The Miami Marlins could see the final National League Wild Card berth in the final weeks of the 2025 season. That’s progress, at least.
The Marlins ended up winning 79 games under first-year manager Clayton McCullough. The franchise is building around young players and one high-priced veteran in Sandy Alcantara, who surprisingly remained with the team at the trade deadline. The operating budget is low and the margin for error is small. Every move that doesn’t work gets magnified.
Here is the three worst moves Miami made in 2025.
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The Marlins were going to do this at some point. But it still stung in December when Miami shipped their second-best pitcher to the Philadelphia Phillies for prospects. Granted they were two of the best the Phils had to offer in Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. But, still, it stung — especially after what Luarzdo did in 2025.
The lefty went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA in 32 starts. He struck out 215 and walked 57 in a career season that saw him boost his value at the arbitration table this offseason. That’s part of the reason the Marlins had to make the move. He’ll be a free agent in 2027. But it still stings. Had the Marlins hung onto him for the 2025 season he could have made the difference between the playoffs and the MLB draft lottery, as the Marlins were only four games out of the final wild card berth.
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At least the veteran right-hander came cheap. Quantrill was one of the few free agent signings of the offseason for the Marlins, as he signed a one-year deal worth $3.5 million. The deal got the former Cleveland star out of Colorado where he went 8-11 with a 4.98 ERA in 29 starts. Somehow, he got worse in Miami.
In 24 starts with the Marlins he went 4-10 with a 5.50 ERA. He struck out 82 and walked 30 in 109.2 innings and batters hit .281 against him. It may say something about where the 30-year-old is in his career that bounced to Texas and Atlanta after the Marlins released him in mid-August. He’s now sitting on the Texas Rangers’ minor league roster.
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While there was little cost to keeping the pre-arbitration eligible outfielder going into the 2025 season, he ended up mattering little to the bottom line due to injuries and the 53 games he did play took opportunities away from others.
The Marlins claimed Hill off waivers late in 2024 from the San Francisco Giants and he dealt with injury after injury this season. He sprained his left wrist twice, sprained his left middle finger and strained his right hamstring. Miami finally designated him for assignment in late September after he slashed .213/.275/.331 with three home runs and 10 RBI.
Some cheap investments work out. Some don’t. Hill absolutely did not work out.