Exceptional Sandy Alcantara needs to be exception to the rule for Miami Marlins

If there's one thing you can say about Miami Marlins President of Baseball Operations Peter Bendix, it is this:

He's consistent.

From day one, his message has been the same. Always having conversations. Always trying to improve. Always trying to build a sustainable winner. He's a masterclass in obfuscation and indirect answers, to the point that at times it seems like the one lesson he took from studying the Miami Marlins past was to never say anything on the record that could be held against you later by the fanbase.

Now, none of this is a bad thing. In many ways, it's a refreshing change of pace. To borrow a phrase from his own most recent press comments, the entire 2025 campaign was "proof of concept" for everything Bendix has tried to instill since taking over the Marlins organization after the 2023 season. This is how a modern franchise, especially a low payroll one, must operate if they are going to be successful.

However, there must be one exception to this philosophy, and his name is Sandy Alcantara.

Consistency is admirable, and I can understand the desire to paint all players in the organization with the same brush. Yet I don't think it's a slight on anyone else in the Marlins system to convey that the 2022 Cy Young winner is on a different level. Bendix' refusal from day one to talk about him in such fashion, beyond committing to him being the 2025 Opening Day starter last offseason, is maddening to the vast majority of fans. Again, it's as if fear number one for the Marlins' president is being caught in an apparent lie if some team comes in and makes a "Godfather Offer" for Alcantara.

The thing is, if the goal is to be more competitive in 2026, and Bendix basically just said it was in his end of season presser, that only happens if either Alcantara is on the roster or he's traded for another elite All-Star talent. No Marlins fan is going to hold it against Bendix if he says "we're not trading Sandy", only to have to recant a month later when the Dodgers decide they can live without Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman. So once you say the mission is competing next year, why not just come out and give some piece of mind to both fans and face of the franchise alike?

Some of this is just practical. No other Marlins pitcher this past season came close to matching Alcantara's 174.2 IP, and even coming back from Tommy John surgery, that was the lowest mark of his career in a full season since 2018. Every other pitcher that finished the year in Miami's rotation just posted their career high, and all come with far more questions about consistency and health than the Marlins current ace. Unless they plan to pay for one of the top starting pitchers on the market, the Marlins simply can't trade Alcantara if they're realistically planning to contend. Which when you stop and acknowledge the reality that they are absolutely not signing a top of the market starting pitcher, it means there is zero reason to not say Alcantara isn't going anywhere.

Mostly though, as I will continue to argue until my fingers are numb from pounding the keys...the Marlins need to acknowledge Alcantara's unicorn status to the franchise and the South Florida community. To borrow from fantasy football, it's the "hero RB" approach. In that realm, you pay up for one elite running back, and then wait for values and lottery tickets on the rest of your running back stable. For the Marlins and their penny pinching ways, you pay somebody. One somebody, the right somebody, perhaps even once. Do that, give fans one name that will always be there, and at least half the arguments leveled against you fall by the wayside. Sandy proved long ago that he is worthy of that status, and did so again this season by showing up every day, teaching this team to win, and expressing more than once his desire to remain in Miami.

That's not the kind of player you turn away. That's not the kind of player you make feel as is they should always have one foot out the door, with a suitcase always packed.

That's the kind of player the Miami Marlins need to embrace.

So come on, Marlins. Commit to Alcantara taking the ball Opening Day in 2026. You can always trade him in July if things go south. Or in 2027. One thing you can stop doing with Alcantara though?

Always having conversations about him. Unless, of course, those conversations are about an extension.