Ely Sussman

Outfield prospect Jakob Marsee had an awesome 2025 season with Triple-A Jacksonville. At the time of his call-up on August 1, Marsee was leading all Marlins minor leaguers in home runs and stolen bases. View full video

When it's against the New York Yankees, it just means more. The Miami Marlins have been a powerhouse for nearly two months, but there are certain corners of the baseball world that are only finding out about them now. Sweeping a Yankees team that won the last American League pennant, aggressively bolstered their roster via trade and filled most of loanDepot park with their fans was the ultimate statement series. Completing the long climb back to the .500 mark is also a key part of the narrative. If you're in South Florida and this is what it took to finally get on board the bandwagon, Fish On First welcomes you. Down on the farm, Triple-A Jacksonville won, 3-2. Derek Hill went 0-for-5 with a stolen base in his second (and possibly final) minor league rehab game. Jumbo Shrimp left-hander John Rooney was traded to the Houston Astros for cash considerations. Double-A Pensacola won, 8-4. Kemp Alderman's bat made the difference (4-4, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI). William Kempner lowered his Double-A ERA to 1.27 with his 10th straight scoreless relief appearance. High-A Beloit lost, 4-3. Colby Shade reached base safely four times and picked up two steals (48 SB this season). Low-A Jupiter won, 10-3. Encouraging weekend for trade acquisition Esmil Valencia. On Sunday, he stole third base, almost made a fantastic diving catch in center field and recorded the Hammerheads' hardest-hit ball (104 mph exit velocity). The Marlins are six games back of the San Diego Padres for a postseason spot. More Marlins news and content below: 🔷 Listen back to our weekly State of the Fish Twitter space, which touched on Kyle Stowers' NL MVP candidacy, Agustín Ramírez's defense, a potential Edward Cabrera contract extension and Eric Wagaman's brutal slump. 🔷 Jakob Marsee became the latest 2025 Marlins rookie to make an instantaneous positive impact upon being called up. He's the first player in franchise history to compile four extra-base hits and four walks through three career games. 🔷 Former Marlins manager Jack McKeon was inducted into the Marlins Legends Hall of Fame. McKeon spoke to the media about his iconic decision to start Josh Beckett on short rest to clinch the 2003 World Series and what he remembers about first laying eyes on Miguel Cabrera. Take a look at Trader Jack's HOF plaque. 🔷 The total attendance of 101,545 for the three Yankees games established a new loanDepot park single-series record, edging out the total from the Yankees' previous visit to Miami in 2023. 🔷 The Prediction Time leaderboard has been updated through the first 36 series. Become a SuperSub and we'll keep track of your predictions all season long! 🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Julio Rodríguez became the first player in MLB history to begin his career with four consecutive 20 HR/20 SB seasons. Justin Turner (Chicago Cubs) and Taylor Ward (Los Angeles Angels) hit walk-off home runs. The Milwaukee Brewers placed two of their rising stars, center fielder Jackson Chourio and right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, on the injured list. 🔷 Today's MLB game: it's the series opener between the Marlins and Astros (probable starters RHP Sandy Alcantara and RHP Jason Alexander). Jesús Sánchez already gets to face his former team. In three games since the trade, he's gone 3-for-11 at the plate with a .697 OPS. The Marlins have a 52.0% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m. ET. 🔷 Prior to the game, Fish On First LIVE will preview the Astros series beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. FOF LIVE is presented by About The Fans. Check out our new merchandise collection (coupon code fof10 for 10% off). Marlins podcast episodes View full article

With mere hours to go until the MLB trade deadline, the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees continue to discuss Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera trade scenarios, according to MLB Network's Jon Morosi. The Marlins have asked for outfield prospect Spencer Jones in return. Jones might be the most polarizing prospect in baseball. He's a lifetime .279/.359/.505 hitter in the minor leagues who has been especially hot this summer, but with a 31.5% strikeout rate. As J.J. Cooper of Baseball America recently detailed, players with such severe swing-and-miss issues in the minors rarely amount to everyday big leaguers. Previous reporting from Jon Heyman of the New York Post characterized the 6'7" Triple-A masher as borderline untouchable. Shortly after Morosi's tweet, Heyman reiterated that. Earlier this month, Fish On First's own Alex Carver devised an Alcantara mock trade to the Yankees with Jones as the centerpiece. View full rumor

It would be unusual time to trade for Cunningham when he's been on the IL for the past 2 months. Then again, Matthew Etzel (Fortes trade) was in the exact same situation, so maybe.

