Avoiding past errors, keeping pitchers, is aim
SAN DIEGO — After being burned in the past by quick-fix trades that involved parting ways with talented pitching prospects, the Miami Marlins are cognizant not to repeat those same mistakes.
Three years ago under the Jeffrey Loria regime, the Marlins made a pair of ill-fated moves in a short-term attempt to push for a Wild Card spot, dealing minor league pitchers Luis Castillo and Chris Paddack. While the Marlins’ return of Dan Straily and Fernando Rodney failed to improve the team, Castillo and Paddack have blossomed into two of the league’s top young starters.
As the Marlins enter the tail-end of the MLB Winter Meetings, a majority of teams have checked on the availability of the team’s young, controllable starting pitchers, including Sandy Alcantara, Caleb Smith and Pablo Lopez. Since taking over late in 2017, the Marlins’ new ownership group has spent significant energy in stockpiling the system, and they’re being mindful not to rashly part ways with their young arms.
“We’ve fallen into that trap where you start chasing and you look up and your
system’s empty because you’ve traded everything away,” president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. “And not been mindful of truly what you’re trying to build.
“I would hope even when we are a player away that we’ll still make smart decisions, because our goal is to have a sustainable product and you only do that with layers of talent.
Hill said they would have to receive a significant return if they were to deal one of their young starters. For instance, in July, Miami dealt promising rookie starter Zac Gallen to the Arizona Diamondbacks for shortstop prospect Jazz Chisholm, who the Marlins are extremely high on. Even still, it’s unlikely the Marlins would deal Alcantara, Smith or Lopez.
“It is a scary thought [to trade away pitchers] when you think about the market and how difficult it was to acquire the starting pitching that we acquired,” Hill said. “It would have to be a piece that we really feel is a big part of the near-term and the future for us to part with it.”
Another part of the equation is how the market has significantly risen for starting pitching at the Winter Meetings. On the extreme end of the spectrum, there’s star right-handed Gerrit Cole, who signed a massive nine-year, $324 million deal with the New York Yankees. Tanner Roark, a back-of-the-rotation type starter signed for two years, $24 million with the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
While the 2018 offseason moved a slower rate, Hill said the free agent market has been higher than he expected.
“You go off historically where things are” Hill said. “The market is what it is. It will bear whatever teams are willing to pay so we understand that.
“You generally approach it with historical information and historically those numbers aren’t out here for that profile of [back-end starter], so it’s obvious you have to look at and acknowledge — and that’s something we have to deal with as we look for options in those markets.”