Seattle Mariners Trade-a-Day: 5 More Roenis Elías Trades

Swimming through the vast market set for one of the Mariners’ most intriguing trade chips.

Roenis Elías is going to be traded within the next four-ish weeks. It’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when,’ as the 30-year-old southpaw has sneakily become one of baseball’s best available relievers for this year’s trade season.

If you want the whole spiel on how Elías has done this and what exactly he’s worth on the market, I’d recommend checking out the mock trade I did a few days ago, in which I constructed a deal for him to Atlanta. In short, Elías’ ability to go multiple innings late in games, polarizing splits, and overall success this year have landed him on the radar of many teams.

It also helps that the relief market is drier than usual and even the league’s best teams, like the Cubs and Phillies, are in desperate need of bullpen upgrades across the board. Relievers have been costly commodities for buyers in recent years, and that price may have gone up even higher this year.

That’s great news for the Mariners. With what Elías has been able to accomplish this year, on his first arbitration year, will have teams lining up for his services, especially once the dust clears on the markets for Felipe Vázquez, Ken Giles, and Kirby Yates.

Elías isn’t of the caliber of those three relievers, and won’t be able to command the packages they will. But there are more than just three contending teams that will look to upgrade their bullpen over the next few weeks. A lot more.

So today, we’re going to mock not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE!!!!!!!!! deals with five different teams surrounding Elías. And that’s just scratching the surface on his potential market.

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Let’s talk about the Tampa Bay Rays. Per Rays beat reporter Juan Toribio, Tampa Bay is looking to add ‘multiple’ relievers to a pitching staff that currently leads the MLB in fWAR at 12.5. With Diego Castillo on the mend and José Alvarado on leave, the lack of depth behind Jalen Beeks and former Mariner Emilio Pagán has now become more apparent.

With this deal, the Rays not only get a reliever who fits their identity in Elías. They also get Wade LeBlanc, who, aside from a six-run meltdown versus the A’s, has been dominant since the Mariners shifted towards using an opener in his starts. In four of those five particular outings, LeBlanc allowed just five runs in 25.1 innings of work, including two dominant performances against the elite lineups of Milwaukee and Houston.

It’s fitting that a pitcher who’s found so much success in a piggybacking role would land with the team that popularized the opener strategy. Since Tyler Glasnow‘s forearm injury has taken a turn for the worse, the Rays are playing every fifth start by ear, with the mediocre Austin Pruitt and Andrew Kittredge taking on the bulk of the work. LeBlanc could stabilize these days for Tampa, at least until Brendan McKay is called up or Glasnow eventually returns.

In this deal, the Mariners get one of the better utility prospects in baseball in Nick Solak, who, by the way, is on the cusp of making the big leagues. Much like Shed Long, the jury is still out on Solak’s ability to stick at second base on a consistent basis. The Rays started running Solak out in left and center field on occasion last year, but have only started him in the outfield for 19 of his 72 games this year.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding his positional whereabouts, Solak’s bat is the most exciting tool here. In his first season with Triple-A Durham, Solak is hitting .282/.371/.524 with 16 home runs, 45 RBIs, and a 124 wRC+. The power has made a big jump this year, as Solak is already closing in on his career highs in both homers and doubles.

Both Elías and LeBlanc come cheap and under multiple years of club control each, plus fit the pitching identity of Tampa’s system. Meanwhile, the Mariners get one of the more underrated prospects from an elite system who’s likely just weeks away from his MLB debut and could develop into a significant role player in the near future.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

The Phillies and Mariners have been heavily involved with one another for the last seven months. Currently sitting in second place of the National League East, Philadelphia poses one of the worst bullpens in all of baseball. Injuries to veterans David Robertson and Pat Neshek have left the Phils scraping dumpster-diving for options, despite both setting the tone for a bullpen unit that ranks 26th in fWAR. They need help.

Elías isn’t the only move the Phillies need to make, but it’s a good first step in the right direction for them. Right now, Gabe Kapler is heavily relying on Juan Nicasio to provide quality high-leverage innings, and, as Mariners fans should know, that’s not the safest bet to make.

For the Mariners, there isn’t really a prospect in the Phillies system right now that can make an immediate impact like Solak. At least, not one that Elías can buy you. Instead, I have the M’s snagging a couple intriguing prospects that are a couple years out from the MLB.

Jerry Dipoto has transformed Seattle’s farm system from a cellar-dweller to one of the best in the game in a matter of months, but the organization still lacks a significant amount of quality infielders amongst their ranks. Now, I’m not of the belief of acquiring a prospect for the sake of the position they play, but I am more inclined to see what teams around the league have to offer in terms of young infielders as of right now.

