the procedural stuff is out of the way…. BAL isn’t trading Mullins and Hays for guys w less control. I’d be surprised if Mullins could be traded at all. Hays I could see if another team wanted to use him as a CF. He’d be a more valuable commodity to that team; so values may line up.
Good to see the Spell Police are working this morning….
I don’t THINK the O’s move Mullins or Hays (without the “e’), but they’re liable to do anything. Hays is intensely more move-able; I think there’s some doubt that Cedrick can repeat close to what he did, and a RH-hitting CFer whose pretty good defensively (better than Mullins, IMHO) , with offensive upside is in high demand. I can see the O’s getting a lot for “Action Austin”.
But again, why would they? Trading controllable young talent isn’t the way to build a championship; it just guarantees year to year mediocrity. Besides, even with the MASN mess and some ill-advised deferrals, the O’s still have a LOT of money. Even more than the Marlins, they should be looking to add, add, and then add.
People tend to dismiss your whole comment for a spelling blunder and I’ve seen you fumble Hays a few times. Just passing along the correct info.
I don’t disagree w you on Hays but I think Mullins is a player. 30/30 every year is a stretch but I think theres legitimate 20 HR pop in that bat w the SBS. He really broke out and shouldn’t be moved.
O’s def need more arms in the system. With guys like Stowers and Cowser on the way—that’s the only reason I’d listen to an offer for either one of them.
I always was a proofreader’s nightmare….
Hopefully, Mullins is at least close to what he’s shown. Really, when you look at the top 5 in the O’s lineup, it’s competitive with contending teams. Mullins-Hays-Mancini-Santander-Mountcastle isn’t at all bad.
The problem is, the lineup completely falls off the cliff after that. You could waive them all. and nobody would bite. Of course Adley is coming, but let’s hold off the coronation for a bit.
At their level of development, they can’t really give talent up, so taking on bad contracts (they have the money) and Free Agents are the solution, for both the pitching and the absurdly horrible infield (even calling Boom Boom and Ryan M. “first basemen” is stretching it). And ya, they’ve already invested time in Santander, who I think could really blossom into a plus player.
The top farm system (tho more for Adley/G-Rod than for depth), some good solid young talent; they SHOULD be on the way.
Marlins own nothing,no one morth of WPB gives a rats ass about the marlins( prob south for matter) most of Florida wants anything to do with NYC south in any context. Anyone that has lived here more then 10 minute knows that.
This is true.
Another fact, and more importantly, is that nobody south of WPB wants anything to do with nor gives negative f***s about north of WPB…
Any NYC souther or resident, whos lived more than 10 min, within Broward or Dade county knows that.
No s@@t, THAT WAS MY POINT,! no one team is going to “own” Florida, people who have lived here more than 10 minutes know that. Politics, culture, sports ect… 2 different worlds
So deplete your biggest strength to upgrade the lineup? While the market has great options for relatively cheap
Could just nut up and sign some free agent sluggers but they won’t do that
It would be wise to look to the blue jays, they have a surplus of catching and outfielders. A gridchuk and Alejandro Kirk might make a lot of sense for a lopez
Doubt the Marlins have any interest in grichuk, unless the jays pay most of his salary.
Doubt the Marlins have any interest in Grichuck even if the Jays pay for half the Marlins payroll.
What the Jays paid for Berrios was a joke! If the team keeps making trades like that it won’t be long and the cupboards will be empty! You don’t trade your two best prospects for a good, but not great pitcher with one year control left. Berrios has already stated he wants to see free agency so no long term deal is coming either…
Eh, prospects are always overrated by fans. Other than truly elite prospects, most never turn into anything.
Please stop ignoring Jake Eder. He absolutely dominated AA from beginning to end.
He just got TJ. He was upgraded to a top 100 prospect before and jumped up the Marlins top 30. But he’s not on this list because he will most likely not throw a pitch in 2022
Elieser Hernandez is going to be a terrific starter very soon. He understands how to PITCH and has good movement on his stuff. A wise gm will pluck him now.
Bader, Thompson Tink Hence for Pablo Lopez and JJ Bleday?
@thecarlsbergking.
Strong offer for the Marlins. I would think that the Marlins would still have to pony up Kahlil Watson and send AT LEAST 3 years worth of competitive balance picks to the Cards for them to even consider giving up the future multi-MVP Bader + those future 20+ game winners / cy-young pitching prospects.
The jays have a surplus of catchers. Jansen mcguire kirk moreno and another kid further down. How about lourdes gurriel to play center the kid had 4 grand slams last year alone
Doubt Moreno is available but if he were Marlins would be a perfect team to trade with.
Unsure if Lourdes has the adequate range to play CF