The Nationals are sending reliever Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Andrew Golden of the Washington Post was first to report that the two sides were nearing a Ferrer trade. Golden also reported pitcher Isaac Lyon is heading to Washington in the deal. Both teams have announced the trade.
Seattle adds a flamethrower from the left side to complement Andres Munoz and Matt Brash in the backend of the bullpen. The price is somewhat steep, as Ford ranks 42nd in MLB.com’s top 100 prospect rankings. He comes in at fourth in Seattle’s system. Lyon was taken in the 10th round of the 2025 draft. He made a handful of appearances at Single-A this past season.
Ferrer emerged as Washington’s closer after Kyle Finnegan was shipped to Detroit at the trade deadline. He picked up 11 saves over the final two months of the season. The 25-year-old’s 21.9% strikeout rate and mid-4.00s ERA don’t scream shutdown closer, but he had an excellent 2.85 SIERA and an elite 4.9% walk rate on the year. Ferrer put together a stretch of 14 straight scoreless appearances shortly after taking over as closer, though he did falter over his final few appearances.
Ferrer has made 142 appearances out of the Nationals’ bullpen since his debut in 2023. He has a career 4.36 ERA, but his xERA and xFIP are both below 3.50. Ferrer is under team control through 2029. He won’t reach arbitration until the 2027 campaign.
More to come…
wrong link for ferrer
Why?
I don’t like it. Wrong link for Ferrer too.
wow both players have wrong links. doesn’t take that much to check you have it right when the breaking news post is less characters than a tweet
They use some tool to grab the profiles, and it can be wrong. Agreed that a quick double check should be applied.
Fewer characters
The real Henry ford?! 🤓
And the real Jose Ferrer?!
Henry Ford or Harry Ford?
This feels like the classic case of overvaluing a reliever simply because he’s a LHP with control and good analytics. Not like that doesn’t make sense, but for Ford? Too much to give up.
I knew Ford was way overranked but this is a ridiculous move
Could be an intentional overpay knowing Ford is at best playing 80-100 games of DH/catcher with Cal ahead of him and Luke Stevenson behind. But seems like they didn’t get enough in return.
That’s just silly IMO. Ford doesn’t have some expiration date, the guy turns 23 in a few months. Why would they have to use him or trade him now? Have him be in reserve and either use him later or trade him later. This feels like bias for action.
Ford + another player
I had some prospect fatigue on ford. He seemed overhyped his whole career even though they were pushing him hard through their system. He broken out last year ! He had a fantastic debut and looks like the real deal ! Great grab for the price, but Washington has Ruiz already and just traded away their closer 🤷♂️
Ruiz is garbo
Ruiz isn’t very good, and a team like Washington doesn’t need to focus on a closer right now, especially if they can get Ford in return.
Insane trade. Ferrer is not Miller, why he commands a top 50 prospect is insane.
Fleece by the Nats, plus they got another guy from the mariners too!
Jays gave up a decent prospect for Varland at the trade deadline. It doesn’t scream overpay by the Mariners but maybe the they don’t value Ford long term.
I’m losing trust in Jerry Dipoto again.
Have a huge asset you can’t give 100 games to… Because of an MVP runner up. So trade it for a commodity reliever you might find in your basement. What in the world. How does that make sense? I would have thought the offers for ford would have been…. Very substantial.
Solid move for the Nats to get a catcher after lack of production from Ruiz. Ferrer can be replaced easier than finding a potentially good catcher.
What are the Nats going to do with Ruiz? Highly overpaid backup catcher for the rest of the decade?
Nats fan here to give you my take. I don’t care if they have Ruiz hand out peanuts or clean lockers, as long as they don’t play him anymore.
Two concussions. It’s possible his days behind the dish are done.
You mean Harry Ford?
I was about to explode since I had no idea a Henry ford existed on the mariners
Wait it is actually Harry ford im exploding like Mount St. Helens what is special about a 4 era reliever
That was Harry Truman
Ferrer is actually far better than his stats indicate. The Mariners should be able to turn him into a high leverage back of the bullpen arm.
Charlie is having a rough time with this post.
surely there is more to the trade?
Because Mel Ferrer wasn’t available.
Neither was Miguel
They must all be at the family reunion.
Unless more players are involved, that’s kind of a BS trade for the M’s. More explanation, please.
How is there not more? Ford for a LHRP who’s mediocre but has a pulse?
Good for the Nats, I guess.
Feels light for Ford
Good lord… wrong link for Ferrer, and it’s HARRY Ford, not Henry Ford! (Right?! I mean, it has to be.)
Why would the Mariners trade Ford for a so-so reliever?
My trade grades:
Nationals: A+
Mariners: C=
The Mariners get a good bullpen arm, yes, but Ford is way to valuable, should’ve squeezed for more.
