If rebuild was worth it, no reason for Miami Marlins to rush Sandy Alcantara trade

If you're a fan of one of the other twenty-nine teams in MLB, you probably think there's only one reason to follow the Miami Marlins in 2025:

When and where will Miami trade 2022 Cy Young Winner Sandy Alcantara?

The question comes up all the time, and is the subject of article after article. Mock trade after mock trade, prediction after prediction, the end result is always the same. Alcantara being traded by the Marlins, and traded post haste. No time like the present, but July at the latest.

Predominantly, that need for expediency was tied to Alcantara's status as the highest paid Marlin. Also the sense that every passing day is a day of club control lost for the team making a bid. Lately though, a new factor has entered the mix. The possibility that Sandy might not recover overnight from Tommy John surgery, and actually hurt his trade value if he continues to look mortal every fifth day.

My question is, what's the rush?

Because from where I'm sitting, there are two fundamental reasons that the Miami Marlins have nothing but time on their hands to make an Alcantara trade, if indeed they choose to make such a move at all.

For starters, the Marlins do have to spend some money. Even without an official salary floor in MLB, there are those pesky revenue sharing guidelines that keep coming up in reference to Miami and other small market clubs. The Marlins have to spend roughly 1.5 times what they take in from revenue sharing...and they are currently no where close to doing that, even with Alcantara under contract. Unless Miami takes on the contract of some unwanted veteran with a couple expensive years left on their deal to boost the prospect haul, the team is going to have to pay someone. That leaves suddenly issuing multiple extensions to the team's promising rookies, or simply continuing to pay one of the most beloved and popular players in franchise history. And if you're thinking those extensions sound good, particularly in light of Max Meyer's and Agustin Ramirez' big night Monday, keep in mind that both is an option. Again, even with Alcantara collecting checks, Miami is way under that theoretical revenue sharing threshold.

Secondly, and this is even more important than the financial arguments most of you are tired of reading about, isn't the whole point of the Peter Bendix era of Miami Marlins baseball to not have to make a trade?

Yes, the Rays and now Marlins model does not look to be one based on big money contracts. This isn't about that. What it is about is the age old Marlins custom of trading established stars to restock the farm system, as if that was the only way to acquire a useful prospect.

Isn't the point of all those untold millions Bruce Sherman has poured into overhauling the Marlins front office, all those extra analysts and scouts, all the Dominican academies and much bigger weight rooms to be able to...actually make your own useful prospects?

Crazy, I know. But it's what the good organizations do. Find and develop their own guys. True, many of those good clubs, Tampa among them, also stay consistently "good" by moving some of their assets at peak value in smart trades. Much of Miami's problem over the years has been not making the smart trade, and the Marlins reworked front office was a big step towards fixing that. To be fair, early returns suggest it just might be working out that way. However, most of those good teams move some of their top assets. Not all.

In short, if all the off the field investments have been worth it, Miami shouldn't feel any pressure to make an Alcantara deal. They can more than afford to roll the dice and wait for him to reestablish his Cy Young form- even if that means keeping him through one or two more Opening Days. Plenty of time in the interim for Miami to see which of their current top prospects and big league regulars are worth shelling out more money for. Plenty of time to acquire and develop more cheap and controllable talent. And plenty of time to reap all the competitive benefits of having Sandy Alcantara on the roster.

Ultimately, if the success of the Miami Marlins depends on getting all that they can as soon as they can for Sandy, it's more than fair to wonder if the team's new direction is any different from the directions that have come before.