Cleveland Guardians rumors: A trade with the Marlins would require dealing major-league bat

The Miami Marlins have a bounty of quality starting pitching, and they're looking to deal some of it away. Pablo López in particular would be a great option for the Cleveland Guardians.

But the Marlins also have one of the worst offenses in baseball, which they just tried to bolster by signing Jean Segura. But herein lies the problem if the Guardians want to improve their own rotation by dealing with Miami: The Marlins want a bat that can immediately make a difference.

And according to those in the know with the Marlins, Miami has no interest in getting just a haul of prospects. With the pitching it has in place, Miami wants to start winning now.

Miami has had ongoing conversations about trading starting pitching. A ton. We have heard this for months, but they are adamant on acquiring a major upgrade to the 2023 lineup in any deal for their pitching. They are not chasing prospects.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 29, 2022

That being said, it's a trade request that is ultimately going to take Cleveland out of the running, and rightfully so. For all the good things going on with the Guardians offense right now, it's an imperfect construction that needs some retooling itself. So the prospect of trading a significant major-league bat is just a non-starter.

Oh well. Much like 2022 was a chance to see what Cleveland had in a number of position prospects, 2023 might just be the season of letting a number of young pitchers cook at the back-end of the rotation.

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