Yankees' potential Marlins trade targets looking worse by the day

Oswald Peraza for Edward Cabrera and/or Tanner Scott. Who says no? Absolutely everyone? Got it.

The Miami Marlins had plenty to offer the Yankees in terms of supplementary arm talent behind Gerrit Cole in the rotation. If Cole is forced to miss time -- either significant or minimal -- after the results of his MRI, even the Marlins' most ideal trade fits turn from solid running mates with warts to worrisome centerpieces.

And, if Tanner Scott and Edward Cabrera, both connected (at least in helpful theory) to the Yankees, continue on their current paths, they won't be widely discussed on the trade market this summer by any team.

In a Cashman-inspired example of missing the boat, Miami's Peter Bendix held onto both pitchers all offseason, only for Cabrera to come down with a worrisome injury (predictable, as pitchers go) and Scott to do, uh, something less predictable.

Edward Cabrera and Tanner Scott rumors don't feel like Yankees fits

Scott was, by some metrics, baseball's best closer last season, operating in the relative silence of South Florida. This Marlins team reached October, though you'd be hard-pressed to conjure up many positive memories of their run (and Yankees fans would rather blot out that Jake Burger walk-off anyway), and Scott was an essential buzzsaw along the way. He whiffed 104 men in a career-high 78 innings, keeping his WHIP below 1.00 (0.987) by reducing his walks to an acceptable degree for the first time in his big-league tenure (just 24 on the season).

Ah, but there's the rub. Miami was too successful to cash in on Scott's bout of control at the trade deadline, and the 2024 edition who's shown up to camp resembles 2022's erratic lefty (46 walks in 62 2/3 frames), but even more volatile. It's early. Of course it is. But this looks like a complete dissolution rather than regular rust.

And then there's Cabrera, who was this offseason's highest-ceiling target -- and was nearly a Pirate, until he wasn't -- and still hasn't gotten the chance to fully harness his devastating changeup at the big-league level.

This season is off to a bumpier-than-average start for him, too; he exited the field on Sunday without throwing a pitch, and is due for shoulder examination. Elbow trouble represents a mostly known quantity; it's awful, but it's fixable. The shoulder? That could be anything, from harmless to velocity-zapping.

Reportedly, Cabrera's impingement diagnosis means he might have avoided further disaster. But that has yet to be determined. The one thing we can guarantee is that he would experience said disaster if he were ever to be traded to New York.

Nobody owes the Yankees anything; just because the Marlins had projectable talent doesn't mean Miami missed a golden opportunity to finance the Yankees' bankroll by holding onto that talent and rolling the dice.

Still, though, the list of possible Yankees pivots is getting ever shorter, and mostly includes a Blake Snell overpay, a Spencer Jones trade, or a Shane Bieber bid. It's all bleak, but Miami's exit ramp is somehow the darkest yet.

...before the dawn, right? Like, it's dark, but only because the dawn is coming? The sun rising, dawn is en route, etc? Ok, we'll wait around for that dawn, then.