The Miami Marlins have been in the business of swinging big trades lately, but those moves have been about moving on from their players for prospects.
While the Kyle Stowers trade with the Baltimore Orioles has been a win-win, and with the jury still out on the Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers trades, there is a verdict for another trade the Marlins made in the last year.
As Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report points out, the trade of Jesus Luzardo has aged incredibly poorly just one year into the deal. Miami is down a clear top pitcher, and their division rival has an ace to help them in a World Series run.
Marlins’ mistake with Jesus Luzardo already haunting them
“Still, if they had held onto Luzardo for just the first half of 2025, he would have been coveted before last July’s trade deadline,” Kelly writes. “… Instead, they traded him in December of 2024 for pennies on the dollar…”
The Marlins traded away Luzardo and catching prospect Paul McIntosh for two prospects: Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. Caba, the headliner coming back to Miami, hit just .222 in 51 games in Single-A this past season.
Luzardo, on the other hand, had a 3.92 ERA in 32 starts across 183.2 innings pitched with 216 strikeouts and a seventh-place finish in NL Cy Young voting.
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Not to mention, Luzardo did all of that with the Philadelphia Phillies, an NL East division rival. Seeing a player traded away play well can be bittersweet. Not in this case, as Luzardo dominated for the Phillies.
He’s under contract for one more year, and the Phillies could very well extend him. While the Marlins likely wouldn’t have done such an extension, it doesn’t change the fact that this trade has aged very poorly in one year.
Of course, Boyd or Caba could make their mark in the Majors, or as a trade chip to land a player to help make this Luzardo deal sting less.
But, as of right now, as Kelly pointed out, the Marlins’ trade of Luzardo will haunt them for some time.
