Can the Miami Marlins acquire this catcher?

The Miami Marlins could use some catching help. Jacob Stallings and Nick Fortes aren't really getting the job done. We listed some realistic candidates, and some that are unlikely. There are other candidates out there however. One in particular is long-time Kansas City Royals backstop Salvador Perez. Kansas City is one of the worst teams in the Major Leagues, and has pretty much no shot at the playoffs. It makes sense that they'd move their veteran right?

The Kansas City Royals are unlikely to trade Salvador Perez to the Miami Marlins.

Jacob Stallings has been a spectacular failure with the Miami Marlins. He has a .210/.279/.277 batting line in 144 games and 433 AB with The Fish since last season. That line comes with a terrible 4 home runs and 42 RBI. He's been worth -1.4 WAR! Nick Fortes has been worth 1.7 WAR over the last two seasons. He's also a career .242/.308/.397 hitter in 127 games and 120 AB since 2021. He has 16 home runs and 43 RBI over that period.

Nick Fortes has been good enough, where you can argue that he should just get more AB's as the starting catcher. It's hard to overlook Salvador Perez though. The 33 year old has a career .269/.302/.465 batting line. He's currently batting .282/.316/.512, with 12 home runs and 34 RBI with a 1.0 WAR.

As I said earlier, Kansas City is a bad team that isn't going to the playoffs this season or for the foreseeable future. Why would they keep a 33 year old catcher who is making $20 million a year this and next season? Did I mention he's making $22 million in 2025 and $13.5 million on a team option in 2026?!

The simple answer is loyalty. Kansas City wasn't any closer to the playoffs when they gave him an extension two years ago. He was already in his 30's, so it made no sense to keep him otherwise for a rebuilding team. They could've gotten a good return for him in a trade, but they chose not to. MJ Melendez emerged as a replacement candidate last season, but they chose to move him to LF this season instead of trading Salvy.

Finally, KC made Salvador Perez their captain prior to this season. It makes sense for them to trade Salvador Perez, and for the Miami Marlins to acquire him. It's just not going to happen. They didn't commit to Salvy as the team leader over the last two years, only to turn around and trade him.