12:02pm: The trade is now official, as the Marlins and Mariners have announced the swap.
10:40am: The Mariners and Marlins have reportedly agreed to a trade that will send right-handed setup man David Phelps from Miami to Seattle in exchange for a package of four prospects. Center field prospect Brayan Hernandez is the headliner, while the other names in the deal reportedly include right-handers Brandon Miller, Pablo Lopez and Lukas Schiraldi.
Seattle has been playing well of late, getting back to the .500 mark and drawing within 1.5 games of an American League Wild Card spot. However, the Mariners are also 15.5 games back from the Astros in the AL West, which has reportedly led them to look for assets that can be controlled beyond the current season, as their best playoff hope in 2017 is a one-game playoff.
[Related: Updated Seattle Mariners and Miami Marlins depth charts]
The 30-year-old Phelps fits the bill, in that sense, as he’s controlled through the 2018 campaign via arbitration. He’s earning $4.6MM in 2017, with about $1.86MM of that sum yet owed to him through season’s end.
The former Yankee initially went to Miami alongside Martin Prado as part of the trade that sent Nathan Eovaldi to New York. After spending much of his career as a starter and long reliever, Phelps’ career took off with a 2016 move to a late-inning role. The righty’s velocity ticked from the low 90s to an average in the 93-94 mph range, and he’s dramatically upped his strikeout rate while pitching in a setup capacity.
Dating back to Opening Day 2016, Phelps has worked to a 2.69 ERA with 11.1 K/9, 4.0 BB/9 and a 46.4 percent ground-ball rate through 133 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate is “down” in 2017, but he’s still averaging 9.8 punchouts per nine innings pitched. His arm will be a boost to a Mariners relief corps that currently ranks 13th in baseball with a 4.05 ERA but carries more troubling marks in both FIP (4.44) and xFIP (4.45). Those ERA alternatives come in at 25th and 21st in baseball, respectively, indicating that the Mariners are perhaps fortunate to have gotten the results they have out of their bullpen to date. (Then again, Seattle boasts a superlative defense, particularly in the outfield, so perhaps it should be expected that their pitchers would outperform fielding-independent metrics.)
The Seattle ’pen is currently anchored by sophomore closer Edwin Diaz, who has been inconsistent in 2017 but can overpower opposing lineups with a triple-digit fastball and one of baseball’s best strikeout rates. Nick Vincent has also been brilliant in Seattle, working to a 2.04 ERA in 39 2/3 innings, while southpaw James Pazos has averaged nearly 11 strikeouts per nine innings en route to a 3.68 ERA. Former Mariners closer Steve Cishek represents another right-handed option, but health has been an issue for him in recent years as his numbers have declined.
Beyond that, Seattle has seen some of its anticipated setup men, particularly right-hander Dan Altavilla, take a step back in 2017. Phelps figures to pick up some of that slack and will join Diaz, Vincent, Pazos, Cishek, Tony Zych and Marc Rzepczynski in the Mariner bullpen.
Hernandez is the big get for the Marlins in the deal. The 19-year-old ranked as one of the 10 best international free agents in the 2014-15 crop and inked a $1.85MM bonus with Seattle at the time. Hernandez split the 2016 season between the Dominican Summer League and the Rookie-level Arizona League, hitting a combined .278/.325/.425, and he’s off to a .252/.306/.408 start with the Mariners’ short-season Class-A affiliate.
Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com rank Hernandez as Seattle’ No. 6 prospect, noting that he flashes all five tools but is still projection over performance at the moment. He received 60 grades on his speed and arm from Callis and Mayo with a 55 on his glove, and their report notes that his overall offensive development will determine if he can reach his ceiling as an everyday center fielder. Baseball America rated him 16th among Seattle farmhands this past winter, agreeing that the defensive tools are impressive and praising his “solid, consistent contact” but also questioning his ability to generate power now or in the future.
The 22-year-old Miller has spent the season with the Mariners’ Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League, working to a 3.65 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 46.8 percent ground-ball rat in 101 innings/18 starts at that level. Callis and Mayo list his heater at 90-93 mph with good command of the pitch and give him credit for a plus slider, though reports indicate that he lacks an average third offering and could be destined for a bullpen role. He ranked 16th among Mariners prospects, per MLB.com, while BA pegged him 25th among Seattle prospects this offseason. Both reports tout his fastball’s exceptional spin rate. If all breaks right, Miller could pan out as a back-of-the-rotation starter.
