Any lingering concerns about the health of Miami Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara entering the 2025 season seem to have disappeared faster than an Alcantara 4-seamer.
Or dropped off the table sharper than an Alcantara sinker.
No matter the metaphor, it’s hard to think that spring training could have started off any better for the 29-year-old right-hander, who missed the 2024 season after having Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm. In his first three appearances of spring training, Alcantara has given up no runs and just three hits in 5⅔ innings, striking out five and walking two.
Which, MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds recently opined, likely means that Marlins general manager Clayton McCullough has already started receiving plenty of phone calls from Major League front offices seeking to make a deal for the two-time All-Star and 2022 Cy Young Award winner.
“This is an established major leaguer that, you know the work ethic, you’re seeing the health, they know how to bring guys back [from surgery],” Reynolds said about Alcantara after his most recent outing on March 5. “I’m telling you right now, teams will be lined up.”
One of those teams will likely be the Boston Red Sox.
Red Sox Among Teams Reportedly Seeking Miami Ace Sandy Alcantara
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Miami Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara appears to be on a healthy path back from Tommy John surgery.
It’s been well established that the Marlins, currently undermanned in a top-heavy division dominated by the Mets, Phillies and Braves, are moving wanted commodities in an effort to build for the future. While Alcantara rehabbed his surgically repaired arm, Miami traded Luis Arráez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trevor Rogers, Jake Burger and Jesús Luzardo in a variety of deals.
And now, the Marlins can dangle their biggest prize, a bona fide ace who has two years left on his contract at an average annual value of $17 million, with a $21 million club option for 2027. In a February 27 article for Bleacher Report, Kerry Miller amplified the league-wide belief that Alcantara will be traded this season, and he predicted the eventual landing spot as Boston, a team in win-now mode that has the top-100 prospects needed to make such a deal.
A recent report by FanSided suggested that the Red Sox and the New York Mets are the teams most likely to have the desire and the trade chips to pull it off. In Boston’s case, reporter Jacob Mountz noted that even after the offseason trade for Garrett Crochet, the team still boasts a farm system that was recently ranked No. 1 overall by Baseball America.
But if Reynolds is right, the Red Sox better put that trade package together soon.
“He doesn’t make it out of spring training” as a member of the Marlins, Reynolds predicted after Jon Morosi’s “Hot Stove” report from March 6. “You’ve gotta make that move early. You know how many teams are going to want him at that price tag, knowing he’s healthy?”
Morosi agreed that Alcantara will be dealt “at some point in time this season,” but he believes it will happen closer to the trade deadline at the end of July.
“If you look at what he could do for this year and next year, if he were a free agent on a two-year deal, pitching the way he’s pitching right now, that is extraordinarily valuable,” Morosi said.
Sandy Alcantara’s Spring Outings Have Increased Trade Interest
Miami has said that Alcantara will be on a pitch limit as he works his way back to full strength. In his 45 pitches against Washington on Wednesday, Alcantara lasted 2 ⅔ innings, allowing no hits and no runs, while striking out one and walking a pair. Nearly two-thirds of his pitches were strikes, and he touched 100 mph with his fastball, which regularly sat in the high 90s.
“I was working a little bit on my fastball command,” Alcantara said after the game. “I think the command was good today, but I still walked two guys, so I got to keep working in the bullpens and try to be more perfect.”
And that only threw more chum in the water for teams looking to land this Marlin.
“I’ve gotta move now,” Reynolds stressed, “because I don’t want to give other teams the opportunity.”
