Former Marlins player is suddenly available again

Do you remember when the Miami Marlins suddenly traded DH Bryan De La Cruz? When Peter Bendix traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Trade Deadline, it wasn't met with a lot of praise. Doesn't this trade look a lot better now? It's actually surprising that after only half a season he's now available for The Fish again. If the team actually wants the slugger back.

Bryan De La Cruz is available for a return to the Miami Marlins.

Bryan De La Cruz was in the midst of a breakout season in 2024. He wasn't set to hit free agency until after the 2027 season. That meant that there was no reason to necessarily trade him at the Trade Deadline. This is why it was so surprising that he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It appeared that Peter Bendix just wasn't high on him, and thought that it was time to trade him.

De La Cruz batted .245/.289/.417, with 18 home runs and 51 RBI in 105 games and 424 AB. The batting average and the OBP didn't stand out, but the power certainly did. He did however have a dreadful -1.0 dWAR. Things got a lot worse when he moved on to Pittsburgh. He batted .200/.220/.294, with 3 home runs and 17 RBI in 44 games and 160 AB. He was worth -0.6 dWAR as well in that dreadful run. He was worth -0.2 WAR for his time with the Miami Marlins. He was worth -1.2 WAR for his time in Pittsburgh.

In his prior seasons with The Fish from 2021 to 2023, he batted .263/.311/.420. It was nothing special and he was worth 1.2 WAR for that time. He was nothing special and in fact you can argue that he should've just been traded earlier. He was a disaster for Pittsburgh and so they non-tendered him. Should the Miami Marlins target him for his power? Probably not, but it would be interesting to see if that is even under consideration. I suspect that it's not, but I guess we'll find out as the off-season rolls along.