When Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara returned from Tommy John surgery this season, the team was hopeful that by this time, the former Cy Young winner would be good enough to trade for a haul.
Well, Alcantara has the worst ERA by a qualified starting pitcher this season. Outside of four starts from June 3 to June 22, Alcantara just hasn’t looked good.
Opponents have a .275/.342/.444 slash line against him this season, and his 1.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the worst it’s been since 2019.
At this point, Alcantara isn’t the most sought after pitcher in Miami.
According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, teammate Edward Cabrera is being more coveted than Alcantara.
“Edward Cabrera has become more coveted than Sandy Alcantara, who teams believe might take an offseason to fix,” wrote Rogers. “Alcantara's strikeout-to-walk ratio is scary low -- just 1.9 -- and his ERA is 7.14. Cabrera, on the other hand, is striking out more than a batter per inning and his ERA sits at 3.61. The 27-year-old right-hander will come at a heavy cost for opposing teams.”
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Several teams, including the Chicago Cubs, are in desperate need of starting pitching upgrades and are in on Alcantara.
But just because they are in on him doesn’t mean they will actually pursue him at the trade deadline.
Alcantara is still under contract beyond this season, so the Marlins can wait and try to trade him again later.
Cabrera, 27, is having a far better season than Alcantara and would give suitors like the Cubs a much better chance at immediate success.
The Marlins could end up dealing one, both or none. Since neither of them are on expiring contracts, there’s no point in trading them just to trade them.
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