MLB Hurts the Marlins in Cashner trade

Sitting at 55–48, just six games out of the National League East and just one game out of the second wild card spot last year on July 29, the Miami Marlins were actively looking as buyers at the trade deadline. However, with a thin farm system, the Marlins were already ruled out of the major names on the trade market.

Right before the deadline, the Marlins and San Diego Padres struck a block-buster deal. The Marlins acquired Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea and Tayron Guerrero from the Padres. The price tag the Marlins paid was excessive, as they sent out Jarred Cosart, Josh Naylor, Luis Castillo and then-injured reliever Carter Capps.

A day after the two teams agreed to the deal, Rea made his Marlins debut, looking promising before grasping at his elbow in pain. He left the game after just 4 1/3 innings and was headed for the DL with an elbow strain.

While no accounts were initially published about the Marlins having an issue with the injury reports sent over by the Padres, on August 1, the MLB trade deadline, the Marlins sent Rea back to the Padres, reacquiring prospect Castillo. The Marlins were said to be upset at the Padres handling of the deal and then it later came out that the Padres did the same type of dirty business with the Boston Red Sox on the Drew Pomeranz trade.

Because of the two bad dealings of the Padres, their general manager A.J. Preller was suspended 30 days and the Padres were fined an undisclosed amount.

With the Marlins compensated from the misdeed of the Padres and the culprit punished, it seemed like the whole ordeal was over with. However, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports both reported that the Marlins preferred to nix the entire deal and go on with other plans.

The MLB, per Jackson, told the Marlins to “work it out with the Padres” instead of stepping in themselves and nixing the entire trade.

The Marlins had laid the groundwork to trade first base prospect Naylor to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jeremy Hellickson before the Padres deal came together. With Rea being damaged goods, the Marlins wanted to rescind the deal with the Padres and do their initial deal with the Phillies.

After trading Naylor to the Phillies, the Marlins would have dealt Luis Castillo in a separate deal for another starting pitcher. According to Chris Cotillio of SB Nation, the Marlins had offers for major league starting pitchers for Castillo, straight up.

Cotillo did not mention any of the names the Marlins could have gotten for Castillo in his tweet or in any tweet after, so it is hard to speculate who the Marlins could have possibly got in return.

However, a trade of Castillo for an MLB starting pitcher straight up likely would have been a better deal than the one the Marlins came to agreement with the Cincinnati Reds on Jan. 19. The Marlins traded Castillo, Austin Brice and Isaiah White to the Reds for starter Dan Straily.

While the Marlins did get Castillo back in the redone portion of the trade, they got him back too late in the day for the Marlins to consummate a trade to acquire another starter, according to Rosenthal.

The fact AJ Preller already knew both Rea and Pomeranz were damaged good and still traded them without giving the teams he traded them to any information up is a terrible look on his part. The MLB not stepping in and making the Marlins handle the situation themselves is a bad look on their part. And now with all the information we have, the face Preller only got a 30-day suspension and did not even face the threat of losing his job is a bad look for the Padres and the MLB.

The Marlins and their owner Jeffrey Loria have been known to make fools of the city of Miami, their fans, the MLB and other franchises by crying poor and stealing money from anyone they can when presented the opportunity, so there is not going to be a lot of sympathy from other teams going towards the Marlins for this matter.

However, in the future, Major League Baseball has to take something like this more seriously. What the Padres did is hurt the playing field to benefit themselves. The trade between the two sides heavily favors the Padres.

Naylor, Cosart and Capps headed to San Diego for Cashner (who left as a free agent) and Guerrero. Removing Castillo and Rea from the equation of the trade hurts the Marlins more than it will hurt the Padres in the long-run.