For the past few years, the Marlins have been shopping pitching almost constantly, even guys with multiple years of club control. Despite persistent rumors, Sandy Alcantara has usually been off the table, for different reasons at different times. As time goes on and we move closer to the end of his contract, the Marlins will have to make a decision, with still several ways for the situation to play out.
The Marlins and Alcantara agreed to an extension in November of 2021, a five-year deal covering the 2022 through 2026 seasons. It guaranteed him $56MM and also came with a $21MM club option for 2027, with a $2MM buyout.
That deal was well-timed from the team perspective, as Alcantara went on to have the best season of his career in 2022. He logged 228 2/3 innings, allowing 2.28 earned runs per nine. He wasn't the most dominant pitcher in terms of strikeouts, but thanks to his strong ground ball rate, no one was more likely to just carve through a lineup for an entire contest. He tossed six complete games that year. From 2018 to the present, no other pitcher has tossed more than three complete games in a season. Alcantara was given the National League Cy Young award for that dominant campaign.
Despite Alcantara's efforts, the Fish were still rebuilding, as they went 69-93 that year. Going into 2023, they were willing to listen to trade offers regarding their pitchers, but Alcantara was reportedly not available. That made plenty of sense at the time. Though the club wasn't in great shape, Alcantara was still under club control for five more seasons and was just coming off that dominant showing.
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
A) Dodgers
B) Yankees
C) Dodgers or Yankees
D) Signs with one, traded to the other
E) Japan
That would truly be awful because after Skubal get 500 million dollars fron the Dodgers their payroll would be at 2.5 billion dollars. Add sandy for another 5-7 years at 22-27 million aav
you post is exactly why MLB won’t survive without a salary cap long term
Oh… you don’t say.
126 years (and longer with the NL) is pretty long term so far. Everyone was also complaining when the Yankees outspent everyone by a wide margin and won 4 Championships in 5 years, yet they’ve only won one more time over the quarter century since then.
Ultimately, dominance occurs in cycles, and the soft cap has been working to cause every team other than the Dodgers to dip back below the CBT line at least once every few years.
Although, the one thing the Dodgers have been abusing that should be fixed is their extensive use of deferred money. There should probably be some kind of limit placed on that.
Probably should’ve won 4 in a row. Especially after Byung-Hyun Kim blew two saves in consecutive games in New York no less. The fact that that happened all momentum was on the Yankees side and then game 6 dbacks blow out them damn Yankees out to force a game 7.
Other than the 2016 World Series for obvious reasons being one of my favorites. 2001 world series was so good.
Honestly what are the chances that Derek Jeter and Scott Brosius both hit a homerun to either win the game or tie the game. Neither were ever considered homerun hitters.
you’re really gonna compare the 1880’s… let alone the 1980’s to today’s professional sports climate? When a single player is making more than an entire franchise’s roster… your league is broken
Thank You for a common sense post.
Who is making more in AAV than an entire franchises roster??
You are deliberately omitting the fact that you are comparing a players entire contract yet say it in a way that sounds like its in one year… Thag pretty much says it all when someone has to resort to such tactics to try and back their statements
Ohtani… Tucker.. Juan Soto.. all making over 50 mill AAV… marlins, pirates, and rays all hover around that roster salary. Ohtani is making 70 mill alone (even if differed) …. pretending this isn’t an issue is asinine… pretending every time a good player nears FA he will end up on only 1 of 5 teams and no where else.. including the current team… IS AN INSANE WAY TO OPERATE A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LEAGUE .. for context before the NFL had a salary cap the Cincinnati Bengals were notoriously cheap… having a roster making less than 30% of other teams, and almost always a league dormat (outside of a small run in the late 80’s)…. now (thanks to the NFL CBA) the Bengals are one of the better franchises in the league. That’s the effect of competitive financial balance.
@jeremy Ohtani is making $46M annually. Unless you care to calculate what every other players current earnings will be worth at the time Ohtani collects the currently accruing deferred $.
The lowest payroll for any team is the Marlins at $83.1 million.
Soto is the highest paid player at $51 million AAV. 61% of the Marlins payroll, but just 14% of the Mets payroll which is the team he plays for.
Ohtani is making $46 million per season. NOT $70 million.
Revenue for the sport is $13 billion according to the man who would know best, the commissioner. Many believe Manfred is understating revenue including Meyer who now runs the MLBPA.
That is an average revenue of $435 million per club.
What is insane is not how much players are making. What is insane is the disparity in revenue between the top teams and the lowest teams. That is not the players problem, it’s the owner’s problem and only the owners can solve it, and they have to do that between themselves. A cap on player earnings only puts more money in billionaire’s pockets and does nothing to solve the disparity between the teams. Greater revenue sharing between the teams is the only solution.
