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The Baltimore Orioles, a team with one of baseball’s most dynamic young rosters, find themselves entangled in trade speculation involving Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara. However, given the current state of both Alcantara and the Marlins, any blockbuster deal appears far more likely this winter than at this season’s trade deadline.
Sandy Alcantara’s Tumultuous Comeback
After a meteoric 2022 campaign, Alcantara’s 2023 was a step back, statistically solid, but nowhere near the staggering excellence that earned him Cy Young honors. Then came Tommy John surgery, which sidelined him for the entire 2024 season, casting doubt on how quickly he could regain his status as a top-end ace. The Marlins have maintained patience, understanding the lengthy and unpredictable nature of such a rehab, and Alcantara himself has spoken about the mental and physical battle to return at full strength.
This 2025 season has thus become something of a recalibration year for Alcantara. He’s made adjustments to his pitch mix, tweaking locations and sequencing, hoping to rediscover the dominance that once defined him. The results, however, have been rough: a bloated 7.14 ERA over his first 19 starts. Yet beneath that surface-level struggle are signs that he’s regaining his footing, with recent outings demonstrating improved command and occasional flashes of his old velocity and movement.
Orioles’ Calculated Patience
Baltimore, in desperate need of a frontline starter after failing to re-sign Corbin Burnes, has been frequently mentioned as a logical destination for Alcantara. The Orioles’ young roster and deep farm system give them the prospect capital to swing such a deal, but with Alcantara under team control through 2027 and the Marlins holding a club option, Miami is in no rush to sell low, especially when his value could rebound with a strong finish or a healthy offseason.
Insiders indicate that while the Marlins have fielded inquiries, including from Baltimore, they remain inclined to wait until winter to maximize their return on Alcantara, banking on a market that will better reflect his pre-injury value. For the Orioles, this fits their timeline as well, rather than a deadline gamble, they may pursue Alcantara as a long-term anchor for their rotation in the offseason, when both performance and price could be clearer.
The result? A rare blend of trade deadline intrigue and delayed gratification, with Orioles fans left to wonder if their next rotation ace will arrive not in July, but in the winter’s hot stove.
