Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The San Francisco Giants are not the only team that have checked in with the Miami Marlins about possibly acquiring right-handed pitcher and the highest paid player on the team, Ricky Nolasco. As the trade deadline looms, the Marlins are expected to be busy trading away the last pieces that did not go during the fire sale in November.
The Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres have all been rumored to have interest in Nolasco. All of the aforementioned teams are in critical division races and each team hopes that Nolasco provides the extra rotation help that each team could use to win the division, league championship and eventually the World Series.
Nolasco is the Marlins all-time leader in strikeouts but the last impression he will have with the franchise is the rift caused when the organization traded away franchise-altering pieces away fro prospects giving Miami an even worse reputation for a baseball team than ever before, although the franchise has two World Series championships.
This season, Nolasco is 4-7 with a 3.68 ERA in a league-leading 16 starts. It seems like he’s been the only Marlins player not to make an appearance on the disabled list, yet. He has 77 strikeouts so far and it looks like he is on pace to eclipse last season’s mark of 125.
Any team would be lucky to put Nolasco in its rotation. He is a sure-fire number-one with the Marlins but can be a solid three or four on a contending teams.
Ryan Gaydos is a MLB columnist for www.RantSports.com. He writes about Miami Marlins rumors as well. Follow him on Twitter, “like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
