Is Jesus Luzardo being under rated in the trade Market?

It’s no secret the Miami Marlins are receiving offers on Marlins starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo. He has been the subject of several trade rumors and teams that need a quality starter, but is his value being diminished? Yes, teams want to make a deal to get him there is no doubt, but should Luzardo command more of a package than he is rumored to get?

Jesus Luzardo should be the next big trade offer for teams

As we wrote before, Luzardo could have potentially become a Kansas City Royal for the meager price of Vinny Pasquantino. If you believe that rumor to be true, it doesn’t say much for the Marlins brass, and that’s why I don’t really believe it. Jesus Luzardo is highly sought after and the starting pitcher market is dwindling right now after Yamamoto, Ohtani, and Glasnow were acquired by the Dodgers. There are several teams out there looking to add a solid starter and there are only a handful of them left on the market. 

Jesus Luzardo should command a pretty big trade package now that the Dodgers have sucked up all that talent. The teams that were trying to land Yamamoto such as the Yankees, Blue Jays, Mets, and Giants all still need starting pitching. I could see all of those teams vying for Jesús Luzardo’s services in 2024 and they can afford a better trade package than the Royals rumor. 

Luzardo is a five year veteran pitcher going into his sixth season at age 26. He is under team control until 2027 which makes him even more valuable. The past two seasons he has been rock solid for the Marlins posting a 3.32 ERA in 2022 and a 3.58 EarA last year in almost double the appearances. Luzardo last season made only $2,450,000 which is yet another reason to have teams drooling over his services and he posted a 4.1 WAR. Luzardo’s control was phenomenal last year walking only 7.4% of batters and he is a ground ball pitcher, including them at a 40.6% career rate. 

All of those metrics combined should have teams looking to sell the farm to acquire his services and not simply a one for one trade. Luzardo is playoff ready, not just Major League ready and teams would be lucky to have him. I suspect his value will now be very much increased and the Marlins should get some tempting offers for him in the coming days and weeks ahead.  

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