When it comes to trade candidates on the Marlins, the majority of the focus has been squarely on right-hander Sandy Alcantara. A recent Cy Young award winner who missed last season while rehabbing Tommy John surgery, Alcantara is earning a healthy salary on a team that is seemingly always looking for opportunities to lower its already-meager payroll and has enough team control remaining for rival clubs to convince themselves to part ways with prospects they’d never consider dealing for a rental arm.
That all makes Alcantara a sensible and attractive trade candidate on paper, but a major issue with those plans has emerged this year: he simply isn’t pitching very well. The righty’s 7.89 ERA through 12 starts is the worst mark among starters with at least 50 innings this year, and even more advanced metrics like his 5.04 FIP and 4.85 SIERA are the 11th- and tenth-worst figures in the sport respectively. It’s going to be hard to convince opposing teams to pay a premium for Alcantara as he’s currently pitching, and that’s a problem for a Miami club that’s in the midst of a deep rebuild.
While Alcantara might not be pitching like the front-line starter the team was hoping to be able to market to needy clubs this summer, another intriguing arm has inserted himself into the discussion with a strong start to the season: left-hander Ryan Weathers. The 25-year-old started the 2025 campaign on the injured list due to a forearm strain he suffered during Spring Training, but in four starts since returning he’s looked nothing short of excellent with a 2.49 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate, and a 43.1% ground ball rate. Those peripherals don’t quite live up to that ERA, but even his 3.60 SIERA to this point in the year puts him on par with arms like Merrill Kelly and David Peterson who have established themselves as solid mid-rotation, playoff-caliber starters.
On top of his solid performance, Weathers would also be extremely attractive as a trade candidate because he’s making less than $780K this season and comes with plenty of team control. The southpaw won’t be a free agent until the end of the 2028 season, so even clubs facing tight budget restrictions in the short term or who aren’t interested in adding long-term salary commitments could have interest in his services if he’s made available. Weathers’ combination of strong results and a team-friendly contract situation could make him an extremely valuable trade asset for the Fish this summer.
With that being said, there are certainly strong reasons to think the Marlins may not want to part ways with the southpaw. Weathers is still just 25 years old and has yet to complete a full, healthy big league campaign with the club. Four starts is a small sample size that could make him difficult to market, and while good health should allow him to get more like ten to twelve starts under his belt before trade season kicks into high gear, it’s possible he’ll take a step back and wind up pitching closer to the 3.63 ERA and 4.11 FIP he posted in 16 starts last season going forward. Even if he does keep this level of success up, there’s certainly an argument to be made that Weathers could be dealt at a later date when he’s more established and teams might feel more comfortable surrendering a large trade package for him.
What’s more, Weathers’ three seasons of team control after this one could make the Marlins a bit more reluctant to trade the lefty. Miami surely hopes to be competing for the postseason again before 2029, especially with players like Kyle Stowers, Connor Norby, Agustin Ramirez, and Xavier Edwards showing themselves to be solid pieces this year. A potential front three of Eury Perez, Max Meyer, and Weathers under long-term team control would go a long way to making the Marlins legitimate contenders sooner rather than later, and many of those aforementioned pieces only have one more year of team control than Weathers does. Moving someone like Edward Cabrera, who has the same amount of team control remaining as Weathers but is two years older, could also be a preferable option given that Weathers is set to hit free agency ahead of his age-29 season.
Of course, many of the reasons that Weathers would be difficult to part ways with now could be argued as reasons he should be traded at some point. His injury history may make him less valuable in trade, but the Marlins are seeing right now with Alcantara what struggling after a major arm injury can do to a player’s value. The lefty’s youth would mean he’s in the prime of his career when the Marlins will hopefully be trying to contend again, but it also would make him a prime extension candidate for a club with deeper pockets than Miami. The collection of talent the club has at its disposal is impressive, but it still leans much more towards pitching than offense, so swapping a player like Weathers for a bat with similar control could go a long way to improving the team.
