Miami Marlins Starting Pitchers Reportedly Drawing Interest on Trade Market

Miami Marlins pitchers Jesús Luzardo and Edward Cabrera are drawing interest from other teams, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Friday.

Rosenthal reported before the Winter Meetings that teams were interested in Cabrera and Trevor Rogers, but that Luzardo was "almost certainly off-limits" at the time. That seems to have changed, based on Rosenthal's new report:

Left-hander Jesús Luzardo (three years of club control) and right-hander Edward Cabrera (five) continue to draw interest. On one hand, the Marlins need to proceed with caution, considering right-hander Sandy Alcántara will spend the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and righty Eury Peréz will be on some kind of innings limit. On the other hand, new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix is said to be perhaps more open to moving a starter than his predecessor, Kim Ng.

Bendix previously was with the Rays, who routinely trade starters at peak value, before they start making too much money. Luzardo is projected to earn $5.9 million in the second of his four years of arbitration. Trading him might be the best way for the Marlins to address offensive needs while guarding against Luzardo’s value diminishing as he gets more expensive.

Bendix replaced Ng in November after the latter stepped down from her post as general manager. As Rosenthal said, Bendix comes from an organization in Tampa Bay that is no stranger to trading promising pitchers before they hit the open market.

Luzardo went 14-16 with a 3.52 ERA, 1.154 WHIP, 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a 6.1 WAR over the past two seasons. He finished eighth in AL Rookie of the Year voting with the Oakland Athletics in 2020, a year before he was traded to the Marlins in exchange for All-Star outfielder Starling Marte.

The 26-year-old left-hander won't be a free agent until 2027.

Luzardo, Cabrera, Rogers, Braxton Garrett and rookie Eury Pérez are currently set to make up the meat of Miami's starting rotation. Former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcántara and top prospect Max Meyer, meanwhile, are both recovering from Tommy John surgery, although there is hope the latter can return at some point in 2024.

With that kind of depth, the Marlins' new-look front office may be able to stomach shipping out Luzardo or Cabrera this winter after all.