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Apr 24, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Miami Marlins hat and glove in the dugout before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Miami Marlins May Regret This Trade Deadline Decision

Originally posted on Miami Marlins on SI | By Tommy Wild | Last updated Aug 7, 2025 7:40 PM ET

The Miami Marlins were in a position to be one of the biggest sellers at the MLB trade deadline. Instead, the fish largely stood pat, making a couple of marginal moves.

However, the move that Miami may regret is the one that they didn’t make. The Marlins have a ton of pitching: starting pitching, relief pitching, you name it.

However, the front office didn’t move one pitcher ahead of the trade deadline. In fact, they got more of it by acquiring RHP Ryan Gusto in the Jesus Sanchez trade with the Houston Astros.

Sure, it makes sense that the team wants to wait until Sandy Alcantara’s value goes back up, Eury Perez should be as close to untouchable to anyone on the roster, and Edward Cabrera’s trade value may only go up before the offseason.

Not moving one of these starters is understandable.

What Peter Bendix and Miami’s front office may regret is not trading one of its many quality bullpen arms, an area of depth and strength for the Marlins.

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Miami’s reliever core is one of the team’s best overall position groups. The Marlins have four pitchers with a WAR over 1.0, and the only pitcher who doesn’t, Calvin Fletcher, leads the team with 11 saves.

Wanting to hold onto Ronny Henriquez, who looks like he could be a future closer, makes sense. However, Faucher (3.56 ERA), Tyler Phillips (3.18 ERA), Lake Bachar (3.22 ERA), and Anthony Bender (2.33 ERA) could certainly have fetched a decent return.

Just look at some of the other moves that happened around MLB:

There were plenty of relievers who got dealt leading up to deadline day, including Mason Miller to the San Diego Padres, Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies, David Bednar and Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees, Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets, and Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays just to name a few of the big moves.

The key theme in all of these trades is that the team acquiring the reliever had to give up a lot to acquire the bullpen arm.

The Marlins may not have had anybody on Miller’s talent level, but the Padres had to give up the No. 3 overall prospect in baseball just to get him. The Rays gave up Taj Bradley, a controllable, young, proven starter, to obtain Jax from the Twins. The New York Mets gave up three of their prospect to acquire Tyler Rodgers.

Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

There are the timeline pieces to factor in, too.

The Marlins have been playing well over the last six weeks, but they should still be prioritizing the future in a competitive division and a loaded National League.

Faucher (age 29), Bachar (age 30), and Bender (age 30) are all in the prime of their careers. Unlike Miami’s starting pitchers, this trio’s trade value may not be the same or higher when MLB’s annual Winter Meetings roll around in December.

Overall, the Marlins made some average moves before the trade deadline.

However, seeing what other teams received for their bullpen arms, the timeline the Marlins should be on, and the quality of relievers Miami has in their bullpen, it’s easy to think that the organization missed out on adding one or two more highly-touted prospects to their farm system and rebuild.

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