Which starting pitcher should the Miami Marlins trade for hitting?

I asked you fellow Miami Marlins fans to tell me what you’d like to read about and here’s a tweet that inspired this post:

Which pitchers should the Miami Marlins trade for hitting? I covered this topic before actually, but more so on specific players rather than in general. Today let’s actually look at it differently. It’s clear that The Fish need hitting help and the best way to get it might be through trades. It’s a route that we already attempted during the trade deadline. Who can we trade for hitting?

The Miami Marlins should trade from our starting pitching surplus for hitting.

Let’s start with the obvious, Sandy Alcantara isn’t going anywhere. The best starting pitcher in the game is staying. Max Meyer just had Tommy John surgery so he’s not getting traded either. Trevor Rogers was a Cy Young candidate caliber of starting pitcher last season, but crashed this season. It’s best to not sell low on him and give him another chance next season.

We still have more options: Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Pablo López are all starting pitchers that the Miami Marlins can theoretically trade. Which of these pitchers should we dangle for a hitting upgrade? That’s the big question that I will attempt to answer.

Jesús Luzardo has been having issues staying healthy, but the strikeouts (11.3 K/9 this season) are there and his potential is very high (3.72 ERA/3.25 FIP). The Miami Marlins have control over him through 2026, so it’s best to let him keep developing with us. The same should apply for Braxton Garrett (3.67 ERA/3.46 FIP and 9.3 K/9, controlled through 2027), and Edward Cabrera (2.05 ERA/3.84 FIP with 9.9 K/9, controlled through 2027).

The Miami Marlins starting pitchers above are too young and inexperienced to really trade now, as we could be underselling. They’re also too talented and we have too much control over them to move on from them. This ultimately leaves us with Pablo López, who is a free agent in two years and who has too many injury concerns to extend. He is however good enough to trade.

The Miami Marlins need to actively shop Pablo López this off-season. Trading him is a good way for us to bring in the controllable hitting that we do badly need.