Chris Flexen

White Sox Sign Chris Flexen To One-Year Deal

By Anthony Franco | December 29, 2023 at 7:14pm CDT

The White Sox are reportedly in agreement with right-hander Chris Flexen on a one-year, $1.75MM guarantee. There are an additional $1MM in incentives available for the O’Connell Sports Management client.

Flexen lands a big league deal despite a frustrating 2023 campaign. The 29-year-old opened the season in long relief with the Mariners, starting four of 17 appearances. He couldn’t find any rhythm, battling significant home run issues en route to a 7.71 ERA in 42 innings. The M’s designated him for assignment in early July, trading him to the Mets alongside reliever Trevor Gott.

New York only wanted Gott from that deal, agreeing to assume the nearly $4MM remaining on Flexen’s $8MM contract in the process. The Mets immediately released him. Flexen signed a minor league deal with Colorado and returned to the majors after two starts in Triple-A.

Making seven of 12 starts at Coors Field is a tough assignment for a pitcher looking for a rebound opportunity. Flexen continued to struggle (both at home and in his five road outings), posting a 6.27 ERA over 60 1/3 innings as a Rockie. Between Seattle and Colorado, he allowed a 6.86 ERA through 102 1/3 frames. Among pitchers to reach 100 innings, only Adam Wainwright and Joey Wentz allowed earned runs at a higher rate. The longball was the biggest contributor, as his 2.20 home runs per nine was the highest in the majors.

Flexen returned to free agency at season’s end despite having less than six years of MLB service. That’s common for players who sign a major league deal after a stint in a foreign pro league, as he did during the 2020-21 offseason after one year in the Korea Baseball Organization. Flexen will be a free agent again next winter despite still not reaching the six-year threshold.

It’s difficult to find many positives in Flexen’s 2023 performance, but he was an effective pitcher for Seattle over the preceding two years. Initially signed to a two-year, $4.5MM guarantee by Seattle, Flexen combined for a 3.66 ERA while starting 53 of his 64 appearances. His 16.5% strikeout rate over that stretch was well below-average, but he limited walks and did a much better job keeping the ball in the park. Flexen looked like a serviceable back-end starter two seasons ago.

The Sox will take a low-cost flier on a rebound, continuing an offseason of inexpensive depth pickups for first-year general manager Chris Getz. The Sox have also signed Tim Hill and Paul DeJong to one-year deals and agreed to terms with Martín Maldonado on a $4MM pact. Chicago rolled the dice on veteran catcher Max Stassi in a trade that paid his salary down to the league minimum. Their only multi-year pickup thus far was a two-year, $15MM deal for KBO returnee Erick Fedde.

Fedde has a rotation spot secure. Dylan Cease would be the Opening Day starter if the Sox don’t trade him this offseason. Michael Kopech and Michael Soroka project for middle-of-the-rotation roles, while Jared Shuster, Jesse Scholtens and Touki Toussaint could battle for jobs at the back end. Flexen steps into that fifth starter/long relief competition.

Chicago’s payroll is up to roughly $150MM, according to Roster Resource. That’s nowhere near last year’s $181MM Opening Day mark, although the Sox might not match that spending level as they rework the team. The 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll need to make two corresponding moves when they finalize the unofficial pickups of Flexen and Maldonado.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the White Sox and Flexen had agreed to a one-year deal. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported the $1.75MM guarantee and $1MM in performance bonuses.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rockies Select Chris Flexen

By Anthony Franco | July 29, 2023 at 5:30pm CDT

July 29: The Rockies have now officially selected Flexen, optioning Gavin Hollowell in a corresponding move. They already had a couple of vacancies on their 40-man roster, which is now at 39.

July 28: The Rockies will promote right-hander Chris Flexen to start tomorrow’s game against the A’s, tweets Luke Zahlmann of the Denver Gazette. Colorado will have to formally select his contract, as Flexen isn’t yet on the 40-man roster.

Flexen landed with the Rockies on a minor league deal two weeks ago. It was a good landing spot for the veteran, who’d been cut loose by the Mariners and Mets in rapid succession. The path back to the majors was easy to see with a Rockies’ club navigating a brutal stretch of injury luck in the starting staff.