The Bengals went 6-11 this season. Last season they went 9-8. The previous season they went 9-8. They missed the playoffs all 3 seasons. They have made the playoffs 2 of the last 10 seasons. They are not a competitive team.
No need for a cap. Just 100% revenue sharing. Then the cap becomes superfluous. All teams will have the same resources. What will be necessary is a floor. Around $200 million to start that goes up with increases in revenue.
You can’t have 100% revenue sharing, or trying to maximize attendance and individual team merch sales becomes meaningless.
As for a salary floor, if one were added, $200M is way too high to start! Rebuilding teams could never spend that much while actually devoting enough playing time to their young players, and even the majority of contenders can’t spend that much now. While further increased revenue sharing would help in that regard, $200M is still well over the current MLB franchise payroll median, which wouldn’t rise much with increased revenue sharing due to how the math works.
Why couldn’t there be 100% revenue sharing?
Raising attendance would help all teams then. Teams would work together on campaigns to do so. It would not change merchandising one bit since the portion MLB receives is already put in a pool and split by all 30 teams equally.
According to the commisioner the league had revenue of $13 billion or an average of $433 million per team in 2025. If revenue is pooled and split evenly, which is what 100% revenue sharing means, then all 30 teams would have $433 million in revenue. To ensure that players are getting a fair share of that revenue a floor would have to be closer to $216 million. That is the math.
The floor would be calculated the same way the CBT is now including salaries and benefits. Probably would have to include minor league salaries and benefits as well since the teams would be paying that out of their revenue stream.
@Baseball CBA can not include MiLB, that would jeopardize MLBs antitrust exemption which they would never allow.
Minor league players are part of the MLBPA and MLB owns MiLB.
MiLB teams are affiliated and the players MLB teams have rights to. That is where the connection ends a d again the antitrust exemption hangs in the balance.
There’s and handful of rookie league teams owned by MLB teams. But and large MiLB teams have separate ownership and are licensed to develop players specific MLB teams.
He is correct. MLB now owns the minor leagues. Not the individual teams, the league as a whole.
The antitrust exemption has absolutely nothing to do with that. You may want to actually read up on what is exempt.
@jeremy MLB has always been skewed a bit towards the large market teams. Those large markets also generate more revenue. MLB can survive without a cap, its actually ideal whether or not we want to admit it.
Minors make a salary cap impossible it’s not that it may be logical
that’s a load of horse crap. people have been saying the same thing for decades and the league keeps growing and franchises keep getting more valuable. the league isn’t going anywhere.
Those defending the wild west salary structure of MLB must live in LA, NYC, or Chicago… even chicago fans should hate it though lol… I don’t grasp the ability to think it’s ok to have single players making the same as entire teams and thinking that’s sustainable in any way (and Ohtani is making 70 mill in 2026 to the guy who said half that… deferred money counts) … The last teams to compete with the money juggernauts were the Royals in the mid 2010’s…. before that it was the White Sox in 2005 and the Marlins in 2003…. since the late 90’s.. that’s pretty much it.. if your team isn’t in the top 5 of payrolls you have no chance to compete. The rockies had a fluke run.. but lost to the Red Sox loaded with the 2003 Marlins roster… the late 00’s Rays made runs.. then lost to the Phillies with a payroll almost triple theirs in the World Series… If your team doesn’t buy its roster in baseball… your team has no chance. Can anyone name the last team to win the title with majority home grown talent outside of the few I named? 2011 Cardinals maybe? lol Even the 2019 Nationals had massive FA’s and they had to dismantle that team and watch everyone sign elsewhere.
If you and a coworker have sane salary but you opt to put more in 401k, should u be penalized?? That is essentially what is going on with deferred contracts. The inflated # is irrelevant to fans and for the luxury tax. What’s relevant is salary counted the current year and the $ necessary to fund the deferral per the CBA. That is the true cost of the contract, the rest will be accrued interest.
Off the top of my head both the 2015 Royals and 2016 Cubs. The 2021 Braves as well.
I think a private company that works in private business has literally nothing to do with an anti trust organization regulated by the federal government… if all banks joined together to form one “bank league” then sure.. I think all banks should follow the same rules and regulations, including worker compensation …. professional sports are not that lol… they are leagues funded by fans…. EVERY PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE ON EARTH HAS A REGULATED SALARY STRUCTURE….. FROM FIFA TO THE WNBA ….. defending MLB’s wild west salary structure in 2026 is like saying tax cuts for the 1% of americans, while cutting all government programs to pay for it, somehow does benefit the poor… you have to be a shill or an complete idiot to think this.
the 2016 cubs and 2021 braves had MASSIVE pay rolls and were loaded with free agent talent… the 2015 Royals were already listed by me
Jeremyn, you don’t even bother to look up the facts, do you? How pathetic.
