Marlins trade Luzardo to Phillies for two prospects. Bendix reaction and fallout
The Marlins continued their six-month process of shipping out veterans for prospects on Sunday, sending pitcher Jesus Luzardo to Philadelphia for a minor league infielder and a minor league outfielder.
The Marlins received outfielder Emaarion Boyd and shortstop Starlyn Caba, a 19-year-old who is rated as a top 100 MLB prospect by Baseball America (which has him 54th) and by MLB.com, which ranks him 81st.
MLB.com projects Caba to get to the majors in 2027 and Boyd in 2026.
“Starling Caba is the main piece here,” Marlins president/baseball operations Peter Bendix said after the trade. “I think he has a chance to be a superstar. Boyd is not to the level of Caba but somebody we like a lot.”
MLB.com rated Caba the Phillies’ fourth-best prospect and had Boyd as Philadelphia’s 23rd best prospect.
As part of the deal, the Phillies also received minor league catcher Paul McIntosh, who hit .246 (.340 on base) with 12 homers and 55 RBI in 117 games.
The Marlins were comfortable trading McIntosh because they have several young catchers they like, including Agustin Ramirez (acquired in the Jazz Chisholm trade with the Yankees) and recent Rule 5 draft pick-up Liam Hicks.
Caba, a switch-hitter, hit just .179 (.304 on base) with no homers and nine RBI in 26 games and 115 plate appearances at Class A Clearwater to end last season, his first experience above rookie ball.
In 52 games for the Phillies’ rookie league team in 2024, he hit .254 (outstanding .427 on base average) with two homers and 17 RBI. He has 66 steals in 84 attempts in two minor league seasons.
Bendix noted that Caba “walked more than he struck out. He is extremely athletic. Excellent tools, really good shortstop, great makeup. Great bat to ball skills. Great swing decisions. He’s really the whole package of what you’re looking for in a prospect. That’s too good to pass up.”
MLB.com’s scouting report on Caba: “Thought to be one of the best players in the 2023 international signing class, Caba was ranked near the top of MLB Pipeline’s Top 50 international prospects list when the signing period opened.
“The Phillies were thrilled to sign the Dominican shortstop for $3 million. They were even more excited following his debut in the Dominican Summer League, where he showed off a myriad of skills, hitting .301 with a .423 on-base percentage while playing outstanding defense. Caba’s athleticism jumps out on both sides of the ball.
“The switch-hitting teenager has a knack for making a ton of contact from both sides of the plate. It’s an extreme hit-over-power profile right now, with a slashing-to-all-fields kind of approach. He almost never strikes out, and during his debut, he had a K rate under 10 percent while walking in just over 17 percent of his plate appearances. He should be a consistently plus runner who can continue to steal bags and take extra bases.
“He lacks impact right now, but there’s hope added strength could help him get to at least gap power. Just 18 for all of 2024, Caba’s floor is very high because of how gifted a defender he is.
“He has outstanding range, soft hands, excellent footwork and a good internal clock to go along with an above-average arm that will enable him to be a plus shortstop for a very long time. He could be a special table setter, and if the power comes more than expected -- like it did for the player Caba has been compared to, Francisco Lindor -- he could be an All-Star-caliber middle infielder.”
Boyd, drafted in the 11th round out of a Mississippi high school in 2022, hit .239 (.317 on base) with three homers, 40 RBI and 27 steals (in 39 attempts) in 96 games and 400 plate appearances for Class A Jersey Shore this past season.
A 21-year-old right-handed hitter, Boyd has played 100 minor-league games in left field, 72 games in center field and 18 in right field. He has a .348 on-base average, 78 RBI and 91 steals in 122 attempts in 198 minor-league games.
“He’s really fast,” Bendix said. “Good outfielder. He’s got contact ability. There’s a lot of speed, athleticism, defense that leads to a high floor. These are two excellent prospects. Boyd, we look at him as a center fielder.”
Here’s what MLB.com said about Boyd: “From a pure speed standpoint, Boyd is elite, and it helps him on both sides of the ball. He’s an obvious threat to steal, and he racked up those totals without really knowing what he was doing on the basepaths. He often just took off on the first pitch every time he was on --- one of the reasons he got caught 18 times, so there’s some ceiling to reach as he hones his craft.
“At the plate, the right-handed hitter makes a ton of contact, striking out in fewer than 15 percent of his plate appearances in 2023. How much impact he’s going to have is still a question.
“He keeps adding good weight, and there’s an expectation his ability to drive the ball will improve with time, though power will never be a huge part of his game.
“While he played more left field than anything in 2023, the plan for Boyd moving forward is to get a lot more reps in center field, where his speed should enable him to be an excellent defender. How his strength gains translate into more impact will help determine whether he can be more than a different type of big leaguer than fellow Mississippian Billy Hamilton.”
The Marlins had discussions with the Cubs about Luzardo before those talks lost steam.
Luzardo, who didn’t pitch the final 3 1/2 months last season because of a stress lumbar reaction in his back, went 3-6 with a 5.00 ERA in 12 starts in 2024 and finishes his four-year Marlins career with a 21-28 record and 4.15 ERA. The Marlins acquired from him Oakland for Starling Marte in July 2021.
The 27-year-old Luzardo, who attended Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, would have become a free agent after the 2026 season.
The Marlins’ projected rotation to start the 2025 season includes Sandy Alcantara (who has said he expects to be ready to pitch opening day after Tommy John surgery), Braxton Garrett (who is hoping rest will help an elbow injury), Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers and some combination of Max Meyer, Vellente Bellozo and prospect Adam Mazur or perhaps a cheap veteran signed in the months ahead.
Eury Perez is expected back from Tommy John surgery around the All Star break.
The Miami Herald asked Bendix if he can definitively say if Alcantara is a longterm part of the future, even though he listens to proposals on everything. His response: “You said it: We never rule out anything. We listen to everything. Sandy is a really important piece for our organization. I’m really excited to see him pitch on Opening Day.”
Payroll update
With Luzardo’s projected $6 million salary purged from the payroll, the Marlins are projected to have a $64 million big-league payroll, per fangraphs.com. That would be the lowest in baseball as it stands. That $64 million includes $12 million for Avasail Garcia (who was released earlier this year) and $3 million owed to the Yankees and Giancarlo Stanton in 2025, many years after that 2017 trade sent the slugger to the Bronx.
Asked if he plans to spend more money or has the authority from owner Bruce Sherman to do so, Bendix replied: “I’m not going to comment on what we might or might not do. Bruce continues to give us all the resources we need to build this franchise for sustainable success.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2024 at 10:27 AM.
