Report: Marlins seeking top starting pitcher in trade

For the first time in a while, the Miami Marlins head into the second half of the MLB season as contenders. As such, Miami is also looking to make upgrades on the trade market. One area that the Marlins are looking to improve is the starting pitching.

“The Marlins (with limited available trade assets) continue efforts to acquire a starting pitcher from a group include Tampa’s Jake Odorizzi, San Diego’s Drew Pomeranz and potentially Oakland’s Rich Hill, among others,” writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

This certainly makes sense. No team can have too much starting pitching.

With the Marlins in particular, starting pitching is an actual need.

Even with the great Jose Fernandez throwing every fifth day, Miami’s starting staff is no better than decent. In the days where he doesn’t start, Marlins’ starters are well below average.

Acquiring another high-quality starter would obviously help Miami in its quest to make the playoffs. The more quality starters a team has, the more likely it is to win more games. But landing another starter also shows that the Marlins are thinking about beyond the regular season.

In the playoffs, one starter will simply not get it done. As great as Jose Fernandez is, he’d be going against other top-tier starters.

It stands to reason that, at least occasionally, one of those guys would do a little better. But even if Miami wins all of Fernandez’s games, one or two other pitchers would still need to step up to deliver a victory to win a postseason series.

Right now, the Marlins can’t depend on their other starters.

In truth, they should be looking to land at least two starting pitchers. Landing two of Odorizzi, Hill, and Pomeranz may be a tall task, but landing one of them and then another lower profile target would be a great step.