Ely Sussman

The accolades are piling up for Kyle Stowers. The Miami Marlins outfielder has come out of nowhere in 2025 to receive two National League Player of the Week awards, an All-Star selection, and most recently, NL Player of the Month honors for July, as announced on Monday. In 24 July games, the 27-year-old left-handed hitter slashed .364/.451/.818 with 10 home runs, two stolen bases and a 238 wRC+ (100 represents league average). His 1.8 fWAR was tied with Willy Adames for the NL lead and accounts for nearly half of Stowers' season total. Most notably on July 13, he tormented his former team, the Baltimore Orioles, with a three-homer game. 61184e64-9f196724-8bb4c787-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 The Marlins had a 15-10 record in July, their highest win total in any calendar month since Sept/Oct 2023. This ends an eight-year NL Player of the Month drought for the Marlins. Only four other Fish have previously won this award: Jeff Conine (6/95) Hanley Ramirez (6/08) Emilio Bonifácio (7/11) Giancarlo Stanton (5/12, 6/15 and 8/17) There is a separate monthly award for the Senior Circuit's best pitcher. The last Marlin to win one of those was Sandy Alcantara in June 2022. Stowers' month of August is off to an encouraging start. Over the weekend, he homered twice and drove in an NL-high eight runs to propel the Fish to a sweep of the New York Yankees.

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

The Miami Marlins brought Jack McKeon to loanDepot park on Sunday to celebrate his long and colorful baseball career. Fittingly, his Marlins Legends Hall of Fame induction coincides with a series against the New York Yankees, who McKeon's team stunningly defeated in the 2003 World Series. McKeon's plaque reads: "John Aloysius McKeon managed the Marlins from 2003 to 2005 and again in 2011, guiding the franchise to its second World Series Championship--a 4-2 series win over the New York Yankees in the 2003 Fall Classic. Over his four seasons with the Marlins, the South Amboy, N.J., native produced a 281-257 (.522) record. Across his MLB managerial career, McKeon compiled a 1,051-990 (.515) record while managing the Kansas City Royals (1973-75), Oakland Athletics (1977-78), San Diego Padres (1988-90), Cincinnati Reds (1997-2000), and the Marlins. He finished with one World Series championship and two National League Manager of the Year awards (1999 and 2003)." McKeon is part of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 2025. Jeff Conine and Jim Leyland were inducted earlier this season. The fourth and final member, Luis Castillo, will be inducted on August 24.

The Miami Marlins are capitalizing on their bullpen depth, something that they were widely expected to do before the MLB trade deadline. Instead, this move comes three days later as the Houston Astros announced on Sunday that they have acquired left-hander John Rooney for cash considerations. Trades can be made after the deadline as long as they involve players who are not on 40-man rosters. Rooney, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins last offseason. Deep into spring training, he was battling for an Opening Day roster spot in a heavily right-handed bullpen, but the club ultimately assigned him to Triple-A Jacksonville. Rooney allowed just one run on three hits in 9 ⅓ innings pitched through the end of April. However, his lack of control was worrisome (eight walks and three hit-by-pitches allowed). His strike-throwing has gradually improved since then. Overall, he has posted a 2.45 ERA, 4.18 FIP and .174 BAA in 33 innings pitched (38 appearances). Rooney's primary pitch this season has been his slider (54% usage). He also has a sinker that averages 92 mph, a 90 mph cutter and a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency changeup. He has been extraordinary with the platoon advantage, limiting lefties to one extra-base hit all year. Uk9lTk5fV0ZRVkV3dEdEUT09X1VnSlJWbDFTQXdJQVhGVlRWQUFIQlFaV0FBTlFWbE1BVmxOUlUxRlVVQUJkQTFFQw==.mp4 With Rooney being a pending minor league free agent, the Marlins did not have much leverage in trade talks with the Astros. They would have had the opportunity to extend club control over him by selecting him to their 40-man roster after the season, but that was looking increasingly unlikely considering how many other relievers ahead of him on the depth chart are performing well. Meanwhile, the Astros had an immediate role for Rooney and have called him up to join their 'pen for Sunday's game against the Boston Red Sox. He will be eligible to pitch for his new club in the postseason. They have 88.1% odds of making it there, per FanGraphs. As for the other trade between these teams, Jesús Sánchez was Houston's starting left fielder on both Friday and Saturday, going 2-for-8 at the plate. He's playing right field on Sunday. Assigned to Low-A Jupiter, outfielder Esmil Valencia went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a caught stealing in his Marlins organizational debut. Right-hander Ryan Gusto and infielder Chase Jaworsky haven't played yet. Coincidentally, the only head-to-head matchup of the season between the Marlins and Astros takes place at loanDepot park beginning on Monday.

