Marlins' Compelling Trade Candidate is Becoming Untouchable

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For some reason, Miami Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers has been pitched by some as one of the team's top trade candidates heading into the MLB trade deadline, and to be perfectly honest, it never made a ton of sense.
The Marlins just acquired Stowers at last year's deadline, and while he is 27 years old (which is kind of old for the Marlins), he is still under club control for a bajillion years (he doesn't even become arbitration eligible until 2027) and has exhibited tremendous offensive potential this season.
Heading into Sunday's action, Stowers was slashing .278/.356/.494 with 13 home runs and 40 RBI over 299 plate appearances, making a case for the National League All-Star team.
The former second-round pick is one of several very intriguing young Miami hitters who are beginning to blossom, and for a Marlins franchise that has been desperate for bats for years now, it would be silly for them to move him.
And really, Miami has probably never really considered the idea of actually placing Stowers on the trade block. It was more conjecture than anything else.
Barring a drastic turn of events between now and July 31, the Marlins won't be dealing Stowers. He is establishing himself as quite the hitter in his first full big-league campaign and is as close to an untouchable as you can get on the Marlins' roster right now.
Now, could Miami potentially be convinced to trade him? Maybe if a team comes along and makes the Marlins an offer they absolutely cannot refuse, but the Fish will certainly not be actively shopping Stowers, especially with how well he has been mashing lately.
It would be very, very surprising if Stowers isn't still in a Marlins uniform come Aug. 1.
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Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.