The San Francisco Giants have been urged to make a deal for several prominent starting pitchers at the MLB trade deadline, to give them reliable starting pitching depth behind Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp.
Mike Axisa of CBS Sports pitched somebody to the Giants that hasn’t exactly been reliable in 2025…but if he can get right, he does have the potential to be one of the best pitchers in the MLB.
That pitcher is Miami Marlins right hander Sandy Alcantara.
As recently as 2022, Alcantara was the best pitcher in baseball, and arguably, the best player in baseball. He led the whole MLB with an 8.0 bWAR, fired 6 complete games and racked up 14 wins. He also led the MLB in innings with 228.2.
But he has fallen off a cliff since then. He struggled in 2023, was injured all of 2024, and has an ugly 7.22 ERA in 2025.
On one hand, if the Giants could resurrect the 2022 version of Alcantara, they would have the best pitching rotation in baseball. On the other hand, if they got the 7.22 ERA version of Alcantara, they’d be trotting out a liability every 5th game.
Would The Marlins Trade Alcantara?
Trading Sandy Alcantara seems like a likely outcome for the Marlins. They are a middle-of-the-road team in third place in the NL East, which is overachieving compared to where people thought they’d be this season.
But they are still unlikely to make the MLB playoffs and should still sell at this deadline to add more pieces around their emerging players.
Alcantara still has some trade value given that he is only 29 years old. He has enough of his physical prime left that it’s reasonable for the 29 other teams to believe that Alcantara could thrive once again with a change of scenery.
The Marlins don’t have much reliable starting pitching at this point, so they’d likely trade Alcantara for a promising, younger AAA or MLB pitching prospect straight up because that would be good value for Alcantara at this point.
What is Alcantara’s Fit in San Francisco?
The Giants would likely only be willing to trade for Alcantara if they’re willing to move on from Justin Verlander or Hayden Birdsong.
Verlander has struggled this season, his first with the Giants. He is 0-7 with a 4.70 ERA in 15 starts.
Verlander is also 42, so unlike Alcantara, he doesn’t have much of his MLB career left. The Giants may decide they’d rather let Alcantara figure it out, even if that means a few rough starts here and there, because they’d rather be patient with 29 year old Alcantara than 42 year old Verlander.
Sometimes, you’d rather put your hope in the 29 year old former Cy Young award winner than the 42 year old former Cy Young award winner.
The craziest part of Axisa’s article was when he suggested trading both Bryce Eldridge and Carson Wisenhunt, two of the Giants top prospects, for Alcantara. There’s no world in which Alcantara is worth even one of those guys.
If they can get Alcantara for Birdsong, Mason Black, Trevor McDonald or some combination of those guys, then it may be worth considering.
What do you think, Giants fans? Should San Francisco take a flyer on Sandy Alcantara?
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