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The Marlins Should Not Consider Trading Their Starting Pitching




Recently I have seen on the internet many articles that mention the possibility that Miami will trade away from their young, controllable, pitching staff. I believe this would be a big mistake. Miami has waited so long to have a starting pitching staff with this much potential, and to disband it now, even of one pitcher, could hurt this franchise in the long run.

The first name that is brought up in trade rumors is Caleb Smith. Smith has been injured over parts of two seasons with the Fish, but the talent he shows when healthy is undeniable. He is also somebody Miami can build around as he has multiple years of control. In my opinion, he is the best pitcher Miami has on their big-league roster, and apart from maybe Sixto Sanchez, he has the highest celing out of all pitchers within the Marlins' system. To trade him away at the deadline would be a mistake; he isn't even arbitration eligible until 2021! So there is no big money attached to him right now that Miami is trying to get rid of.

The other starters that will certainly have teams interested are Trevor Richards, Sandy Alcantara, and maybe Pablo Lopez if he comes back soon. Again, there is absolutely no reason to trade any of these guys; they are controllable for multiple years, and have not even reached their top potential.

Look at the recent teams who built around pitching and had success. The 2015 Mets are a prime example of a team who had good young pitching, and who stayed the course. They didn't have a major offensive star, but they refused to trade from their surplus of pitching. They finally did obtain Yoenis Cespedes, when they knew they had a real shot at something big that year.

It would hurt so bad if the Marlins traded away one of these guys, only to watch them develop into an All-Star. These pitchers came here in the rebuild, and they a part of the next Marlins playoff team. To trade them away now would be giving up on the untapped potential that all of them have. I think we need to buy into the philosophy of "grow the arms, buy the bats." I know the offense can be very frustrating to watch at times, but there is talent already in the big leagues (i.e. Alfaro, Cooper, Anderson), and Jeter has not spent any money yet on a long term, impact FA. The time will come for that to happen. Be patient Marlins fans.

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