The Miami Marlins were active early and often this offseason, but have since pulled back the reins. According to Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest, this shouldn’t be as much of an indication that Miami is done making moves as it is the difficulty of making said moves. While Miami’s already added starter Mark Buehrle, they’ve continued their search for starting pitchers. The Marlins continue talking to the usual suspects, the Athletics, Cubs, White Sox, Rays and Astros, about their available starters.
Beinfest admitted to the Miami Herald that “it’s very difficult to buy pitching, to trade for pitching”. Even so, Beinfest said that the Marlins continue to be “on it” regarding adding another starter, calling it an offseason “priority”. Beinfest said that ideally the Marlins “would love to add another top-of-the-rotation starter”. What is still to be determined, says Beinfest, is whether this goal is “practical” or not.
We saw this weekend the steep price that top-of-the-rotation starters will cost teams this winter. The Cincinnati Reds were able to add Mat Latos, a 24-year-old top shelf starter, but had to give up three highly regarded prospects and Edinson Volquez to do so.
The Marlins have held discussions with the A’s (Gio Gonzalez), Cubs (Matt Garza and Carlos Zambrano), Rays (James Shields), Astros (Wandy Rodriguez) and White Sox (John Danks).
Up to this point, Miami has been “reluctant to trade starting position players”. However, the Marlins are beginning to realize that, if they are going to bring in top talent this offseason, they will need to surrender top talent of their own.
The Herald lists starting pitcher Chris Volstad, third base prospect Matt Dominguez and reliever Juan Carlos Oviedo (formerly Leo Nunez) as a possible package they could offer teams for top-of-the-rotation starters. Of course, the Marlins would have to wait until Oviedo’s identity case is resolved to see if he will be eligible to pitch next season.
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