The Marlins Acquire Andrew Cashner From The Padres In A 7-Player Deal
When I saw that the Marlins ended up with Andrew Cashner, I thought back to Giancarlo Stanton’s press conference after he signed a $325 million extension following the 2014 season.
He talked about how it was the first step towards building a contender in Miami, and we all kind of rolled our eyes and chalked that up to it being something that anybody in his position would say, but didn’t actually believe. If you get paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars, you’re going to go up there and talk about how great the organization is that just made you filthy rich.
The Marlins have an odd history when it comes to building contenders. They build a winner from the ground up, cash in for a World Series title from out of nowhere, and then go back to sucking for several years. They’re notorious for their fire sales, because they don’t want to pay their stars. That dynamic changed when they handed out the largest contract in baseball history to keep Stanton in a Marlins uniform. I doubt that’ll happen with Jose Fernandez, but the Stanton contract changed the culture over there in Miami for the time being.
It was a minor move, but I was also impressed by the Fernando Rodney trade last month. The Marlins gave up a quality, young arm to acquire him, and despite a rough ERA, skewed by a couple of poor outings, Rodney has turned in scoreless appearances in nine of 13 trips to the mound for the Marlins. That brings us to today, when news broke that the Marlins had acquired right-handed starters Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea, in addition to adding right-handed reliever Tayron Guerrero. Entering play today, the Marlins are tied with the Cardinals for that second Wild Card spot, and they’re making moves to ensure that they’re not the odd man out come October.
The Marlins placed left-handed starter Wei-Yin Chen on the disabled list on Sunday with a left elbow sprain, and the timetable for his return is uncertain at this time. Mix in the fact that the aforementioned Fernandez is on an innings limit after his Tommy John surgery, and Miami quickly addressed that they needed starting pitching help before it was too late.
With Cashner, Miami isn’t getting the 2.55 ERA guy of two years ago. Over the last two seasons, Cashner has a 4.47 ERA with 232 strikeouts in 264 innings. That being said, I’m looking at his game log from this season, and it’s very strange. Out of 16 starts this season, he’s allowed 3 earned runs or less in 14 of them, yet somehow has a 4.76 ERA. Look a little closer, and he’s thrown more than six innings once all season, and it was a 6.1 inning start. Among pitchers who have made at least 16 starts this year, Cashner ranks 102nd out of 104 pitchers, averaging 5 innings per start. Only Ubaldo Jimenez and Anibal Sanchez have been worse.
If you’re a Marlins fan, I wouldn’t panic or anything. It seems like the innings that Cashner gives you are at least going to keep you in the game. The only problem is, he doesn’t give you very many innings. Now, did the Marlins give up too much to get this package of players? Me personally, I did a double take when I saw that Miami gave up Carter Capps in this deal. Sure, he’s out for the year, recovering from Tommy John surgery, but that was the guy who was slated to be the Marlins closer in 2016 before he went under the knife. Capps is under team control through 2018, while Cashner is a free agent after this year. This is a “going for it” type move if you’re the Marlins, and I’m not quite sure that Cashner is a “going for it” type pitcher.
The Marlins are also coughing up their No. 2 prospect, first baseman Josh Naylor, who was also their No. 1 draft pick of a year ago. If you recall, this was also the same Marlins prospect who accidentally stabbed the Marlins No. 4 prospect in a “prank gone bad” last month. I’m sure you can read between the lines there. In addition to Capps and Naylor, the Marlins also surrendered right-hander Jarred Cosart and minor leaguer Luis Castillo. Not the Luis Castillo who won two World Series titles with the Marlins in 1997 and 2003. Different guy. This Castillo is the Marlins’ No. 6 prospect.
So, while the Marlins are going to be the focal point of this trade, there’s a couple things I’d like to point out on the Padres’ side. Very quietly, the Padres have been loading up on top prospects over the last seven months or so, mostly thanks to Dave Dombrowski’s willingness to part with said top prospects in Boston. But this was another nice haul for San Diego, which they’ve been making a habit of doing lately. Last thing, the Marlins have a no facial hair policy, which is fucking horse shit, because Cashner has one of the best beards in the game. Sad to see it go.