Considering the talented prospect packages that have moved around Major League Baseball in recent days for relievers with limited club control beyond the 2025 season, the Marlins understandably want a piece of the action. From Will Sammon of The Athletic regarding controllable right-handers Ronny Henriquez and Calvin Faucher: "Miami is fielding interest in both players, people briefed on the situation said. In particular, multiple teams are looking to acquire Faucher, league sources said. Of the two pitchers, he is more likely to get traded." Henriquez and Faucher each threw scoreless innings in Wednesday's Marlins win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Henriquez—a former waiver claim— has emerged as the team's best bullpen weapon. In 49 appearances (all in relief), he's posted a 2.96 ERA and 3.81 FIP while picking up six saves. He will be under club control all the way through 2030. Faucher is only a year closer to free agency and in the midst of his final pre-arbitration-eligible campaign. This season, he has a 3.73 ERA and 3.97 FIP with 10 saves in 41 innings pitched. The Marlins just wrapped up a terrific month of July and bullpen depth was a major reason why. Their 'pen arms collectively ranked second in MLB with a ERA (2.22) and FIP (3.21), so they have quality candidates who could be elevated into higher-leverage roles in the event that some combination of Henriquez, Faucher and Anthony Bender depart. View full rumor

Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera were available for the right price, but nobody was willing to meet it. When the dust settled at 6:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, they both remained in Miami Marlins uniforms, as did every other member of the major league pitching staff. It was a surprising outcome—to say the least—for a club that hasn't tasted the .500 mark since mid-April and is still in the process of reinforcing a good farm system into an elite one. Alcantara is one of the most impactful pitchers in Marlins history. Across parts of seven MLB seasons in Miami, he has totaled more than one thousand innings pitched, compiling the third-most complete games and second-most strikeouts of any Marlin ever. He signed a $56 million contract extension in November 2021 right before a lockout and validated that long-term commitment by becoming the franchise's only National League Cy Young Award winner the following season. The Marlins were an atrocious team in 2024, largely because their starting rotation crumbled while Alcantara rehabbed from Tommy John surgery. Based on everything we saw and heard this spring, there was optimism that the 29-year-old was ready to reprise his workhorse role. Instead, he got lit up throughout the months of April and May. Even with solid performances lately, he entered Thursday with a 6.36 ERA, 4.48 FIP and .267 BAA, averaging barely five innings per start. After striking out seven batters on Opening Day, he has eclipsed that total only once since then. At least velocity is not a concern—Sandy topped out at 99.9 mph in his most recent start against the St. Louis Cardinals and his four-seam fastball has sat at 97.5 this year, which is comparable to his pre-TJ norm. Overall, you don't really know what version of Alcantara you're getting in August, September and October, yet according to The Athletic's Will Sammon, suitors were expected to mortgage much of their future to pry him from the Marlins: Cabrera was an international free agent signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2015. The Marlins are the only MLB organization that he has ever known. He emerged as a big-time prospect in 2019, combining for a 2.02 ERA in 19 starts at the High-A/Double-A levels. No surgeries have been required along the way, but Cabrera has been constantly nagged by injuries. He's been sidelined for portions of every single season dating back to 2017. He reached the majors on August 25, 2021. All but two of his 81 Marlins appearances since then have come in a starting role. This season is shaping up to be Cabrera's best as a big leaguer. In 18 starts, he has posted a 3.35 ERA, 3.68 FIP and .235 BAA. He's six innings away from establishing a new career-high in innings pitched. Although Cabrera's changeup was his original claim the fame, he is now throwing his curveball just as often and generating incredible results with it (+6 RV, .122 BAA and 42.2 Whiff%). His control of all his pitches has improved in terms of getting ahead in counts and challenging hitters in the strike zone. Earning a $1.95 million salary in his first year of arbitration eligibility, Cabrera will continue to be arb-eligible through 2028 (his age-30 season). That boosted his surplus value above Alcantara's. However, his erratic availability and production prior to 2025 may have given interested teams pause. "If Cabrera runs off another two or three months [like this], he could be a very, very coveted asset, even more than what he was now," Craig Mish of FanDuel Sports Network Florida said on our trade deadline Twitter space. "I think that's what the Marlins are taking a chance on here." Contenders who were linked to Alcantara and Cabrera leading up to the deadline include the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and New York Yankees. It's premature to look ahead to the 2025-26 offseason trade window, because in the meantime, the Marlins are hanging out on the periphery of the NL wild-card race, seven games back of the final spot. Their deadline activity did nothing to augment the roster with outside talent, but they also did not subtract from what has recently been an extraordinary effective stable of arms. Cabrera is scheduled to take the mound next on Sunday against the Yankees, with Alcantara projected to go on Tuesday against the Astros. View full article

Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal readers. These notes apply to the third and final game of Miami's road series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting Lineup 2B Xavier Edwards (S) RF Jesús Sánchez (L) C Agustín Ramírez DH Kyle Stowers (L) SS Otto Lopez 1B Troy Johnston (L) LF Heriberto Hernandez 3B Graham Pauley (L) CF Dane Myers P Cal Quantrill Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below)

The Miami Marlins might hold onto Sandy Alcantara past this week's MLB trade deadline just to avoid having to compete against him. Alcantara reached the big leagues in 2017 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, who dealt him to Miami during the subsequent offseason. He has tormented them ever since, and that continued on Tuesday. He lowered his lifetime ERA to 1.71 in seven career head-to-head matchups as the Marlins rebounded from an uninspiring loss with a 5-0 shutout victory to even up the series. Alcantara's first pitch of the night was inauspicious, hitting Masyn Winn on the back. The right-hander's control was a recurring issue as he matched a season-high with five free passes (walks and hit-by-pitches combined). The Cardinals had baserunners against in every inning. None of them came around to score, though. It helped that Alcantara did not face a full-strength St. Louis lineup. Leadoff man Brendan Donovan got a rare rest day and defensive-minded catcher Pedro Pagés (54 wRC+) started over Yohel Pozo (120 wRC+). On the other hand, a transaction completed earlier in the day disrupted Alcantara's routine. This was Liam Hicks' first time catching Sandy since June 28 because his usual battery mate, Nick Fortes, was traded to Tampa Bay. Hicks encouraged Alcantara to lean heavily on his curveball—he threw the pitch more times (32) than he had in any of his previous 158 Marlins starts. But in the highest-leverage moment, facing Alec Burleson with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, Alcantara put him away with a firm changeup expertly placed just off the outside corner. WU9rTWVfVjBZQUhRPT1fVUFWVVVRVUVBd1FBV1ZFRkFnQUhDQU5SQUZsUVcxY0FBVnhXVXdBR1ZRRlVBRkVG.mp4 Alcantara's final line: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K (94 pitches/55 strikes). That comes on the heels of his best performance of the season against the San Diego Padres on the last homestand (7.0 IP, 0 ER). He has unquestionably upped his trade value at the ideal time. However, I'm skeptical that his value has risen enough to justify parting ways now. Alcantara isn't particularly close to re-establishing himself as an ace. Per Baseball Savant, he ranks in the 10th percentile among MLB pitchers in whiff rate, a number that only marginally increased in St. Louis. His reliance on the defense behind him is more extreme than ever. The aforementioned Padres start was the only time in 2025 that Alcantara has recorded an out in the seventh inning. Even before winning the NL Cy Young Award, what made him "El Caballo" was the efficiency and determination to consistently give the bullpen a day off. A contending team acquiring this version of him won't be able to bank on that. Perhaps I'm out of touch with the way that front offices are evaluating pitchers, or perhaps they are willing to pay a steep price for Alcantara anyway because all of the other arms on the market have their own warts. In my opinion, he is currently a solid No. 4 starter with an impeccable track record of durability outside of Tommy John surgery. While there is value in that, he is doubtful to swing a pennant race. As we have frequently noted on Fish On First, the Marlins have leverage. Given his contract status and the encouraging trajectory of the team relative to expectations, they shouldn't trade away yet another beloved veteran unless they are overwhelmingly confident that it brightens their long-term outlook. I don't believe that "too good to refuse" offer is out there for them yet. More than any other player I've covered, I trust Sandy Alcantara to continue improving as he gets acclimated to his reconstructed UCL and evolving repertoire. The best course of action would be to retain him through season's end, then re-evaluate. Non-Sandy Notes - Selected from Triple-A Jacksonville prior to the game, Marlins minor league legend Troy Johnston was Miami's starting first baseman in his major league debut. He singled to right field off of Sonny Gray in the top of the second inning and scored on Graham Pauley's two-run home run. He also doubled Jordan Walker off of first base on a pop-up. With left-hander Steven Matz on the mound in the sixth inning, Johnston was replaced by pinch-hitter Dane Myers. slzmyp_1.mp4 WU9rTWVfVjBZQUhRPT1fQndFRlZGUU5WQVFBRDFvRUFnQUhCUUZTQUZoWFcxSUFDMTBCQ1FaUVV3ZFZCRkJl.mp4 - The Marlins offense has been especially productive with two outs and Tuesday was no exception. All five of their runs were scored under those circumstances. Aside from Pauley, Otto Lopez, Eric Wagaman and Xavier Edwards drove in one run apiece. - Agustín Ramírez picked up his third stolen base of the season. Each of those steals have been of third base. Meanwhile, no other Marlin has stolen 3B more than once. I found that interesting. - Calvin Faucher, Ronny Henriquez and Valente Bellozo threw up zeroes of their own in relief of Alcantara. - Cal Quantrill and Miles Mikolas are scheduled to start Wednesday's 7:45 p.m. ET rubber game. Even more so than Alcantara, the Marlins are motivated to trade the pending free agent Quantrill before the deadline, so it wouldn't be shocking if he got scratched before the game begins amid negotiations. View full article