Acquired via trade from the Astros in July 2025 August 2025 update: Jaworsky is a twitchy athlete, but lacks impact in his frame. He's shown limited swing-and-miss in the strike zone. He has an aggressive approach, though, which leads to him expanding the zone, particularly against secondary pitches. Jaworsky’s power is well below-average and it doesn't help that he frequently pounds balls into the ground. Jaworsky is a plus runner whose speed translates to a high rate of successful stolen base attempts and range at shortstop. Jaworsky is an above-average defender at shortstop with an above-average arm due to his throwing accuracy. Injury history Staph infection (2025) FOF Top 30 history August 2025: #23 September 2025: #22

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.

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.

The Miami Marlins have a long history of trading away their most accomplished players. Some of those decisions were more logical than others, but the pattern is undeniable. It could soon be Sandy Alcantara's turn in advance of Thursday's 6:00 p.m. ET MLB trade deadline. The Marlins do not need to force a trade that they're uncomfortable with. Alcantara remains under contract for 2026 ($17.3M salary) and 2027 ($21M club option). There is a good chance that his performance and consistency will improve as he gets further removed from Tommy John surgery, though there's also some risk that injuries or natural decline could continue to erode his value. The following deadline deals involving starting pitchers may have influenced Alcantara's market: Shane Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays JP Sears to the San Diego Padres Michael Soroka to the Chicago Cubs July 31, 11:40 a.m. ET July 31, 10:46 a.m. ET This would be a bizarre landing spot for Alcantara considering that the Astros have one of baseball's weakest farm systems. They don't have any Top 100 MLB prospects, according to Baseball America, and the guys who come closest to clearing that bar (INF Brice Matthews and OF Jacob Melton) are already on the Astros active roster. Thinking outside the box, what about Spencer Arrighetti as the centerpiece of a package? Sidelined for most of 2025 by a broken thumb, he held down a rotation spot in Houston for most of last season and had some electric outings (4.53 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 145.0 IP overall). Arrighetti is still pre-arbitration eligible and under club control through 2029. July 31, 8:10 a.m. ET The Cubs are "still in the market for another starter" despite acquiring Michael Soroka from the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. July 30, 3:15 p.m. ET July 30, 1:31 p.m. ET Take Jim Bowden's word with a grain of salt. At least since Peter Bendix arrived, he has reported with a pro-Marlins slant, often inflating the value of Miami's players and characterizing trade negotiations in ways that our own sources and other MLB insiders have disputed. That being said, I want to be thorough with this rumor roundup. July 30, 12:12 p.m. ET This current version of Alcantara is more like a solid No. 4 than a "strong No. 2," as I wrote on Tuesday. If the Red Sox genuinely hold the latter opinion, perhaps they'll be the team to make an outlandish offer that's too good for the Fish to refuse. July 29, 7:00 p.m. ET July 29, 2:15 p.m. ET Chris Paddack is the only starting pitcher to be moved in a deadline deal so far, leaving plenty of potential landing spots for Alcantara. July 28, 10:30 a.m. ET Alcantara continues to be listed as the Marlins' probable starting pitcher for Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals. If Bob Nightengale's reporting below is to be believed, they would have very little to gain from letting him take the mound again before the deadline. The Marlins could simply scratch him at any point before first pitch and pivot to a bullpen game if trade negotiations intensify. July 27, 10:30 a.m. ET Trade interest in Alcantara has "soared since his last start with teams now convinced he will be moved by the July 31 deadline," according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Alcantara went a season-high seven innings in that July 23 outing against the San Diego Padres, allowing one unearned run. It was only the second time in 2025 that he's held an opponent without any walks or hit-by-pitches. He also induced a pair of his signature ground ball double plays. 6486d5c7-dd55b2b3-46966f3b-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4

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.