The Offishial Show Episode 123: Marlins Preparing to Trade Marte

Per multiple reports, the Marlins and Starling Marte have failed to find common ground on a contract extension, which will culminate in a trade in the coming days. Ely Sussman reacts to the club’s poor handling of the Marte situation (0:50) and dives deep into what we saw from Pablo López this season prior to his rotator cuff injury (6:00).

Enjoy Episode 123!

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In the original version of this podcast, I implored the Marlins to make one final offer to Marte’s camp in the range of three years and $47 million. But the tone of Sunday’s reports from Craig Mish, Jon Heyman and other insiders suggests that they were never interested in spending at that level.

López (right rotator cuff strain) is likely to return to the Marlins rotation later this season, but any significant setback could change that. In 19 starts—well, really 18 starts—the 25-year-old has posted a 3.03 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 1.09 WHIP in 101.1 IP. He increased his changeup usage to a career high rate, located his four-seam fastball up in the zone with more consistency and refined his cutter into a legitimate weapon against left-handed batters. These adjustments boosted his strikeout rate to a personal-best 27.1%.

López will be eligible for arbitration in 2022 for the first time. He’ll be under club control through the 2024 campaign.

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Fish Stripes is ranked by Feedspot as the world’s No. 2 Miami Marlins podcast (trailing only the pod that’s produced by the franchise itself). Our programs include The Offishial Show, Big Fish Small Pod, Marlins Barbecue and Earning Their Stripes. All new episodes are posted to FishStripes.com/podcasts. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, Megaphone or wherever you normally get your pods from.