After months of rumors, the Marlins finally dealt Edward Cabrera in a pitching-for-hitting trade, as the right-hander was dealt to the Cubs for a notable three-prospect package headlined by Owen Caissie. With Caissie ready to make an impact in Miami’s outfield as early as this season, the Marlins bolstered their lineup at the potential expense of their rotation, though the Fish are perhaps one of the few teams with enough rotation depth to withstand the loss of Cabrera.
Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Ryan Weathers, Max Meyer, and Braxton Garrett are tentatively lined up as the starting five, with swingman Janson Junk likely the top depth option. Adam Mazur and Ryan Gusto also have some big league experience, Dax Fulton looks to be ready for his MLB debut, and top prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling could also both make their first appearance in the Show before 2026 is out.
Given how this group is long on injury history and mostly short on proven track records, however, a case can certainly be made that Miami could or should add to their starter mix. Kevin Barral of Fish On First hears from a source that the Marlins could pursue an innings-eating veteran to add some more stability to the rotation. In the other direction, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic write that “the Marlins remain open to further dealing from their rotation for the right return.”
The latter report doesn’t indicate that such a trade if necessarily likely, and it could just be another example of how president of baseball operations Peter Bendix is broadly open to discussing all offers out of due diligence. Rosenthal and Sammon also note that it is still “unlikely” that Alcantara is traded, echoing multiple reports from throughout the offseason about the Marlins’ lack of appetite in moving the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner.
Trading away one of the younger arms for another MLB-ready young hitter could be more plausible if the right offer emerges, plus Miami could need to create some rotation space anyway if the team did bring in a veteran hurler. This hypothetical veteran arm wouldn’t come with a big price tag, as Barral uses the comp of the Marlins’ signing of Cal Quantrill to a one-year, $3.5MM deal last winter. Naturally Miami would be looking for better results from its next investment, as Quantrill posted a 5.50 ERA over 109 2/3 innings before he was put on waivers in August and claimed away by the Braves.
As one might expect, Bendix didn’t share many hints about adding or subtracting any pitchers when speaking with reporters (including MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and Jessica Camerato) earlier this week. While acknowledging the “can never have too much pitching” mantra, Bendix feels his team has plenty of internal options already for a spirited rotation battle in Spring Training, with even White or Snelling being candidates to break camp.
“I definitely don’t have a feel of who the starting five are going to be to open up the season,” Bendix said. “I think there’s opportunity there, there’s a competition there, there’s open space there, there’s a chance for a whole bunch of guys to step up and earn a spot, and there’s nothing that we’re writing off at this point.”