Disappointing Miami Marlins pitcher may be in his final season on the team
The Fish may no longer have an elite future closing option on the roster
There are times when a trade that you don't make is better than the trade that you do. The Miami Marlins will likely always have the J.T. Realmuto/Sixto Sanchez trade as one of the franchise's biggest mistakes. I was hoping that at least one consolation prize out of this was Sixto becoming an elite closer, well....
It looks like Sixto Sanchez's time on the Miami Marlins is coming to an end.
I don't see the point of discussing why that trade was a disaster for the Miami Marlins. It's arguable that The Fish should've tried harder in extending Realmuto, before just outright trading him to the team's division rivals. It's bad enough that no extension was worked out, or probably even seriously attempted, but the result was especially bad considering the current situation.
Sixto Sanchez failed as a starting pitcher. It's not fair to necessarily blame it on him, but he just couldn't stay healthy. He couldn't stay healthy since the 2020 season. He missed an entire THREE seasons due to injuries. That's as bad as it gets. At this point, he's out of options and has to stay on the Major League roster.
After all of those injuries, there's just no way that he can ever be trusted to start games and handle that workload again. This meant that he had to be a relief pitcher goin forward. He was so good in Spring Training, that I thought that there was potential for him to ultimately end up as the team's closer down the line. As a former top pitching prospect, it seemed that he could've potentially handled that role.
I'll get the obvious out of the way...this is a short sample size and the season just began. Sixto Sanchez has a 10.38 ERA/6.90 FIP, with 0.0 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9, in 4 games and 4.1 innings pitched. Again, small sample size but there's just nothing to like here. The ERA is bad, the FIP is bad, the strikeouts are non-existent... He'll probably do better down the line, but if he's not at least an above average reliever, why wouldn't the Miami Marlins just non-tender him? He has limited trade value and if he's just an average reliever, what's the point?