Seattle Mariners Trade Rumors: Are Miami Marlins Pitchers A Good Fit In Seattle?
Seattle Mariners trade rumors have the team looking for more pitching, which is a response to injuries that have plagued them all season. Now a report by the Miami Herald states that the Miami Marlins are willing to start dealing pitchers. Could a Mariners trade take place with the Marlins that could help the team add depth?
Right-handed starting pitchers David Phelps and Tom Koehler are available and could be affordable options if Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto wants to acquire them. Phelps is a starting pitcher by trade but has been seeing a lot of action as a reliever lately. He has an impressive 3.00 ERA, 9.6 K/9, and 3.56 K/BB rate over 30 relief innings.
Koehler has struggled a bit this season, posting a 7.04 ERA and 10 homers allowed in just 38 1/3 innings. Over 142 career games (128 starts), Koehler has a 4.31 ERA and 1.384 WHIP. The numbers aren’t spectacular, but his ability to pitch a lot of innings could be useful for a team looking to make a push in the second half of the season.
As for the salaries of the Miami Marlins pitchers, Tom Koehler makes $5.75 million this season, and David Phelps is earning $4.6 million. It’s possible that Miami could choose to or will be forced to pay a portion of those salaries to acquire a prospect. Both pitchers are in their second arbitration season, so they won’t come with long-term contract obligations.
Jeb Bush and Derek Jeter will not be buying the Miami @Marlins https://t.co/eIcjzLpChD
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) May 31, 2017
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, there are good Seattle Mariners rumors about the return of Drew Smyly this season. He could give the pitching staff a nice boost, as could the coming return of Felix Hernandez. They are both huge question marks, though, with the Mariners’ front office hoping that they can bounce back from stints on the disabled list. A lack of depth in the bullpen, though, has kept the Seattle-to-Tacoma shuttle busy this year. That might make David Phelps a nice acquisition before the MLB trade deadline.
Last season with the Marlins, Phelps pitched 86 2/3 innings, posting a 2.28 ERA and 1.142 WHIP. He also had 114 strikeouts, working out to an impressive rate of 11.8 per nine innings. There is a lot of value in those numbers, especially since he could be used as a long reliever during instances where a starting pitcher for the Mariners fails to make it through the sixth inning.
There are going to be a number of Seattle Mariners trade rumors coming out over the next month, as the performance on the field will dictate whether the team looks to add pieces before the deadline. Locking up Jean Segura to a long-term contract shows that the front office is investing in this team to continue winning, but to commit to further pieces the team will have to move up the American League standings.
Someone’s happy for dad.???? pic.twitter.com/4kR7Y25iFJ
— Mariners (@Mariners) June 7, 2017
As the Mariners open a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night (June 9), the team is at 30-31 on the season and two-and-a-half games behind the Baltimore Orioles (31-27) for the second Wild Card spot in the American League. It shows how close the team is to finally getting back in the MLB Playoffs, so the time might be now for the front office to pull out the stops on improving the roster.
Maybe David Phelps and Tom Koehler aren’t the perfect answer for the Mariners, but other pitchers like AJ Ramos and Sonny Gray are going to be available as well. There will be an opportunity for Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners to make a few splashes on the trade market, especially if the team can have a strong finish to the month of June. Moving up in the Wild Card race would put pressure on the front office to make a few moves and Seattle Mariners fans may finally get to see playoff games at Safeco Field again.
[Featured Image by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images]