Errrrr WRONG I live in one of the most unecomically developed states in the US in oklahoma. Didn’t read one word of ur useless banter go pay attention to ur wife and kids before ur country gets taken over by rebels u scared loser
I looked up everything I said… thats how I know Ohtani is making 70 in 2026 salary
#Jeremy he is making $46M in 2026 $2M to be paid now and $44M LAD will fund that will accrue til 2036.
All of the accrued interest that happens after 2026 does not count against current year earnings. Just as any $ invested by any MLB player on earnings from 2026.
The only issue with deferrals is it bewildered and angers the financially incompetent out there…
parsing deferred money is annoying me… the AAV of his contract is 70mill… the dodgers ae paying luxury tax based on this AAV…. a massive amount being deferred doesn’t change that
Jeremyn,
You are wrong. About almost everything you have said.
Then you double down by lying about things like Ohtani’s salary.
Ohtani is making a $2 salary million in 2026 with $68 million deferred to 2034 to 2043. In net present value that is $46 million.
Even at your incorrect figure, he would not be making as much as the payroll of any single team. The Marlins are the lowest at $83 million.
In 2023 the Diamondbacks were 19th and the Rangers were 8th.
In 2022 the Astros were 9th, in 2021 they were 7th.
In 2021 the Braves were 13th.
In 2020 the Rays were 27th.
In 2019 the Nationals were 6th.
You noticing a trend there?
Jeremyn, the Dodgers are paying CBT fines based on a NPV of $46 million per season. The deferrals matter. We get that you don’t understand that.
Why would Alcantara need to go to Japan?
Money!!!!
He can make more money here than in Japan.
For the same reason Dodgers or Yankees would trade a player like that to the other
I need an E option.
@Run
F) Retires
I think what your missing here is the realistic possibility of him resigning with Miami
Question is which one wants Sandy and which one wants to rent Skubal? Even as overhyped as both their farm systems always are, they both currently have enough top end talent to get a trade done that makes sense for the marlins imo. I’m not gonna list their prospects but it would definitely take 3 of their top 5, another additional top 10 guy, a lottery ticket type of their choice, and a Dalton Rushing or Jasson Dominguez type.
The Dodgers also have the luxury of having James Tibbs III to offer as well. The Red Sox flipped him to LA for Dustin May (😱) after getting him in the Devers trade… and he’s currently tearing the cover off the ball at an epic level in AAA.
We’re two starts in. Pitchers are usually ahead of the hitters this early in the season. Give it another month and I’ll agree and buy into the hype.
That being said, 3 starts in, hat-tip to Jose Soriano.
Blue Jays, Mets, D Backs, Phillies, Braves, Cubs and more will be in running for Skubal also.
Ditto for Alcantrara
Do the Diamondbacks have enough money?
ATL won’t get anywhere near Skubal. Strider has the largest pitching contract in team history ($75M extension) and all of that was not new money b/c of team control.
Oh yeah of course I think only the Jays, Dodgers, and Mets can get Skubal. I personally want the Astros to sign Skubal (but I’m wishing for something that will never happen). Either way just not the Dodgers.
As a Cubs fan, I can confidently proclaim that Cubs will not be finalists in the Skubal sweepstakes.
Atlanta has absolutely zero chance to trade for Skubal with the depressing state of their farm system.
A trade. He is pitching well and if that continues will be gone at the deadline.
I can’t believe this many words could be written about a Miami Marlin.
Your out of ur element buddy
You’re the only Marlins fan on here
I’d like to see him win the NL CY Young after spending all season with Miami.
That would be cool. Probably be in the running in the NL with Shohei, Skeenes and Cristopher Sanchez.
Where were you in 2022?
I think he’s got a shot
If they embarrassingly awarded it to a .500 pitcher last year, if he’s good enough, there should be no thought into what team he plays for
Next step is the reds lighting him up tomorrow
Ya right duuude
“going seven shutty” almost had to google this term I must be getting old
Marlins should actually keep him. I know that’s a crazy concept but actually trying to win should be the plan.
He’s been Eury Perez’s mentor as well. They’ve held this long. I think there’s a chance he might play this deal out if the team is in the WC mix. The offense will get a boost when Stowers is out. They need to get a 1B.
I’d call the O’s and get Mountcastle. He’s cheap and buried. Won’t cost them any decent prospects. He’s an upgrade over Norby.