Lopez is a 21-year-old starter that has spent the year in Class-A Advanced. While his 5.02 ERA through 100 innings doesn’t look appealing, he’s posted an excellent 89-to-13 K/BB ratio with a 49 percent ground-ball rate, creating some optimism that he’s been hit with some poor luck. (A .341 BABIP lends further credence to that notion.) MLB.com placed him 22nd in Seattle’s system and gave him three average offerings (fastball, curveball, changeup) but no plus pitch. He was 31st on BA’s offseason rankings, and their report notes that he has a 2014 Tommy John surgery in his history but is a “supreme strike-thrower” with impressive ground-ball tendencies.
Schiraldi comes from good baseball genes, as his father, Calvin, played in the Majors for parts of eight seasons with the Mets, Red Sox, Padres, Cubs and Rangers. The younger Schiraldi didn’t crack any Mariners top prospect rankings but has a gaudy 15.2 K/9 rate in 37 1/3 innings of work at Class-A Advanced. However, he’s also not particularly young for the level at 23 years of age, and he’s worked to a 4.58 ERA with a 6.5 BB/9 rate.
Ultimately, the Marlins will secure four players in exchange for a year and a half of a quality setup man while also saving a bit of cash for the remainder of the 2017 season. While it’s tempting to look at the sheer volume of players and wonder how this will impact the market for other relievers — especially those that are controlled beyond the 2017 season, such as Brad Hand and Zach Britton — it’s also worth emphasizing that Seattle’s farm system is generally regarded as weak. That bit of context should absolutely be considered when debating the value of other relief arms, and it seems unlikely that the volume of the Phelps deal “raises the bar” for other relievers throughout the league.
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand first reported that the Mariners were in talks to acquire a reliever and that Phelps was the target. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi termed the deal “fairly close,” and Yahoo’s Jeff Passan pushed it further to “imminent.” FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted that the trade was indeed finalized, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that Seattle was sending multiple minor leaguers to Miami. Passan and Heyman added a bit more detail on the return (Twitter links), with Passan ultimately reporting Hernandez as the headliner. Sherman broke news of the other three players in the deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Interesting
not a bad move
“Mariners trade for Phelps imminent”.
“Mariners finalizing deal with Phelps”.
“Mariners acquiring Phelps”
“Phelps on way to airport, to have beer and buy magazine for flight”
“Phelps carry-on too large, looking for later flight”
(I kid, MLBTR, the frequent updates are appreciated)
Hahaha
David Phelps is a gamer. He does whatever is asked of him in whatever role. Even liked him when he was a Yankee. That deal was probably the Marlins only decent trade in the last 6 or 7 years. Necessary move, but sucks to see him go. Good luck to him in Seattle
May be suited up in time vs Yankees tonight
Thanks for the valuable info my friend. 🙂 I like him already because of your kind words 🙂
2017*, not 217
This the trade where JeDi gets rid of DJ Peterson?
Nah it’s Kyle Lewis. Kidding folks.
Maybe it’s Peterson. If so, look for him in the 2018 MLB All-Star game.
This is so true it hurts. Smoak only the latest example.
And LoMo…. and Lind… and Chris Taylor… and and and
beepbeepbeep…tha ticka reads that phelps trade stock is a surgin! sell now! This just in “phelps catches a later flight and will arrive in seattle at some future point”
hymen’s a jabroni
Wonder what the M’s gave up, hopefully not too much
I’d be fine relinquishing DJ. He’s not really the hot prospect he used to be, still isn’t a viable MLB guy yet, and is approaching 26 years old. M’s don’t have a whole lot of use for him at this point. If it were Tyler O’Neill, I would’ve hoped we got more than Phelps. We shall see.
Hernandez, I was guessing it would be him.
I’m ok w that- OF suddenly a position of strength. Best thing about this trade for me is that we still have some valuable assets to deal from our system. O’Neill, Neidert, Povse, and if healthy even Shae Simmons
I’m glad the Brewers didn’t go there. They would benefit from an arm or three before Knebel goes over 75 innings this season. Along with Torres and Barnes.
