Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera were available for the right price, but nobody was willing to meet it. When the dust settled at 6:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, they both remained in Miami Marlins uniforms, as did every other member of the major league pitching staff. It was a surprising outcome—to say the least—for a club that hasn’t tasted the .500 mark since mid-April and is still in the process of reinforcing a good farm system into an elite one.
Alcantara is one of the most impactful pitchers in Marlins history. Across parts of seven MLB seasons in Miami, he has totaled more than one thousand innings pitched, compiling the third-most complete games and second-most strikeouts of any Marlin ever. He signed a $56 million contract extension in November 2021 right before a lockout and validated that long-term commitment by becoming the franchise’s only National League Cy Young Award winner the following season.
The Marlins were an atrocious team in 2024, largely because their starting rotation crumbled while Alcantara rehabbed from Tommy John surgery. Based on everything we saw and heard this spring, there was optimism that the 29-year-old was ready to reprise his workhorse role. Instead, he got lit up throughout the months of April and May. Even with solid performances lately, he entered Thursday with a 6.36 ERA, 4.48 FIP and .267 BAA, averaging barely five innings per start. After striking out seven batters on Opening Day, he has eclipsed that total only once since then. At least velocity is not a concern—Sandy topped out at 99.9 mph in his most recent start against the St. Louis Cardinals and his four-seam fastball has sat at 97.5 this year, which is comparable to his pre-TJ norm.
Overall, you don’t really know what version of Alcantara you’re getting in August, September and October, yet according to The Athletic’s Will Sammon, suitors were expected to mortgage much of their future to pry him from the Marlins:
Cabrera was an international free agent signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2015. The Marlins are the only MLB organization that he has ever known. He emerged as a big-time prospect in 2019, combining for a 2.02 ERA in 19 starts at the High-A/Double-A levels.
No surgeries have been required along the way, but Cabrera has been constantly nagged by injuries. He’s been sidelined for portions of every single season dating back to 2017. He reached the majors on August 25, 2021. All but two of his 81 Marlins appearances since then have come in a starting role.
This season is shaping up to be Cabrera’s best as a big leaguer. In 18 starts, he has posted a 3.35 ERA, 3.68 FIP and .235 BAA. He’s six innings away from establishing a new career-high in innings pitched. Although Cabrera’s changeup was his original claim the fame, he is now throwing his curveball just as often and generating incredible results with it (+6 RV, .122 BAA and 42.2 Whiff%). His control of all his pitches has improved in terms of getting ahead in counts and challenging hitters in the strike zone.
Earning a $1.95 million salary in his first year of arbitration eligibility, Cabrera will continue to be arb-eligible through 2028 (his age-30 season). That boosted his surplus value above Alcantara’s. However, his erratic availability and production prior to 2025 may have given interested teams pause.
“If Cabrera runs off another two or three months [like this], he could be a very, very coveted asset, even more than what he was now,” Craig Mish of FanDuel Sports Network Florida said on our trade deadline Twitter space. “I think that’s what the Marlins are taking a chance on here.”
Contenders who were linked to Alcantara and Cabrera leading up to the deadline include the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and New York Yankees.
It’s premature to look ahead to the 2025-26 offseason trade window, because in the meantime, the Marlins are hanging out on the periphery of the NL wild-card race, seven games back of the final spot. Their deadline activity did nothing to augment the roster with outside talent, but they also did not subtract from what has recently been an extraordinary effective stable of arms.
Cabrera is scheduled to take the mound next on Sunday against the Yankees, with Alcantara projected to go on Tuesday against the Astros.