Marlins missing shot to deal Straily

These are two pitchers covering their ages 27-28 seasons:

Pitcher A started 50 games, was 17-20 with an ERA 13 percent better than league average, an OPS allowed 8 percent better than league average, 2.6 walks and 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

Pitcher B started 51 games (in 54 appearances), was 21-13 with an ERA 15 percent better than league average, an OPS allowed 9 percent better than average, 3.1 walks and 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Pretty similar, right? Pitcher A is Jose Quintana’s time on the White Sox (hence before he was traded July 13 to the Cubs) from 2016-17. Pitcher B is the Marlins’ Dan Straily in 2016-17 before his scheduled start Tuesday in Texas.

It is pointed out because Quintana netted the White Sox a four-player package highlighted by one of the best prospects in the game, Eloy Jimenez, and another in the top 100, Dylan Cease. Meanwhile, the Marlins have essentially been shopping just relievers (David Phelps already was dealt) and perhaps Dee Gordon as they maintain their more controllable players for a new owner as the sale of the team drags on.

But is Miami missing a great opportunity here? There are many teams that need starting pitching in this market and not enough quality to go around.

Quintana is better than Straily — a lefty with a longer track record and higher highs. But much of what made Quintana alluring similarly fits Straily. They’re both in their primes (Straily is 54 days older than Quintana). And they are affordable with years of control: Quintana is making $6 million this year and is owed $29.35 million from 2018-20. Straily is making $552,100 this year, is not arbitration eligible until this offseason and will almost certainly make less than Quintana until he is a free agent, also after the 2020 campaign.

There is reason to dig into Straily’s baseline stats. Like with all NL pitchers, his numbers are fattened by facing opposing pitchers, who are 2-for-30 with no extra- base hits or walks and 11 strikeouts. He is an extreme flyball pitcher who benefits from a big home park. And his economy is not great (six or more innings just eight times in 20 starts).

Conversely, his strong turnaround began last year with the Reds and their homer-friendly park (14-8, 3.76).

But this is mainly about the Marlins accepting who they are. Their lack of high-end pitching, pitching depth and a quality farm system means they are years away from bigtime contention. That means maximizing pieces who can get a large return at this moment in time.

Straily almost perfectly fits what the Twins and Brewers, in particular, need: a starter who helps their surprise contention now and is part of good teams moving forward. The Cubs would love to add another controllable starter, too. Perhaps the Mariners and Royals would have interest.

At this time of year, scouts repeatedly caution top-100 prospect lists are a nice overview of prospect ability, but far from a bible.

Organizations value or don’t value those on the lists and those not on the lists in completely different ways.

This is far from a complete menu of star-level players, but just to give an idea, the following never appeared on a top-100 list of Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus or MLB Pipeline: Quintana, Jose Altuve, Charlie Blackmon, Jacob de Grom, Josh Donaldson, Paul Goldschmidt, Robinson Cano, Corey Kluber, Jose Ramirez and Kyle Seager.

At this moment, players who were on the 2010 Baseball America Top 100 should be stars in their primes and many are, including Giancarlo Stanton (ranked third), Buster Posey (seventh) and Madison Bumgarner (14th). But Jesus Montero was fourth, Brian Matusz fifth, Desmond Jennings sixth, Pedro Alvarez eighth, Dustin Ackley 11th and Domonic Brown 15th. Had any of their organizations traded those players at that time, many fans/media who had never seen the players actually perform would have screamed about giving up too much.