Sounds like it’s Brayan Hernandez and three others
CF probably Bishop or Miller I bet. 3 arms are probably our whole single a starting staff since Jerry despises low minors starting pitching….
It will be Brayan Hernandez who we signed a few years ago, the reason there isn’t much hype around him is because he hasn’t played enough yet.
That’s Calvin Schiraldi’s son! Man I’m getting old……
My exact reaction when Mark Leiter Jr. was recalled earlier this year.
Can anyone tell me about schiraldi? Personally would have liked to see 1 guy closer to the big leagues, but I guess they got some upside with Hernandez, albeit far away…Phelps has 2 years of control left though, so I feel like they should have done a little better. Typical feeling after a Marlins trade though.
Marlins finally make a decent trade. If two of these guys pan out, then I think it’s good value.
The SPs look like future relievers, to add to our depth in that area, which is the only actual thing we have in our organization. If Hernandez pans out though that’s a big win. He’s far from the big leagues though, as they all are, and hasnt played much since he signed a few years ago…the Marlins actually have some decent pieces in the low minors, but they’re mostly all injured, and they’re all very far away anyway…need to grab a few closer to the big leagues type of guys.
I expect to see Ramos moved next, then Barraclough, McGowan, and even Wittgren. Then see if anyone actually wants Dee Gordon. After that, it’s see what you can get back for Straily, Bour, and Ozuna, b/c we missed our chance to move Prado and Volquez, so if those guys move, it will have to be in August
What are the odds Phelps was obtained to start?
slim. he’s been at his best moving to a late inning role. he’s a real solid guy will help y’all chase the wildcard and I believe he’s signed for next year. I don’t know who’s going back or if it’s a good deal over all or not. I’ve always liked Phelps.
Have you looked into the games that Phelps started the last 2 years? He can do both with some success. As an outsider, it appears to me that SEA could use him in the rotation more so than the pen.
I thought about that then I read about Phelps set-up relief success from 2016 on- 2.69 ERA, uptick in velo, 11.1 K/9. That’s legit
He was really good as a SP in 2016 though, but ya, he is more likely staying in the pen
his name is lukas, you guys made a mistake
I’m not a Mariners fan so I don’t have intimate knowledge of their farm system (other than Miller, who went to my sister’s college), but for a borderline premium setup man this seems like a fairly light return. Miller seems like a pretty solid bet to be a back-end starter, but those guys aren’t overly uncommon or anything and the other guys all seem completely based on projection.
And obviously the point of prospects is that they’re based on projection, but you know what I mean
saw Miller pitch a couple years ago in Cape Cod, and was surprised that a kid from Millersville was that good. sounds like he could end up in the bullpen eventually but a solid arm.
Yeah, he’s definitely a solid arm…I don’t think he should be one of the top pieces going back in a deal like this, but if there’s one guy in the deal I’d bet on to have a solid career, he’s the one. He honestly kinda fits the Phelps profile, ironically…back-end starter with the potential to be a solid late inning reliever if needed.
Lopez and Miller are the best pitching prospects not named Neidert in all of M’s A-ball and could both be back end starters or relievers in a couple of years. Hernandez is 10-40% to be a dynamic big leaguer in 3+ years. Not a bad haul going for upside for 1.5 years of an 8th inning guy who’s getting paid well for that job. I call it a decent deal that can be rationalized for both sides. I wouldve liked to see the Ms trade O’neill instead of Hernandez and have Volquez added to the deal
Volquez is injured
Um… neidert yes but miller and Lopez are not our best besides that…
max povse
Rob Whalen
Thyago vieira
Andrew Moore
Emilio pagan
These are all better and all but pagan are ranked higher than Lopez and miller just sayin…
If you read more closely i said they were the best starters at either A-ball level. The players you listed are not A ball players
I’m just wondering, in your eyes, are prospects only prospects if they are in A ball?
Well when they say best A-ball pitchers and someone says NO WE HAVE BETTER PITCHERS NOT IN A BALL what are they suppose to say? Oh no you are right we do have better non-a ball pitchers sorry I only said a ball pitchers?
Don’t really understand what your question is and why it was even asked. Your large record of making mostly nonsensical sillyass comments continues.
That’s quite a haul for a guy who had one good year in 2016 and the rest of the time has been pretty meh. Marlins definitely got an above market haul for him.
