If teams wanted Yelich, Realmuto, Marlins made the right deal

The Miami Marlins have once again seemingly overpaid for pitching, as they acquired starters Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea from the San Diego Padres, in exchange for top prospects Josh Naylor and Luis Castillo, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. They will also be sending Jarred Cosart to the Padres.

Miami, tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the second NL wild card spot, are officially in win now mode. The Marlins said that they were willing to give up any prospect to get the right pitcher, and apparently they were willing enough to give up two of their prized prospects.

Naylor is the second ranked prospect in the Marlins system, according to MLB.com, and he’s had some impressive splits in High-A. Naylor was the Marlins first round pick in 2015, and he’s batting .265/.314/.429, with nine homers and 53 RBI’s this season. Naylor appeared in this year’s Futures Game, and he was regarded as the top non-pitching prospect. Miami already had one of the weaker farm systems, and trading Naylor and Castillo makes the farm system one of the weakest in the league. However, the Marlins needed starting pitching, with Wei Yin-Chen sidelined with an elbow injury.

Miami also lacked consistency at the back-end of the rotation, but it seems their rotation is now locked and loaded for a postseason run. Cashner hasn’t seen much success this season, as he’s compiled an ERA of 4.76 and a 4.94 FIP in 79.1 innings pitched. Many teams were asking for Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto, so maybe the Marlins made the right deal.

Cashner will become a free agent this offseason, but Rea will be under team control until 2021. He’s posted a 4.98 ERA, and a 4.75 FIP in 99.1 innings pitched. The Marlins made a similar deal in 2014, where they shipped top prospects in Jake Marisnick and Collin Moran to the Astros for Cosart. Castillo is ranked as the sixth best prospect in the Marlins system, and he was one of the better pitching prospects that the Marlins had.

What makes this deal a little bit of a head-scratcher is that the Marlins gave up top prospects, and they couldn’t get guys like Sonny Gray or Julio Teheran, who are some of the best pitchers on the market. The Red Sox had to trade one of their top prospects, Anderson Espinoza, in order to get Drew Pomeranz, so maybe it’s just the way the trade market is. In the end, Miami got two starting pitchers, one under their control until 2021 that will solidify their rotation for a postseason run.