After a rather quiet offseason in terms of signing free agents, Miami Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, made his first couple of moves. In doing so, he signed a pair of free agents from their in-state foes, the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Marlins signed Christopher Morel to play first base, and then on Wednesday, they reportedly signed closer Pete Fairbanks to a contract to solidify the backend of their bullpen. That is one of the bigger free agent signings Miami has had in some time. The Fairbanks deal has not been officially announced by the team.
As far as their starting pitchers go, three of the Marlins’ starters are reportedly generating interest in free agency: Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, and Ryan Weathers. Miami has listened to potential deals on them, but no trades have been made yet. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the Marlins are listening on Cabrera, but don’t want to trade Alcantara, unless they are blown away with an offer.
Marlins Reportedly Holding Onto Sandy Alcantara
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As far as Alcantara goes, he has always seemed like the one pitcher that the Marlins would end up holding onto this offseason, and if they were to deal a pitcher, it would likely be Cabrera or even Weathers. As far as Cabrera goes, according to Jackson, the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles are no longer involved in trade discussions with Miami.
That would make sense as the Astros recently acquired Mike Burrows from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three-team trade, while the Orioles acquired Shane Baz from the Rays in a trade. Baltimore has been aggressive this offseason so far this winter, signing New York Mets free agent Pete Alonso right after the Winter Meetings.
As far as Alcantara goes, he struggled at the beginning of last season after coming off Tommy John surgery. He got better as the season went along, and he was still rumored to be drawing interest from teams at the trade deadline. Teams do not appear to be afraid of his stats coming off of major surgery. He went 11-12 with a 5.36 ERA in 31 starts in 2025 with 142 strikeouts in 174.2 innings.
Miami is a team that had a much better 2025 season than a lot of people thought and finished just four games out of the final National League Wild Card spot behind the Cincinnati Reds. They had some players break out, which sets them up for 2026.
Alcantara is owed $17 million in 2026 and has a team option of $21 million for 2027. Bendix and the front office should not be in a rush to move him if he has a strong start to 2026, and if things are not going well at the trade deadline, then moving him next summer is another option for Miami.
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