JUNE 15: The teams have announced that Filia will be returned to Seattle after failing his physical. Instead, Boston will receive cash considerations to complete the swap.
JUNE 12: The Red Sox announced that they’ve acquired minor league outfielder Eric Filia from the Mariners as the player to be named later in April’s Roenis Elias trade. FanRag’s Robert Murray was the first to reports that Filia was going to the Red Sox (Twitter link).
Filia, 25, was Seattle’s 20th-round pick back in 2016 and ranked as the No. 11 prospect in a thin Mariners farm system, per MLB.com, though he missed the early portion of the season while serving a 50-game suspension due to a second positive test for a drug of abuse. He was recently activated and has batted .426/.508/.537 with a home run, three doubles and more walks (nine) than strikeouts (four) in 63 Double-A plate appearances.
Of course, Filia is older than the average competition he’s facing in Double-A, as was the case in 2017 when he batted .326/.407/.434 with five homers in 564 plate appearances as a 24-year-old in Class-A Advanced. Filia has punched out in just 7.3 percent of his professional plate appearances, and while that’s in part a testament to the younger competition he’s faced, it’s also an undeniable testament to his above-average bat-to-ball skills. He’s also walked at a 12.3 percent clip in the minors.
Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com laud those on-base and bat-to-ball skills, though their report also indicates that he’s limited to the outfield corners on the defensive spectrum and has “average-at-best tools” in other facets of the game. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen called him a potential bench bat in running through the Mariners’ system this offseason, noting past injury issues and recreational drug usage have slowed his path to the Majors.
Noooooo. Filia May have character issues but that bat is very enticing.
Just like it as when he tore up little league at age 15…
Lmao
Now I’m not a fan of bringing Roenis back given the cost. Filia has been an on base machine who controls the zone with more walks than strikeouts. I’d rather have this kid develop into our eventual DH instead of waiting on Vogelbach to deliver on his potential over the next 1-2 years.
Especially given the lack of left handed outfield bats in the system.
But, hey. Go Mariners
Nice one DD!! And welcome to Boston Eric!!!
I believe this is Elias’s last option year regardless. Will The M’s have a spot on the 25 man roster for him next year and can they get anything out of him this year? The guy looks decent at the AAA level, but nothing like the one who was a fair back end starter several years back in Seattle.
On the surface I don’t like this but Jerry knows what he’s doing
Bad deal
Saw Filia play in AA Modesto and the dudes bat is incredible he should’ve been ranked higher than 11th in mariners system
Funny cause he had an amazing fall league and was getting a little notice then gets the failed test and it hurt him. I agree probably a top five prospect for the Mariners.
Well Mariners fans seem unhappy and Elias did nothing for the Sox so I guess I should be pleased with this one? :D
He is a future DH or corner outfielder type in his mid twenties. I think he will be a good bat but not sure the Sox would use him unless he learned first. Lineup seems pretty nice especially in the outfield.
Go Bruins…
Jerry Dipoto has now traded:
1. Luis Gohara for Mallex Smith in order to get Drew Smyly. Also, included in this trade was Ryan Yarbrough who has been decent
2. Freddy Peralta for Adam Lind
3. Enyel De Los Santos for Joaquin Benoit
4. Tyler O’neill for Marco Gonzalez (this one has worked out for the time being)
5. Eric Felia for Roenis Elias
*I don’t think any other G.M. makes these trades for such short term fixes. Yet the local and national media has Dipoto out to be some great GM.
You can hardly fault him for the Smyly deal. That was unlucky
Unlucky, sure, but you take a risk when you trade for someone coming off of a 4.88 era season and a shoulder surgery the year before that.
The logistics of the trade was fine if you had Smyly for more than one year. Also, if I gave up my best pitching prospect for a one year rental, he sure in the hell isnt pitching in the WBC.
I didn’t even mention the Chris Taylor trade to the Dodgers or all of the solid pieces Dipoto traded to the Marlins for David Phelps. The track record is plain awful.
Hmmmmm, but yet the team remains in first place…If that is Jerry being plain awful, he can keep being awful.
You are complaining and yet none of those trades are THAT bad. It’s not like any of those prospects have become All Stars or something.
You left out the most important trade he has made sobfar in his tenure—taijuan and marte for haniger and segura
6. Segura/Haniger/Curtis for Walker and Marte
7. Ben Gamel for Juan De Paula (minors) and Jio Orozco (minors).
8. Nick Vincent for Roach, Parker, and Guaipe
9. Colome and Span for Andrew Moore
10. James Pazos for Zack Littel
11. Mike Leake for Rayder Ascanio
Yes, DiPoto trades a lot. Some work, some don’t. You can’t cherry pick. Filia is good. But he is also 25 yo on double-a ball and has already been busted for PEDs. His window bc at this rate he will make his mob debut at28 years old.
You forgot the Ryan Healy and Dee Gordon trades….
Touché. Even more evidence of how he has been successful. I realized I missed those after posting ha…I appreciate you adding on!
I think this might work out better for Seattle. Get him off the pot or whatever he is taking and keep him clean. Looks like a good DH which we need because Vogelbach doesn’t look like he is going to hit MLB pitching. I wonder if we can sneak him on Boston’s plane out of town? We will take a tub of bubble gum for him.
Not sure how this ended up here. I put it under bradthebluefish where he said he would rather have Filia than cash. Very odd it ended up way up here.
He most definitely did not test positive for PEDs, but hey, reading comprehension schmeeding comprehension…
No mention of the Walker/ Segura trade. What he has done is try and take advantage of an aging core by trading away assets that were further away from contributing for ones that were at or near the major league level. Many of the players acquired were not just rentals. Not all the trades have worked out but he could not just blow up the roster with the contracts they have or the fact that the team has not made the postseason in what 17 years. I dont think he was given the job with the opinion to rebuild, it was always win now.
Dipoto isn’t necessarily great, but he isn’t bad either. Take a look at who is on the current roster and look at how quite a few of them got there. Raider Ascenio for Mike Leake, and Emilio Pagan for Ryon Healy haven’t been altogether bad deals. How about minor leaguers to the Marlins for Dee Gordon? Strikeout-prone Tyler O’Neill to the Cards for Marco Gonzales? Chase Bradford was a nice waiver claim, Wade LeBlanc has been a decent free agent signing. And of course Walker and Marte for Haniger and Segura has been a steal so far. Look at who Dipoto has kept, look at who he’s added, and look at where Seattle is the standings. Sure, he makes a ridiculous number of trades, certainly not all of them are good, and the farm system is depleted. But I think it’s hard to argue that all his moves haven’t helped the big league club get where it is today… and it’s about time they got where they are. Here’s hoping they’re a playoff team for a few years.
Well it was depleted when he started, I’d say the prospects they have now are better than what he had to start out with.
Agreed. And I don’t think the farm system is THAT bad. If Seattle were to be sellers they could turn that farm system around quickly.
Looks like a “nobody” with a potential to surprise. Just a piece back to add to your system.
Eric Filia looks nasty… until you realize he’s a Double-A 25-year-old who was caught with PEDs. I’d take him, but you can see the risks already.
The article says that it was drugs of abuse, probably marijuana
What’s “nasty” is your ability to read.
Filia Fish
He better leave the weed in Tacoma…
Gets to Seattle.
“Fails physical”
Hmmmm….. I wonder what the buzz was.
I’d rather have Filia instead of cash. He could’ve been a nice call up come September.
Wow, the M’s dodged a bullet there. Kid has a very good bat.
He failed an internal test