Agreed, Astros27.
Ford and a few other pieces would make sense for an Abrams + Ferrer package. But this is kinda crazy
Also, it’s Ford and another player heading to Washington.
As an Astros fan, I’m not completely sad or blown up. I really hate it when the teams just do some horrible trade. Like when Joey Loperfido, Jake Bloss, and Will Wagner for Yusei Kikuchi. I feel what the Seattle fans think. It’s going to take a toll on someone’s emotions.
That kikuchi trade was insane at the time, too. That was for a half a season, too. Ferrer is controllable but isn’t a starter so I don’t understand this package
That Kikuchi trade wasn’t/isn’t quite as bad as it seems.
The Astros got Yusei for one playoff drive and he was lights out dominant, giving them everything they could have asked for and more.
On the Jays side, Wagner was already traded away for a low value depth catching prospect.
Bloss has yet to appear in the majors for the Jays and is doing the Tommy John thing so his future outcome is still very much in the air.
Loperfido is going to be 27 next season and has looked good in the cups of coffee he gets but hasn’t got a proper look yet.
Nats are getting a top prospect for a closer.
For an average relief pitcher
Ferrer is a perfect fit for the Mariners bullpen. Has all the tools to be elite in Seattle and to go 70+ innings. This is a strong pick up. Its the cost of Ford that seems way too steep.
Wait what? That can’t be the whole trade. A middle reliever for Ford? There’s like 20 free agent relievers out there better than Ferrer. Maybe 30.
I hope we at least get another piece because ford is good enough to be a piece in a Mackenzie gore trade
Maybe no one had interest in coming to Seattle.
A trade for a reliever always felt inevitable considering the M’s only have about $15M left yo spend, abd most of that will go towards Polanco’s AAV if they are to retain him.
There better be a big shoe dropping on this, because this looks regrettable right from the get-go…
Wow. Seattle gets a bullpen arm. But what they gave up was too much. I’d be surprised if it’s all Seattle gets.
As of now, Nats get an A+, Seattle gets C= for this trade.
What’s a C=?
I would think that Ford would bring more back than that. Top prospect for a reliever? Seems a little crazy to me.
Before everyone thinks Seattle traded a HOFer, Ford is still unproven in MLB. He may well wash out like Dustin Ackley and Evan White.
He likely will be Mike Piazza
More like a Craig biggio
There is no shot he will be like Piazza. I think he will be a high contact low power guy that will get moved to LF shortly. I don’t see a future for Ford behind the plate without drastic improvement.
This could be said of every prospect traded, ever.
I would’ve traded him for a DH/4th outfielder like Mike Morse, Jack Cust.
-Jack Zduriencik
Great trade by Seattle Mariners, get another lefty reliever, only cost Harry Ford who will get more playing time with Nationals as they will suck in 2026 as it a rebuilding process they are on so let see what Harry Ford can do with more playing time.
Jerry Dipoto, is this you?
I used to date this hairdresser whose Pinto was always a mess. A real hairy Ford.
Don’t love it from a value perspective. If the money saved is spent on one high-level or two good-level bats, I’ll feel better about it.
I agree on this completely. On paper it looks like an overpay by the M’s. But if this is how they are addressing the back end of their bullpen and then gonna spend somewhere else, then it will make a lot more sense in that context.
This feels like a massive overpay. I am a huge Ferrer guy but Ford seems like a steep price
April Fools….????
Not on my Bingo card for the Mariners. Jose Ferrer is 25 years old, A lefty (which the M’s need), a workhorse (#9 in the MLB in overall innings last year at 76 innings) and throws 97-100 MPH. He was the Nationals Closer but seems like not enough for Harry Ford. I was hoping for A Harry Ford/B. Lowe deal with the Rays, Who need a catcher. I hope that we are getting more back than Ferrer….A Lefty Relief Pitcher who throws 98 mPH is needed but for Ford? And are we running Mitch Garver back for $2..5-3 million or something as our back up Catcher? He does know our staff very well. The initial trade news seems light and I hope there is another player coming the M’s way in this deal…
Could they not have given the reds this type of deal…
Reds didn’t need a high prospect catcher.
They 100% do, they have one decent catching prospect and Stevenson will be gone next year and Trevino the year after that. Plus Stevenson could’ve been traded to make some salary for a real bat
Very questionable decision by the Ms front office.
Mariners fans need to accept that ford isn’t really that valued outside of our organization. I like the Trade the metrics on ferrer are bonkers
Uhhhh He better be lights out…… I think this is an overpay but Mariners have been able to max out relievers in the past-and this better be that.
Wow. I am shocked there wasn’t a better offer out there.