That’s how I landed on Nick Maton, a former seventh-round pick of the Phillies in 2017 who primarily plays shortstop right now. Maton features a good arm and some decent athleticism, but his future at short is a bit hazy at the moment. For the first time in his career, he’s made a few starts at third base this year, and that’s where I feel he could stick at the higher level.

Maton’s bat is sound. There isn’t a whole lot of pop in it, but he makes good, consistent contact and gets on base by working counts and finding holes. This is his first stint with the High-A club and has thus far notched a slash line with career-highs across the board at .281/.366/.393 through 60 games.

The other player going to Seattle in this deal is left-handed pitcher Ethan Lindow, who’s currently pitching to the tune of a 2.49 FIP through nine starts (15 total appearances) in A-ball. Lindow features a cutter/slider combo along with a fastball that sits in the high-80s to low-90s. It’s a polished repertoire that has helped him achieve—and maintain—a K/9 over 10, and above-average command that has limited his BB/9 to a minimal 1.94.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

The Dodgers may be the best team in baseball, but they’re not exempt from the relieving woes that have greatly spread throughout the league this year. Rumor has it that they’re currently eyeballing a blockbuster deal for one of the big-name relievers on the market, particularly Vázquez. Even if they’re successful in acquiring one of those arms, it may be in their best interests to follow in Tampa Bay’s footsteps to secure more than one significant bullpen piece.

Before Rich Hill landed on the Injured List, Ross Stripling was Los Angeles’ primary innings-eater out of the bullpen. But now Stripling has entered their rotation and Julio Urías has started taking on the bulk of the innings. Elías offers something the Dodgers don’t have: more multi-inning flexibility and a legit third (or fourth) late-game option to put alongside Pedro Báez and Kenley Jansen.

The prize in this deal for the Mariners is Jeren Kendall, but don’t sleep on left-handed reliever Logan Salow. He isn’t going to light up any radar guns, but will consistently stay in the low to mid-90s on the fastball and keep his wipeout slider in his back pocket. That’s worked out well for him this year, posting a 14.86 K/9 in his 43 innings of work thus far. He fits the mold of what Dipoto has always targeted in young relief prospects.

As for Kendall, this is another Dipoto guy through and through and there’s been no better time to buy low on him. Now in his second full professional season, Kendall just hasn’t figured it out at the plate. Once projected to be the first overall pick in the 2017 draft, Kendall sunk to the Dodgers’ pick at 23rd overall and it doesn’t appear he’s made his way out of the quicksand just yet.

There’s a lot to be excited about with Kendall’s defensive ability, athleticism, and speed, but the bat is still significantly been holding him back. Over the last few years, the Mariners have been successful in helping players adjust their swing mechanics and overall place approach, so there should be a level confidence that, if the M’s could get their hands on Kendall, they could eventually help him turn things around.

There’s a lot of swing-and-miss in there right now, though. And the Dodgers may be starting to get a bit impatient. For as much potential as Kendall carries, I can’t see L.A. hesitating too long to deal him in order to make their team better in any shape or form this season, especially given how rich their system is.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS

Even after losing two of three to the Mariners over the last three days, the Brewers look to be in prime position to make another deep postseason run this year. Rotation over bullpen will likely be the case in terms of what the Brewers primarily target over the next few weeks, but even one of the league’s best units has room to grow.

The Brewers are big on flexibility within their pitching staff, so Elías is a great and obvious fit in that sense. Elías would give Craig Counsell four legit high-leverage relievers, allowing him to be more creative and decisive late in games.

Along with Elías, the Brewers secure a much-needed backup catcher for their playoff run in Tom Murphy. The 28-year-old has revitalized his career in Seattle and would be a significant upgrade to Milwaukee’s current reserve backstop Manny Piña. Murphy is extremely cheap and still has three arbitration years ahead of him, while Elías has two, so this package wouldn’t come cheap to the Brewers.

That’s why I have them giving up one of their best pitching prospects in left-hander Aaron Ashby. Selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft, Ashby has a three-pitch mix headlined by a mid-90s fastball and a plus curveball. Through 81 innings across Low-A and High-A this year, Ashby has struck out 101 batters and walked just 34.

He’s using all three of his pitches effectively, including an improved changeup, and accurately hits the zone early and often. As his velocity continues to tick up and more work is put into developing the changeup, Ashby has a very real chance of reaching his middle-of-the-rotation ceiling, or ascending it, by late next year.

It’ll be hard to rip Ashby away from the Brewers, but they’re going to be aggressive at the deadline this year. Elías and Murphy aren’t big names that will necessarily shift the tides for them, but they’ll help further stabilize an elite group and greatly raise the floor of their overall team depth.