Mariners Rumors: A Potential Chris Flexen for Teoscar Hernandez Trade

Editors note. The Mariners did in fact trade for Teoscar Hernandez. Check out the details.

Reports broke Tuesday morning on the 15th that there was a possible trade in the works between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays. With the Mariners having a surplus of pitching, and the Jays having extra hitting, it makes sense. It’s why reports broke that it could be a Chris Flexen for Teoscar Hernandez trade.

So, what would a potential trade look like? I don’t think this would be a straight-up deal. Flexen doesn’t seem to have that kind of ceiling, and Teoscar has been a darn good hitter over the last five seasons. For a trade to happen, the Mariners would have to throw something else in there.

The Mariners should trade Chris Flexen and Zach Deloach for Teoscar Hernandez

I know Flexen doesn’t have the highest value when you look at his trade value online, but that doesn’t always tell the full story. The Mariners have been taking a lot of calls, supposedly, on Flexen.

With just one year of control left due to his time in Korea, Flexen will be a FA after 2023. At just $8 million, he is a good value for a team looking for an old-school starter that can give you a consistent six innings, only allowing 2-3 runs each outing. Nothing special, but is nice and consistent.

Teoscar will be a free agent as well, and Toronto seems to be looking to offload a hitter or two this offseason in order to either clear some money or acquire pitching. Hernandez is probably going to make $12-15 million in ARB 3, so the Jays would be fixing a hole in their team with Flexen, and saving $4-7 million as well.

So what would Seattle be getting in Teoscar? Let’s check out some of his numbers over the last five seasons. Pay close attention to the three most recent, as he has been quite good over that time.

• 2018 – .239/.302/.468. 109 OPS+, 22 HR, 134 Games, 0.5 WAR
• 2019 – .230/.306/.472, 105 OPS+, 26 HR, 125 Games, 1.4 WAR
• 2020 – .289/.340/.579, 146 OPS+, 16 HR, 50 Games, 1.4 WAR
• 2021 – .296/.346/.524, 131 OPS+, 32 HR, 143 Games, 3.9 WAR
• 2022 – .267/.316/.491, 127 OPS+, 25 HR, 131 Games, 2.8 WAR

Yeah, I’ll take that all day, every day. He hasn’t been a good defender, but that bat is more than worth the trade-off of an LF who is going to put up somewhere around a negative 0.5-1.0 dWAR. He seems like he could provide a WAR in the low 3s, and would be a consistent power presence with a good average in LF for the Mariners.

Is more going to come from this rumor? It truly does sound like the Mariners are going to trade away Flexen, and this could be one of the better and more realistic options out there. Stay tuned for more Mariners news, as we will try and be on top of everything that happens.