Come on. Its not as if they traded Yogi Berra. Let us all see how this plays out. Ferrer can be maddening at times but he can also be electric. On a team like the Mainers they may be able to figure him out, Washington, on the other hand was not strong in player development. Ford may be a good prospect, but so was Ruiz and that hasnt woked out.
Like you said, the previous regime was deficient at player development. Now they’re overhauling their front office in addition to the scouts, trainers and medical personnel. So the fact that they were able to leverage Ferrer into an obvious overpay bodes well for their ability to develop Ford. Just my hot take.
Not sure if this is worse than the trade the Red Sox made but probably.
Ford unlike “The Password” is actually more than just BA hype with average tools and stats.
None of Ferrer’s stats or metrics justify this trade. He’s pre-arb-eligible, so he’s cheap, but that’s about it. Ford could have (should have) been part of a bigger deal for a bat at 2B or 3B, or even a better LHP (Matt Strahm). I would have re-signed Caleb Ferguson before trading for Ferrer. Now M’s have to fill the backup C role. Bad grade for Jerry on this one.
Nats get a potential starting C out of the deal, so they did well.
We have ben williamson, colt emerson, cole young to round out the infield with Naylor. Why would we trade for a infield player? We have one more year of JP.
A hard throwing lefty that is pre arbitration that has a high groundball rating with a sinker that is 97.2 mph for one prospective catcher and starting pitcher that was drafted this year.
Id take this deal.
As someone who’s aware of the player we acquired… SPEIER is Twice as good as this Guy… he’s ALL Fastball and panics Nats defintely Swindled M’s in this trade by FAR
Isn’t trading in a Ferrer for a Ford a downgrade?
Wait WTH 😂😂
Wow. For Ford? And they added another prospect too? I was greedily hoping the Cardinals could get Ford in a deal for Donovan/Romero and re-route him to a catching-needy team, but he apparently doesn’t have that type of value.
Dipoto has done something there. I wish he and scioscia could have gotten along. In a past life jerry had Mike beheaded. Dipoto gets good relievers.
Seattle is sending another SPer to Washington Isaac Lyon. Not a big name but there has to be more coming back. I always thought they needed to trade Ford but to give 2 players away for him is too much.
Raleigh gets hurt you won’t be thinking we always needed to trade ford
Ford is a better player than Ruiz.
Love this! Maybe the Nats will resign Finnegan to close.
Maybe but also the Nats don’t need a lights out closer.
Harry Ford has no shot in Seattle and like most MLB, they all over value there prospects..
Cal is the starter and mariners could very well sign some veterans guys to minor league contracts to compete for backup.. No thanks on old man Garver
Cal needs to CATCH LESS… he always FADES end of the Year…
Seems like Toboni thinks their development gurus can do something with Lyon too.
Jason Varitek 2.0
Classic CHEAP Mariners ownership 💯 plenty of power arms available if they’d OPEN their CHECKBOOK… watch FORD win NL ROY in Classic Mariners Fashion… SMH
Well he wasn’t doing it with the Mariners anyway so who cares tbh.
I have to assume the Mariners don’t think about Ford as highly as they used to? Ford could have caught and played some outfield in 2026.
This also makes the Ruiz extension look even worse.
Henry Ford is still alive? Oh wait…
Jonah Heim coming the Mariners way? He has been a Mariners slayer at times and he is a switch hitter….
I see the Mariners are back to their old ways of getting fleeced in trades.
Y’all jump on these writers way too much. When you try to get the news out ASAP, mistakes will happen and they constantly tweak their articles. Holy jeez.
Anyhoo, Ford was blocked here, is it an overpay for Ferrer, maybe? But the dude closed from the left side so that’s nothing to scoff at. Makes the M’s bullpen that much better. Still…probably an overpay, but I get it here.
The interest in Ferrer isn’t surpring. They wanted a lefty, they like good sinkers, and he can be used in leverage situations.
But the arb years for Ford? Seattle must be confident they can make adjustments and get real dominance from Ferrer.
Ford’s lack of power was going to limit his trade value, but I would have expected more than this.
Also a little shocked because the Mariners seemed to have invested in Ford at the end of this past season and brought him up to be a part of things in the playoff run in September and to seemingly get assimilated for the 2026 season….Maybe they had some concerns after seeing him everyday in BP, fielding practice, etc.
I wish the reds were in on him. Move on from Stevenson
I am shocked they valued Ford so low…..I hope Raleigh doesn’t get hurt. So now we have some retread catching once a week when Ford could catch often and DH Raleigh
Welp, now I’m worried about next year’s M’s team.
This guy???
cdn.britannica.com/13/77113-004-56996D81/Jose-Ferr…
Crazy overpay for a reliever IMHO. Bullpen arms are so damn volatile and to give up one of the best C prospects in the game is crazy. Ford is probably overrated yes, but that’s still a lot to give up here.