How do MLBTR readers think the Marlins should handle Weathers this summer? Should he be kept off the market entirely, shopped aggressively, or moved only if a team makes an overwhelming offer? Have your say in the poll below:
What is Peter Bendix even doing?
Getting swept by the Rockies for one thing.
“Deep rebuild”
Weathers is the defacto one but a natural 2. Kicking my self for not signing him in my league on the early injury 😬
Duran for weathers sounds nice
Breslow is dumb but he ain’t that dumb.
Breslow has a devers problem. Ryan weathers doesn’t fix that.
.978 OPS since the end of March. I wish we had two more Devers “problems”.
I’m pro devers man. Breslow can go play 1b as far as I’m concerned. He ain’t wrong in this one.
Why wouldn’t they? Everyone except for Norby, Ramirez and Stowers should all be available and out of Miami by August 1st.
Xavier Edwards should stay unless they get an overpay in return. Sparkplugs like him have a place on any roster and they have to have some experience present, even if he doesn’t have a lot of i5. And Conine (he’s injured so it doesn’t really matter) should be given more assessment time to see if his offense is real.
There were less than 2000 people at the Marlins game last night, no one in Miami would even notice or care if he was gone.
No one in Miami would notice or care if the Marlins were gone.
Notice or care no not at all. But remember yea. Pepperidge farm remembers.
6-8K for the Rockies
14K for the SF Giants….
Not 2K
Alcantara is smart, he knows that he has ’26 and ’27 to put in a good season before his contract is up. He is taking it easy this season, Marlins aren’t in a position to win and he has no reason to risk his arm so the Marlins can get a couple prospects in return for trading him.
If Im the Marlins, I trade Alcantara for whatever I can get for him and cut bait on his salary.
Keep Weathers. Weathers, Perez, Meyer has potential
As usual, you are uninformed. 2027 is a team option.
correct, when Alcantara lights it up in ’26, whoever he is pitching for will pick up his option.
There are few on here who are more disconnected with reality than you.
Or he can pitch well and get the **** out of Miami. What a dreadful team to play for.
Yes, he should be traded, the Marlins have such a poor farm system with no elite talent that this team is 5-6 years at best from ever contending again, Weathers should be gone, he wont be a factor on that next contending team with the franchise
You’re right! Except that the Marlins system was ranked 16th and presently have 4 top 100 prospect.
Absolutely not great but absolutely not poor either. Good job!
Where are the elite hitting prospects? There is no one the caliber of Roman Anthony in the Marlins system
The Marlins big issue is being a consistent offense and specifically hitting for power, they have had no home runs in 6 straight games, there isn’t that pure slugger in the system with 25-30 HR potential that can come up and change that, that’s why I think the Marlins are 5-6 years away, they need 2-3 straight quality drafts in a row, they haven’t drafted anything resembling a Judge or Ohtani for over a decade now
They steer clear of those kind of players because they’re gonna cost too much in arbitration, and MIA sure as heck aren’t gonna extend any player who expects even half of market value. I see this team in a permanent state of rebuilding much like PIT.
Their highest ranked hitting prospect is currently an 18 year old with a bad hip who is hitting only .200 with not much power and doesn’t profile to have as much in Caba
@isaac I’m just stating actual facts vs your take.
Now Marlins def need these hitting prospect to live up to their ranking/promise because it’s been a since they developed a solid starter let alone a #1 overall prospect like Roman.
But they do have a decent and improving farm with mostly elite arms.
I would even field offers for Perez if Im the Marlins, think of the Herschel Walker trade esque return the Marlins could get for Perez that would significantly upgrade the talent base into being a top 5 ranked farm system
No one is giving up much for Perez at this point. I don’t think he is half as valuable as either Painter of Chandler at this point.
Weathers has only made 4 starts this season so far because of a forearm injury. An injury that leads to UCL procedures most of the time. He only made 16 starts last season because of injuries. In his rookie season with the Padres in 2021 he missed half the season with injuries. I think I see a pattern here. I think other teams will too and will be unwilling to give up much for him.
