Update on the Miami Marlins/Boston trade

A few days ago I wrote about a potential trade between the Miami Marlins and the Boston Red Sox. It looked like an exciting situation, though The Fish were focused on an unproven prospect in Boston 1B Triston Casas. It seemed that going back would be SP Pablo López, though it wouldn't be a straight one for one swap and other players would be involved. We now have more information on the proposed trade and the subsequent trade negotiations. Will this trade be happening?

The Miami Marlins may have an obstacle in trade talks with the Boston Red Sox.

The Miami Marlins badly need hitting help. This isn't news and has been an ongoing storyline throughout this off-season. The question throughout the largely lack of free agent signings, has been who will Pablo (or another starting pitcher) will finally be traded for? We already know what The Fish have been offering free agents, and can see that surprisingly perhaps we have been genuinely trying to improve the lineup.

Talks between The Fish and Boston centered around mutual needs. Boston is looking for starting pitching help and we are looking for hitting help. Kim Ng has been specifically focusing on Triston Casas as the bat that would headline this trade. Casas is of course unproven in the Majors, but has a high pedigree of success in the Minor Leagues, and appears to have a high chance of being a good hitter going forward.

It seems that Boston shares Kim Ng's likely high opinion of Casas, as it appears that he is the roadblock in this trade getting done. They don't want to trade him and it's unclear if Kim can change their minds. I can see why a team that seems to be rebuilding would rather have Casas's six years of team control over Pablo's two years. It also makes sense if they're not expecting to make the playoffs in 2023, and it certainly doesn't look that way now.

Is the trade off? We don't know that yet, but it isn't looking good for the Miami Marlins at the moment. Boston seems to be drawing a hard line with including Triston Casas in the deal, and it makes little sense for The Fish to do the trade without him included.