When it comes to acquiring starting pitching at the deadline, it’s usually premium arms that are a few months from free agency, or a highly paid veteran who may still have some use for the next year or so.
Last season saw quite a few of these deals, with David Price, Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, J.A. Happ, Mat Latos, and Scott Kazmir all moved before getting paid in free agency, and the Phillies finally parting with Cole Hamels for an excellent return.
2016 was, however, an excellent pitching class when it came to free agency, having a huge number of arms compared to this year. With Stephen Strasburg re-signing and seemingly off the table, it’s a thin market for teams looking for rentals. If the Marlins want to go out and get one of these few remaining options, they’ll have to pay a big prospect premium to get them – despite none of them performing all that well.
Andrew Cashner – San Diego Padres
With Cashner headed to free agency for the first time, many predicted he would finally harness the stuff that has made him a scouting darling for years and put up a big season. Instead, he’s gone the opposite way and put up a terrible first third of the year. This may actually be in the Marlins’ benefit though, as they could conceivably get him for much less than what he would have cost at the beginning of the season.
The Padres are a club without a direction right now, as they overpay veterans to perform poorly, while trying to develop their young core. Though Cashner is sure to get a qualifying offer at year’s end, San Diego will still be looking to move him for a package this summer.
Perhaps if he changes coasts, and gets back onto a team with a winning record he’ll start performing like the last few years. Getting moved mid-season would actually be a plus for Cashner regardless of results, as it would remove the qualifying offer from around his neck as he goes into the winter still as one of the best arms on the market.
The White Sox already went out and got one of the over-paid veterans, dealing for James Shields earlier this month. He’s been terrible for Chicago, which may give more teams pause when they go after pitchers under contract past 2016. The Marlins should be wary of who they pursue, but there are some interesting names in play.
C.C Sabathia – New York Yankees
If you’re talking about starters that are overpaid, you will eventually get to C.C. Sabathia. The Yankees’ southpaw used an opt-out clause to leverage an extension to his already massive deal in 2011, earning him $25 million this season. The contract has a vesting option for 2017 for another $25MM, should Sabathia stay clear of any injuries in his throwing shoulder. While he has seen time on the DL this season, it was for a groin strain and had nothing to do with his seemingly healthy shoulder.
Sabathia has turned the clock back this year, throwing 59 quality innings and carrying a 2.28 ERA into the middle of June. While his extremely low home run rate is sure to come back up at some point, perhaps his admission and subsequent treatment for alcohol abuse has really helped him turn a corner and get back to the dominant pitcher he once was.
He does, however, have a no-trade clause in his contract and would have to waive it to go to Miami. Whether he would do this is unclear, but if the Marlins were to guarantee the option they could probably convince him to move south.
The Yankees don’t look like they’re going anywhere, and are looking to get younger. They would need to kick some money in to make the Marlins stomach that big contract, but it would still help them to move on from some of their overpaid veterans.
Next: A Bour-ish Option At First