Among the many reasons why the Miami Marlins were so deplorably anonymous a season ago was the fact that their former NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara did not pitch for them. He had to undergo Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2024 MLB season. Alcantara has spent the bulk of his big-league career with the Fish since being traded over from the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018.
Given that Alcantara does not turn 30 until September, there is a chance he may be dealt a second time in his career, this time for prospects. While the Atlanta Braves may not have the guys in the farm system to entice a team like the Marlins to pull the trigger, keep in mind these teams have been trade partners before. More importantly, you and I care about the same about the Marlins as the Marlins do.
As far as any team that could be in the market to trade for Alcantara at the deadline, the Braves, the Boston Red Sox, whomever, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported something very crucial in that potentially becoming a reality. Because Alcantara will start the 2025 MLB season off on an innings limit, there is a growing sense he could be part of an October rotation, should the Marlins, or his new team, qualify.
The Marlins rarely are a part of any postseason conversation, so we will have to wait and see on this.
The Marlins will have Sandy Alcantara on an innings limit to start the year, leading contenders to believe he’ll be available come October if they can acquire him, per ESPN’s @JeffPassan. pic.twitter.com/pNaayEFHXR
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) March 5, 2025
Alcantara is under contract with the Marlins through 2026 and will not hit free agency until 2027.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Sandy Alcantara being on an innings limit is great news for trade partners
While we are many months away from the trade deadline, we have seen the Marlins do one weird thing after another with regards to its roster. Who saw the Fish trading the closest thing we have seen to Tony Gwynn in Luis Arraez to Gwynn’s former team in the San Diego Padres months before last year’s deadline? Anything and everything is always on the table when it comes to the Marlins, folks!
So while trading away another great player the caliber of Alcantara will surely set this team back even more and alienate the last remaining legions of its fractured-to-disinterested fanbase, I could see why a contender would move heaven and earth to land him. Alcantara may be coming off Tommy John surgery, but when he is healthy, he has proven to be a top-five starting pitcher in all of baseball.
Teams who are interested in trading for him, the Braves, Red Sox, what have you, would do so to not only help their chances down the stretch in a pennant race, but potentially into October. Yes, having multiple years of control is ideal for a team like the Braves to trade for him. Alex Anthopoulos loves to trade for players and then promptly extend them. He fits the bill of exactly what the Braves may want.
For now, we must wait and see how Alcantara pitches in his first season back from his major injury.
