Why do major publications keep making this mistake about the Miami Marlins?!

Sports Illustrated and similar major publications keep underrating Miami Marlins players

Neil Raymond

Jesus Luzardo / Sarah Stier/GettyImages

Last night Sports Illustrated published a silly article about the Miami Marlins. It's a good thing to make it clear, that not all major publications are down on The Fish. Sports Illustrated however... They wrote a trade idea between The Fish and the Baltimore Orioles that just makes no sense at all. There are actually good trade possibilities, that can be done with those two teams, but not thus one.

Sports Illustrated is underrating the Miami Marlins in an embarrassing way.

The Miami Marlins still have time to improve the team prior to the 2024 season. In the meantime, there are suggestions being published. These suggestions such as the one linked above from Sports Illustrated, seem to assume that Fish pitchers have less value and that The Fish are OK with prospects in return. These assumptions ae just plain ridiculous.

Controllable starting pitchers are at a premium. This includes Jesús Luzardo, who had a 4.1 WAR in 2023. He also had a 3.58 ERA/3.55 FIP, with 10.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 32 games and 178.2 innings pitched. He has a 3.52 ERA/3.40 FIP over the last two seasons, in 50 games and 279.0 innings pitched, with 10.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9. He's a free agent after the 2026 season and only made $2.45 million in 2023.

Luzardo is worth a lot in trade, yet Sports Illustrated thinks slightly differently. In a hypothetical trade with the Baltimore Orioles, they state that he's not good enough to bring back top prospect Jackson Holliday (!). They think that he's worth 1B/3B Coby Mayo and C/1B Samuel Basallo however. MLB.com views Mayo and Basallo as #4 and #5 prospects in their system. They're #27 and #46 prospects in the MLB top 100. Now as you can see these are still good players, but they're both unproven prospects.

The Miami Marlins are not rebuilding, so why trade a proven top of the rotation starting pitcher for two unproven prospects? Even as good as they might be. What's the benefit for next season? Not to mention that only one of them plays a position of need (C), and not very well either. It's a pointless trade for The Fish to make. The team needs bats proven at the Major League level. It seems Sports Illustrated doesn't understand The Fish's needs at all.

Neil Raymond

Neil Raymond has been a lifelong Miami Marlins fan, with the 2003 playoff run being one of his favorite childhood memories. Neil has been called a "walking encyclopedia" for his knowledge of MLB statistics and the sport's history. He follows every game and actually invented his own statistic for player value on his side project BaseballAnalyzed.com. Writing for Fansided's Marlin Maniac since 2022, he also loves Fantasy Baseball and as such is an FSWA member. Neil also loves to travel, read and follow "Futbol" teams: Germany, Argentina, Greece, Inter Miami, Bayern Munich and NYC FC.