Here are the latest Miami Marlins game notes, produced by the Marlins communications department and relayed to our loyal readers. These notes apply to the second game of Miami's road series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting Lineup 2B Xavier Edwards (S) RF Jesús Sánchez (L) DH Agustín Ramírez LF Kyle Stowers (L) SS Otto Lopez C Liam Hicks (L) 1B Troy Johnston (L) CF Javier Sanoja 3B Graham Pauley (L) P Sandy Alcantara Click HERE to download the full game notes (preview below)

Dealing with more injuries than any other MLB contender and in the midst of a season-long five-game losing streak, the Houston Astros are "in the market for a hitter" as Thursday's trade deadline approaches, according to Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Miami Marlins outfielder Jesús Sánchez is among the "names under consideration." Sánchez is mentioned in the same breath as Minnesota Twins infielder Willi Castro and Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy. Teams know what they're getting in Sánchez. He posted a 108 wRC+ in 2023, a 101 wRC+ in 2024 and a 104 wRC+ in 2025 entering Tuesday's game (he's in the Marlins lineup, starting in right field). Virtually all of his production comes against right-handed pitching, including 59 of his 68 career home runs. Worth noting, Sánchez's plate discipline has improved in his age-27 season. He is chasing pitches outside the strike zone at a career-low rate, resulting in a personal-best 20.7% strikeout rate. If sent to Houston, Sánchez would presumably be utilized in left field and at designated hitter, with his playing time dependent on the availability of Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve. The Astros have rookie Cam Smith starting regularly in right and performing solidly. Sánchez is currently making a $4.5 million salary. That figures to climb into the $6-7 million range via arbitration next season. He'll be arb-eligible one final time in 2027 if not extended or non-tendered beforehand. View full rumor

Thankfully, Johnston is finally getting a chance. Who knows for how long and doubtful to stick around for 2026, regardless. This organization and pretty much all others preach the importance of defensive versatility. That makes the stubbornness about Gus at catcher hard to understand.

There were a few clutch moments through the years, but the overall numbers don't support this reputation. To me, what stood out is how easily he could put balls in play. The problem was how many of those were pop-ups or other unproductive outs. Fortes is a serviceable big leaguer overall, but it was frustrating that I don't think he has reached his offensive potential.

Johnston is getting his shot after all, as it turns out 😁