Understandable but wrong reaction to a Marlins trade

A big trade between the Miami Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies has received quite a reaction from The Fish's fans. Jesus Luzardo was traded to Philly, and it's cauing quite a backlash. It appears that a lot of fans are under the impression that this trade was financially motivated, and that Luzardo was worth more and that he was an extension candidate.

Why the Miami Marlins trading Jesus Luzardo was smart.

The Miami Marlins paid RF Avisail Garcia to sit at home. The Fish also paid the rest of Luis Arraez's salary for the season, upon trading him to the San Diego Padres. Those don't sound like moves of a front office whose only motivation for trades is to save money. Playing time had to be acquired for better players in Avi's case, and Arraez was traded when it looked like his one skill was in decline.

Jesus Luzardo was traded because he was coming off of a terrible season. He had a 5.00 ERA, his strikeout rate went down and he struggled with injuries all season. Could he have bounced back in 2025? That's possible, however why did then the Chicago Cubs pulled out of their own trade due to allegedly worrying about Luzardo's medicals? Is there some concern as to whether he can be healthy next season?

Keep in mind that Luzardo has had health issues throughout his career, and was a non-tender candidate after both the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Being only two years away from free agency, it was clearly concerning going forward. What if he doesn't bounce back? In that case, there would be no top 100 prospect going back in return, it would be barely anything or maybe nothing at all. Was that risk worth taking?

The fact is that we don't know how Jesus Luzardo's medicals look like and we don't know how he'll actually pitch next season. The Miami Marlins received a top 100 prospect for him, which is a very good return. We'll see how he does next season before we can judge the trade, but money wasn't the issue here.