Sandy Alcantara to remain with Marlins entering 2025 season

On Wednesday, Edward Cabrera (4.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 82 pitches/44 strikes) constantly fell behind in the count against Phillies batters and failed to hold a three-run lead. Kyle Schwarber's fourth-inning grand slam flipped the entire game around. Jonah Bride drove in four runs and extended his on-base streak to 15 games. His wRC+ is up to 136. Although Declan Cronin continues to prevent home runs, he's been yielding a lot of well-struck balls in play, including three earned runs on four hits in his latest outing. The Marlins lost, 9-5.

Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 7-2. INF/OF Javier Sanoja and INF Tristan Gray had three-hit games while Nick Gordon played left field for the Jumbo Shrimp. Double-A Pensacola lost, 12-8. C Joe Mack hit his 20th and 21st homers of the season and the Blue Wahoos jumped out to an 8-0 lead. However, RHP Nigel Belgrave collapsed in the ninth inning, unable to retire any of the six batters he faced (they all came around to score). High-A Beloit lost, 4-3. RHP Noble Meyer is still having trouble putting batters away, averaging 4.5 pitches per plate appearance in this start. Low-A Jupiter lost, 3-1. Nice bounce-back performance from RHP Eliazar Dishmey (5.0, IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 77 pitches/48 strikes). DSL Miami lost, 10-1. RHP Raisei Nakamura allowed four hit by pitches in his two-inning relief appearance.

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🔷 As a matter of principle, Peter Bendix is willing to consider parting with any Marlins player for the right price. He's making a temporary exception for Sandy Alcantara, according to Craig Mish of SportsGrid. The club has ensured Alcantara that he will not be traded during the 2024-25 offseason as he finalizes his comeback from Tommy John surgery. The rehabbing ace is due $17.3M in 2025—the only player in Marlins history to earn a higher salary is Wei-Yin Chen. However, that is a reasonable price even for a low-revenue franchise considering the only other guaranteed money on the books for next season is Avisaíl García's contract.

🔷 To continue on this subject, the internal decision to stand pat with Sandy is not at all surprising. Signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027, there is no urgency to move the former NL Cy Young award winner. Beyond creating a PR nightmare for the Marlins, it would be an asinine baseball decision to be so hasty rather than allowing him to re-establish himself as a top-of-the-rotation arm. They'll surely reassess the situation as the 2025 season wears on, though, largely depending on how competitive the team is around him.

🔷 Through 39 Marlins series, here's an updated look at the Prediction Time leaderboard. Make series predictions with us all season long when you become a Fish On First SuperSub.

🔷 The Marlins are 15th in MLB Pipeline's updated farm system rankings, a few spots higher than they ranked on Baseball America and ESPN earlier this month.

🔷 On this day in 2004, the Marlins scored two runs in the ninth inning and two more in the 10th to rally past the Brewers.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Aaron Judge became the fastest player ever to reach 300 career homers (in terms of total games played). The NL West race is closer than it's been since late April, with both the Padres and Diamondbacks just 2.5 games back of the Dodgers. The Pirates lost their 10th consecutive game.

🔷 Today's MiLB schedule:

• Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Memphis, 7:05 p.m. ET
• Double-A Pensacola vs. Montgomery, 7:05 p.m. ET
• High-A Beloit vs. Quad Cities, 7:35 p.m. ET
• Low-A Jupiter at Palm Beach, 6:30 p.m. ET
• DSL Marlins vs. DSL Cardinals, 11:00 a.m. ET
• DSL Miami at DSL Phillies White, 11:00 a.m. ET

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