MLB Trade Rumors: Marlins Set Insane Asking Price for Alcantara

The Miami Marlins' former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara has been mentioned as a trade candidate all season long. But in his first year back after Tommy John surgery, he hasn't pitched like a Cy guy very often. With a 6.36 ERA after Tuesday night's start against the St. Louis Cardinals, it doesn't seem like the Fish would be able to reel in the kind of return they'd be looking for.

And according to insider and former GM Jim Bowden on Foul Territory, the Marlins will not be trading Alcantara at a buy-low price.

What I am being told by the Marlins is that they are not going to trade Alcantara for a discounted package. If somebody wants to pay them like he is the National League Cy Young winner like he was a few years ago, then they will trade him. But if no one's going to offer them that package, then they'll keep him.

Alcantara won the Cy Young in 2022 for Miami with a 2.28 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. The Marlins, if necessary, would be glad to revisit putting him on the trade block this coming offseason, when, as Bowden notes, "teams understand that it costs $200 million to get a premium starter, and then they'll see if they can get a better trade package then."

Alcantara is under team control for two more seasons after this one, at $17.3 million in 2026, and a team option for $21 million in 2027 before he becomes a free agent after that season.

Quite often, pitchers don't really return fully to their pre-Tommy John selves until the second year back after the surgery, so perhaps hopes for Alcantara this year were placed too high. The five shutout innings he tossed against St. Louis on Tuesday night, however, give him two consecutive strong starts to head to the deadline with, leaving open the potential for a deal to get done.