It’s always gotta be the damn Dodgers. At this point I think a big portion of Cubs fans have shifted their attention away from ex-Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara because of his struggles coming back from Tommy John surgery, but I definitely wouldn’t want to see him end up on the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
Sure, it seems like any big arm that goes to LA ends up with an injury nowadays and that may ultimately be what happens with Alcántara no matter where he gets traded to, but seeing the team that has everything and can out-spend mostly every team in the mix sure as hell is annoying. The Cubs have been actively exploring the trade market for a top of the rotation type starter and Alcántara seems like an ideal fit for the club if they’re willing to use some of their prospect capital to make a major upgrade this summer.
Well the Dodgers have a hundred pitchers on the injured list and guess what, they’re going to be a threat to the Cubs and any other team that will try to make a deal with the Miami Marlins for Alcántara. In one of Bob Nightengale’s recent articles the MLB insider specifically brings up the Dodgers as one of the teams “lurking” in the background leading up to the trade deadline with eyes on acquiring the Marlins’ starter.
Via USA Today.
Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara is starting to look like himself again after undergoing Tommy John surgery, with his fastball (97.6-mph) and command returning just in time to get traded. Alcantara, who’s yielding a 1.50 ERA in his last two starts compared to 8.47 in his first 11 starts, should be the No. 1 trade piece on the market.
The Dodgers, who have plenty of prospects, are one of the teams lurking.
Alcántara had Tommy John surgery following the 2023 season, which sidelined him for all of 2024 and through May of this year he was the worst starting pitcher in MLB with an 8.47 ERA in 51 innings.
Since then, the Miami right-hander has made three starts against the Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies. Sure, those first two opponents are pretty bad offensive clubs, but nonetheless Alcántara has strung together a great three-start stretch, posting a 2.12 ERA across 17 innings.
We could argue for countless hours about how much Alcántara is worth at this point of the season from a Cubs’ perspective. It obviously won’t be anything near the cost that The Athletic’s Jim Bowden came up with this week, but you should still expect to see a top prospect go if the Cubs do trade for Alcántara.
Yet, with the Dodgers seemingly in play for any attractive player on the trade market you get that sick feeling in your stomach that they’ll get Alcántara for a steal and he ends up being great with them. The Dodgers always have an overrated farm system and you know they don’t care about payroll. Alcántara’s $17.3 million salary for 2026 and $21 million team option for the 2027 season is peanuts for them.
And that’s the frustrating part. As Cubs fans we’re over here debating whether it’s worth it or not to trade for Alcántara and wondering if he’ll return to his prime form or near it, while knowing that if he goes to the Dodgers and it doesn’t work out, then they’ll just move on to the next pitching target and use their resources on whoever that is.
We’ll see how the trade market continues to develop around the league during the next six weeks. The Cubs are going to be calling and you know the Dodgers are going to be right there competing with them on any popular trade target.