As for Alcantara, the time to trade him has passed. An 8 ERA and only one QS = no trade value for a guy guaranteed $25 million as of the trade deadline. He is owed $6 million for the last 2 months of 2025, $17 million in 2026, and a $2 million buyout of 2027. A couple of prospects no one has ever heard of in low A maybe?
Sounds like someone the dodgers would trade for.
Yes but the Marlins would be fools to trade him. If he gets it together next year he will have actual value. Similar risk to Robert with the White Sox so interesting to follow. If saving the money is more important than getting a decent prospect return are you actually “rebuilding”?
Problem is that Alcantara will make up 21% of the Marlins’ $90 million projected payroll next season. If he continues to pitch like he has so far this season, which is likely, there will be few suitors in the offseason unless the Marlins eat much of his remaining salary and trading him at the deadline only saves the Marlins a few million. That will mean no significant additions to an already atrocious team for 2026.
Since in the offseason Bruce Sherman said that the Marlins “nearly $100 million payroll” in 2024 was not sustainable for the franchise, I doubt he will want Alcantara to stick around but will also not be willing to eat any of this salary. I used that figure instead of their $121 million CBT payroll, because it is what he used.
The only chance the Marlins have of getting rid of him without taking it in the shorts is if Alcantara is lights out for his next 6 starts before the deadline ala Snell after the deadline last year. I don’t see any possibility of that happening after having watched nearly all of his starts this season. Do you?
Good point I agree he has very little value now. Just wonder if waiting out this season in hopes he rebounds later in the year would build enough value to warrant paying that salary.
They’ll have to clear it with Ryan’s mother.
She’s unavailable at the moment… Something about a secret relationship with the U of Florida baseball head coach.
Connor Norby has established himself as a solid player? He’s hitting 14% below league average. Has a horrendous K/W ratio and is a poor fielder.
Weathers has a 2.65 xERA, so contact quality wise he’s backing up the 2.49 ERA on the heels of a 97.5 avg FB, up almost two ticks over last year’s solid version.
If he maintains the improved stuff for a few more starts, he will fetch the Marlins a return more than most are likely anticipating.
Healthy SP will go for more than people probably generally expect given how many teams will likely be in it and the SP injuries around the league.
He will have about 6 starts before the deadline. If he maintains that type of performance, he will fetch them several prospects.
Dodgers will get him. 😎
Fits like a glove on their IL.
There was chatter that Ryan and dad were not happy with how SD was handling Ryan. Of course he was about 30-40 lbs heavier as a 21 year old and SD staff tried to get him to consider losing weight (something he now has done). David Wethers was quoted as saying something like, “- beach bod doesn’t help you throw strikes” or something g to that effect basically, telling them to leave him alone.
There were reasons why SD opted to let him go in trade.
Also, watched him pitch very well against SD recently. Also, saw his cry baby reaction to being pulled. They eyes rolling head shaking glove over the mouth act while manager was climbing the steps really came off as immaturity.
A whole hell of a lot of potential there though.
And get what for him exactly? He hasn’t proven durable. What he’s done this season is good but a very small sample. But then again, If you find the right deal…why not?
While true the Marlins likely plan to be competitive before his control runs out, they definitely won’t be for at least 1.5 more years.
So if another team wants to give up some pieces that can help in 27 and beyond, the Marlins would be crazy not to listen. At the same time, his value would go up if he puts together a healthy peak season, and has enough control that they can risk injury. So unless a team offers the moon, I’d hold him
Every team wants 25-year old good controllable starting pitchers. Only trade them away for that veteran if you are trying to make a playoff push. The Marlins won’t see the playoffs, so keep Weathers until you are competitive again.
Very good team to lineup w the cubs
Kevin Alacantra and Owen Cassie for Weathers and a BP arm could be the framework
MARLINS Add two bats that can play now or next opening day. ALSO Kevin A is true CF w plus plus glove which is what they need in that big park