The Miami Marlins are in selling mode but have yet to sell off any of their key outfielders. Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich have been on the trading block for what seems like forever, but the team made news by being open to the idea of trading Dan Straily according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
Straily was once rumored to be on the Trade Block before the Marlins said they were going to keep him.
Now, it appears that he is on the trade block. This is big news for teams as the starting pitching market is starting to dry up. Yu Darvish, Sonny Gray, and Ervin Santana are apparently up for grabs, but those pitchers will have a high asking price. Straily could help a contender out as a fourth starter at a low cost.
What Straily offers
Straily is 7-6 with a 3.84 Earned Run Average and 107 strikeouts in 117 1/3 innings pitched. The former Cincinnati Red was dealt this past offseason for prospects, but the Marlins are looking to do the same. Straily is not set to become a free agent until 2020, which makes him attractive to a lot of teams.
His numbers may not be eye popping, but they are good enough to provide support in the back of a rotation.
Straily will not cost what Darvish or Gray will. A middle tier prospect and some fillers might get the job done. Straily has a career 4.15 earned run average in a career that includes stints with the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros, Reds, and Marlins.
Who is interested
No teams have been reported as of yet, but there are some teams that make a load of sense. The Cubs are a perfect example. Straily pitched in seven games with the Cubs in 2014 and had an earned run average at 11.85. Times have changed since then as he has progressed nicely since then. His former team needs an arm at the back end of their rotation.
Given that the team has little prospects to give up, the Cubs could sway the Marlins into giving Straily back to them.
Another team that makes sense are the Yankees. Straily's numbers mimic those of Michael Pineda, who went down for the season with a torn UCL. Pineda is going to miss a lot of time due to Tommy John Surgery. The Yankees do not want to give up top prospects, which is halting a deal with Gray right now. Straily would not be a free agent until 2020, the Yankees get to keep their future, and they replace their former starter with a starter that had similar numbers. The Yankees are more likely to make a move since they have the best farm system. Plus, it would not cost them Clint Frazier or Gleyber Torres.