Ahhh the good ol days, 217 was a great year
Well, maybe Miami is open for business after all?
It’s funny to watch these Mariners accounts on twitter freak out about this trade. It’s the same acounts that non stop complain about us losing, but now when the M’s try to do something about it, they freak out because we are “ruining the composition of the bullpen.”
They’re the “glass is half empty” fans
Man, is a trade from Miami to Seattle the furthest possible point between two MLB cities?
According to reliable sources (google maps) distance from Marlins field to Safeco Field is 3297.3 miles. Next closest thing I could think of is Fenway Park to Petco Field in San Diego which is 3043.2 miles.
One of our Twitter followers suggested the same but then said after a few minutes that Toronto to San Diego is a slightly greater distance. It’s up there anyhow!
According to my sources (google maps) the distance from rogers centre to Petco Park is 2580 miles.. Even if you take the long way (I-10) it’s 2771 miles. I think twitter guy saw the 4200 kilometers and didn’t do the math.
That was my first thought
Dipoto got fleeced as he typically does. Seattles farm will look as bad as the angels in 1/2 years.
In what way did he get fleeced? He traded one prospect that’s ceiling is a good contact hitting center fielder with okay defense, and the other three will most likely end up in the bullpen 3 years from now. It seems to me that a lot of people here like to hate on Dipoto even tho he’s turned a roster full of garbage into a .500 team. A farm system that had no top 95 prospects into one with 3 and possibly 4.
3 BP pitchers- assuming 2 of those 3 don’t get TJ or shoulder problems! Personally I think this is a good trade for us. New Prospects come in every yr
He overpaid a bit, but this isn’t a Swanson-Miller fleecing.
How is it overpaying when none of the prospects are anywhere close to the big leagues, and 3 of them look like maybe bullpen arms in 3 years? The upside guy hasn’t even played much since signing, and he could end up as just a glove in the OF in 5 years. In return, they get a close to premium set up guy for almost 2 years. If anything, the return is light
Agree. Having watched Hernandez play several times this year, he is very far away from being a potential Major League player. Maybe Hernandez becomes Braden Bishop, maybe not. If you get that, you know the Mariners did all right.
Good name. Fits that opinion
He traded four prospects for a average reliever. That is getting fleeced.
I’m calling it right now: Seattle will not win the AL West. Place your bets accordingly
Forgot the #BoldPredictions hashtag, ha.
In case you’re looking for more information on RHP Pablo Lopez:
minorleaguescouting.com/reports/sea/pablolopez
One of the dark horses in Seattle’s system.
This haul for Miami is relatively close to the “haul” Detroit got for JD Martinez. I realize he is a rental, but I wouldn’t even think about trading .5 years of JD Martinez for 1.5 years of David Phelps. Not even close. Just goes to show how poorly Detroit did for the best bat on the market.
And of the two, the Miami trade was the less salary-dumpy. I never get to say that.
Phelps will make a much bigger and better difference for the M’s than Martinez will for the D-Backs. At this point, I think the Mariners have the best chance of beating the Astros in a best of 5 series out of the entire American League.
That is just too asinine to even argue with.
How??? Paxton dominates Houston, 2 wins right there.
Didnt they get a SS that will stay there and another middle infielder, and something else? And a couple of those guys are closer to the big leagues, if I’m remembering correctly…thats not comparable to this deal
MLB.com rates the three prospects the Tigers got as the #11, #18, and unranked prospects in the relatively weak Detroit system. Those are not exactly top prospects by any means.
It is completely comparable. The top guy in the deal was in the 4-6 range in the trading team’s system, the second guy was right around #11 and an unranked lotto ticket. The Mariners added their #22 prospect as well, but it is still a comparable package.
seeing Phelps and Seattle has me thinking about Ken Phelps for Jay Buhner, and Mr. Costanza going off on George Steinbrenner.
Great trade for Miami, just got their replacement for Yelich when they trade him to my Cubs.
We’d better get a haul then
You won’t.
are u fat as your son?
You’ll be the fat one after eating your words when my son and I are at his hall of fame ceremony 25 years from now.
Putting his picture on the fridge isnt the same as being put into the HOF. And him announcing his retirement in front of friends and family isnt a HOF speech.
Off topic.. How is Eovaldi doing? Any news?
Sherdarili looks dirty and I love Hernandez