National MLB Writer Speculates the Marlins Could Have a Firesale This Season
It’s not wild to say that the 0-7 start to the Miami Marlins season has been a disaster.
With four projected starting pitchers on the injury list and a lack of thump in the lineup, Miami’s been outscored by 27 runs in their first seven games and the schedule only gets tougher from here. The Marlins trade home matchups with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Angels for road trips to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals and New York to take on the Yankees before hosting the reigning division champ Atlanta Braves and much improved San Francisco Giants in loanToday Park.
And because of the stumble to open the schedule and the rocky road ahead, there’s a lot of speculation that the Marlins may get into a hole they can’t dig themselves out of.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, writing a column examining the start, dropped both some knowledge on offseason trade discussions and raised the possibility of some in-season trades that could be done sooner rather than later.
Rosenthal broke the news that the Marlins and San Diego Padres had trade talks this offseason for two-time batting champ Luis Arraez as well as Opening Day starter Jesús Luzardo, with Miami being more interested in moving Arraez and San Diego focusing on Luzardo.
Arraez, owed $10.6M this season, is under team control through 2025, while Luzardo’s earning $5.5M and under team control through 2026.
And Rosenthal points out that the possibility of the Marlins making trades isn’t that far-fetched - they traded utilityman Jon Berti to the New York Yankees on the eve of Opening Day.
But there’s a difference in trading a veteran who is somewhat redundant by multiple utility options behind him, a position that could be argued Berti was in with Vidal Bruján and Jonah Bride on the roster, and trading everyday major league players.
And that’s something that Rosenthal speculates could happen, given the high salaries of several everyday players and general manager Peter Bendix’s Tampa Bay Rays roots, an organization known for remaining competitive despite incredibly low payrolls.
Rosenthal names several players that could potentially be moved if the team continues to lose early in the year:
“Arraez and Luzardo would carry the most value, but the Marlins also could look to move anyone earning significant dollars — first baseman Josh Bell ($16.5 million this season), outfielder Avisaíl García ($24 million in 2024 and ‘25), perhaps even Alcantara ($43.9 million from ‘24 to ‘26) and center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., who is earning $2.625 million this season but has two years of salary arbitration remaining.”
There’s quite a few Miami fans that would love to see García depart for almost anything the team could get for him, although Alcantara and Chisholm would be a much tougher pill to swallow.
But it’s tough to see a path back to the playoffs for Miami. 29 teams since 1901 have started a season 0-7 - none of them made the postseason.
So what do you do?
Managing Editor for Blackerby Media, covering the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins Also: Senior Baseball Writer for Auburn Daily, member of both the National College Baseball Writers Association and Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (where he won the 2023 Prospects, Minors, & College Writer of the Year award)