Miami Marlins can reload the farm with this big trade with San Diego

It hurts to think of the Trade Deadline already, but the Miami Marlins are just not doing good this season. I'm still holding out hope for some sort of miracle run, but I'm also being realistic. There's already strong trade rumors and ideas floating around. As much as I would love for The Fish to extend him, starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo is a likely trade candidate this Summer.

Jesus Luzardo could net the Miami Marlins a haul from San Diego.

Jesus Luzardo is not having the greatest season of his career to put it mildly. He currently has a 5.02 ERA/3.75 FIP, with 10.0 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9, in 7 games and 37.2 innings pitched. It's obvious that the ERA is pretty bad, but the FIP and the strikeout and walk rates show that he's still a solid arm.

In fact, Luzardo has all of the potential in the world to make it as a top of the rotation arm. The former top prospect had a 3.48 ERA/3.40 FIP, with 10.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9, in 50 games and 279.0 innings pitched over 2022-2023. He's great, but is also a free agent after the 2026 season. That's in just two years. In the meantime, the Miami Marlins are stacked in quality starting pitching. Going forward next season the rotation has Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Max Meyer, Ryan Weathers already.

"You can never have enough pitching", but it just doesn't make much sense to extend him with all those others. Trading him for hitting just makes sense. Enter the San Diego Padres. They spent a lot of money to contend, but can't seem to get things going. They badly need more top of the rotation starting pitching, so Luzardo makes a ton of sense for them. Due to his upside and control, The Fish can definitely ask for a lot.

Nick Fortes and Christian Bethancourt have been busts at catcher, so why not target an elite catching prospect: Ethan Salas. The #6 prospect in the Majors is certainly the type of player that would help the Miami Marlins. The Fish should certainly have a high price for Jesus Luzardo, and it makes sense for San Diego to pay it as their high-paid veterans aren't getting younger.