After first picking up reliever Daniel Hudson from the Blue Jays, the Nationals have reached an agreement to acquire lefty Roenis Elias from the Mariners. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first to report a deal was close, with Joel Sherman of the New York Post indicating that Elias had indeed been traded to the Nats. Minor leaguers Elvis Alvarado and Taylor Guilbeau will head to Seattle in the deal, according to Rosenthal.
Elias, 31 tomorrow, broke in as a starter with the Mariners in 2014 and was re-acquired by the club in April 2018 after a two-year stint with Boston. Working exclusively out of Seattle’s pen this year, he has a 4.40 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.53 HR/9, and 34.1% groundball rate in 47 innings. He’s faced 60 left-handed hitters in 2019, and they’ve teed off to the tune of a .353/.441/.549 batting line. He’s been much more effective against lefties in the past. With Hunter Strickland going down with a lat injury in April, Elias was able to slide into the Mariners’ closer role and rack up 14 saves in 16 opportunities. Elias is earning $910K this year and is under team control through 2021.
The Nationals notoriously own the worst bullpen ERA in baseball, with their crew tallying a 5.97 ERA in 321 1/3 innings. Aside from closer Sean Doolittle, they’ve currently got Matt Grace and Tony Sipp coming out of the bullpen from the left side. Neither has been particularly effective. The Nationals signed veteran lefty Jonny Venters in late May and selected his contract a month later, but he’s on the IL with a shoulder strain.
Guilbeau, a lefty reliever who was promoted to Triple-A earlier this month, ranked as the Nationals’ 15th-best prospect according to MLB.com. The site rated him as a 40 grade prospect, suggesting he can ride a mid-90s heater and above-average slider to a career as a left-handed specialist. Alvarado was signed as an international free agent for $700K out of the Dominican Republic in 2015. He played right field regularly in 2017 in the Dominican Summer League, moving to the mound in 2018-19 in the Gulf Coast League.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Elias for a bucket of balls is coming down the pipeline
better not be new balls
I agree, baseballs are not cheap
and the Nats get the bucket back.
They better have been at least rubbed by Anthony Rendon or no deal
Anthony Rendon to the Mariners for Kyle Seager, Dee Gordon, felix Hernandez’s, and a bucket of fresh caught cod to the nationals
Better not be Haniger’s
Good combination move. Both have pitched better of late than their history suggests.
Better be those squishy balls the Phillie Phanatic throws into the crowd
Elias isn’t terrible but he’s not that great either
Overall numbers are avg but take these two things into consideration- he’s streaky, goes thru stages of 2-3 weeks of looking great then like the last 10 days looks terrible. And 2. Most importantly he’s managed by Scott Servais- who’s in his first ever ML Skipper role. Servais has a lot to learn in BP mgmt. With a better manager I feel like Elias can reduce his number of bad outings. Bottom line- he can give you 2,3,4 inn and he can close out a game
You realize Davey Martinez is our manager right? haha
He was talking about Seattle, Nats town. Elias hasn’t been managed by Dave Martinez yet
Not to mention the defense behind him, particularly in the outfield.
“Not to mention the defense behind him, particularly in the outfield.”
kaehlaone;
You must have not gotten the memo…..
Harper is no longer with the team.
Robles is sensational in CF, Soto is a bit above average in LF, as is Eaton in RF.
Again talking about the Mariners I’d presume. The Mariners defense is worse then horrendous.
If he needs a manager who’s not in his first managerial position and not atrocious at bullpen management, then Davey Martinez and the Nats isn’t a good spot to land.
Davey has been a superb manager this year.
Do you watch any games.
(And I thought he was lousy last year. The guy worked with the FO in the off-season and has done a 180.)
If he isn’t terrible, he won’t fit in in the Washington bullpen
He’s 3.6 roentgen
So the Nats can’t get Greene cuz the Tigers are high iq and want Kieboom so they decide to pick up 2 very shaky relief guys. At least we aren’t trading away guys like Vazquez and Treinen this year.
Treinen was garbage when they traded him. And he brought back Doolittle, who has been very good for the Nationals.
Until lately.
Huh?
He saved a game again last night.
“Tigers are high iq”
That’s a joke right?
Greene going to Braves
Nobody wants to give up anything of value for the Giants good relievers, eh?
Probably because the Giants think they need them for their WC run.
That’s because the Giants front office is a dumpster fire and no one knows what they’re doing
Dubon for Pompom and Black would suggest that Farhan knows what he is doing.
The notion that the Mets are still in it is pretty lame. They are 4 games under .500, with 3 teams in their division that have significantly better records. Making up ground will be tough. Surpassing Atlanta near impossible. There are 6 teams ahead of them in the WC. I know hope springs eternal, but reality is also staring them in the face.
I agree that the playoffs are probably a pipe dream for the Mets, but I don’t think that their deadline approach has necessarily been built on that false hope either. Selling low on Syndergaard and Diaz would have been dumb, and I agree with holding on to both of them (at least for the remainder of this season. Anything that happens in relation to the postseason is just a very unlikely bonus.
My guess is that they are trying to pull a Cincinnati and get guys to try and help them compete next year. They already gotbrid of Vargas and Wheeler likely won’t be around either so they figure de From, Thor and Stroman are better then de From, Thor and Wheeler. Just guessing. If you ask me they should go through a complete rebuild to beef up their farm system and try to do whatever they can to get that Canon contract off their books. I don’t think ownership will allow that though. They are too afraid of the Yankees fans making fun of them for years. I don’t know why though. I am pretty sure Yankees fans make fun of them anyway.
“.. too afraid of the Yankees fans making fun of them for years.” As if that’s not happening already.
Like I said, “I am pretty sure they are making fun of them anyway.”
“The notion that the Mets are still in it is pretty lame.”
Except to Mets ownership.
He’s going to get rocked.
” they’ve currently got Matt Grace and Tony Sipp coming out of the bullpen from the left side. Neither has been particularly effective.”
So I take it you’re not a… Tony Sipp-orter.
Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Try the soup.
Wow. This might actually be the move AA was hoping for in Atlanta. Elias might help the Braves more than anyone they could actually acquire for themselves.
‘How ya’ll like my new offense’ – Coach Red Beaulieu
Braves better beef up their bullpen because Wash is setting the example of what both teams really need right now to win…..
CALM DOWN WASHINGTON WE CANT KEEP UP
Everyone: “nothing is happening this deadline”
Nationals: “Hold my beer”