Mariners deal top prospect to land bullpen upgrade

Mariners deal top prospect to land bullpen upgrade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Seattle Mariners have been poking around the relief market since the World Series ended. Left-handed leverage was a clear hole — they cycled through multiple internal options last year and never found someone Dan Wilson consistently trusted late in games.

That’s the backdrop for their reported move to acquire left-hander Jose A. Ferrer from the Nationals in exchange for catcher Harry Ford and right-hander Isaac Lyon, per FanSided’s Robert Murray.

Ferrer is only 25. He’s already touched the big leagues. And he brings something Seattle’s bullpen lacked: swing-and-miss from the left side. Ferrer struck out 29.1% of hitters in Triple-A and has the fastball-changeup combo Seattle’s pitching group loves to optimize. Even with some command bumps and a rough big-league cameo, evaluators consider him a strong development project.

By dealing Ford, Seattle essentially planted a flag: they’re prioritizing immediate upgrades over long-term depth at catcher. Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver still anchor the position, but the depth chart behind them thins out quickly.

So the Mariners must believe Ferrer can be in their bullpen mix this season, and they trust their pitching factory — Justin Hollander, Pete Woodworth, the analytics group — to turn raw edges into results.

After a heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the Mariners made the first offseason move. They resigned Josh Naylor, but the Toronto Blue Jays, who beat them, already signed Dylan Cease and are in on the big bats out on the market.

The Mariners need to keep up if they are going to snap their World Series drought.

Ferrer isn’t the only move the Mariners need this winter. They still have rotation questions and a lineup that could use another bat. But this deal checks a glaring box — and could be the first domino in a much bigger bullpen rebuild.

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