Those health issues continued, as Colorado placed Chase Anderson on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation this afternoon. Anderson has held a spot in the Rox’s rotation since being claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay in the second week of May. The 35-year-old has a 6.08 ERA through 14 appearances.

Flexen, 29, has spent the bulk of the year in the bullpen. He started four of 17 outings for Seattle, struggling to a 7.71 ERA across 42 innings. Flexen had been quite a bit better for the M’s in the preceding two seasons. He combined for a 3.66 ERA through 317 1/3 frames between 2021-22. His 16.5% strikeout percentage was below average, but Flexen kept his walks to a modest 6.8% clip.

The Mets agreed to take on what remains of his salary a few weeks ago as a means of acquiring reliever Trevor Gott from Seattle. Colorado will only pay Flexen the prorated amount of the $720K minimum salary for as long as he’s on the MLB roster. He’s headed back to free agency at year’s end but could use the next couple months as an audition for a spot in the 2024 rotation. Colorado’s rotation outlook for next season essentially consists only of Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber at present. If Flexen can find some early success, it stands to reason the Rockies could have interest in re-signing him next winter.

Rockies To Sign Chris Flexen

By Steve Adams | July 13, 2023 at 9:00am CDT

The Rockies have agreed to a deal with free-agent righty Chris Flexen, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. The O’Connell Sports client will join Colorado’s Triple-A rotation in Albuquerque for the time being and provide the Rox with some much-needed starting pitching depth.

Flexen, 29, was designated for assignment by the Mariners earlier in the month and went through an unusual cycle that saw him traded to the Mets and immediately designated for assignment a second time. The Mets took on the remainder of Flexen’s $8MM salary as a means of effectively purchasing reliever Trevor Gott from Seattle but weren’t interested in retaining Flexen themselves; he was released a few days after that second DFA.

Originally drafted by the Mets in 2012, Flexen never found his footing in his first several looks at the big league level but broke out overseas in the Korea Baseball Organization, thriving with the Doosan Bears in 2020. His lone season of KBO excellence (3.01 ERA in 116 2/3 innings) was enough for the Mariners to sign him to a two-year, $4.75MM deal the following offseason.

Flexen made good on that investment during his first two seasons in Seattle, logging a tidy 3.66 ERA in 317 1/3 innings, mostly working out of Seattle’s rotation. He was pushed to the bullpen following the 2022 trade deadline, when the Mariners acquired Luis Castillo, but generally continued pitching well in a relief setting. Even with that move to shorter stints, Flexen’s combined workload from 2021-22 was enough to trigger an $8MM vesting option for the 2023 season.

Heading into the 2023 campaign, Flexen was locked in as the Mariners’ long reliever and sixth starter — not because of his own performance but simply due to the depth the M’s had in the rotation. He quickly returned to the rotation after Robbie Ray required season-ending flexor surgery and a UCL repair, but things haven’t gone well for Flexen in any role this year. He appeared in 17 games — just four of them starts — and was tagged for a grisly 7.71 earned run average.

Flexen’s 3.66 ERA from 2021-22 never quite lined up with his below-average 16.5% strikeout rate, but a downturn of this magnitude still couldn’t have been expected. He’s been extraordinarily homer-prone this year (2.36 per nine innings) and has seen his generally strong command trend to worse-than-average levels as well (9.7% walk rate). That said, Flexen has also been plagued by a .350 average on balls in play, and his staggering 21.6% homer-to-flyball rate is sure to regress closer to his career 10% mark (though pitching in Colorado or Albuquerque likely won’t help that cause).

The Rockies aren’t in a position to be particularly picky with their rotation at the moment. Colorado entered the year with a suspect rotation in the first place and has seen the vast majority of its starters hit the injured list or perform poorly enough to be cut loose. Right-hander Jose Urena was released less than two months into the season despite signing a guaranteed $3.5MM deal over the winter. German Marquez underwent Tommy John surgery on May 12. Antonio Senzatela returned from last year’s torn ACL early in the season but lasted just two starts before being shut down with an elbow strain; he’s on the 60-day injured list at the moment. Young righty Ryan Feltner suffered a skull fracture in mid-May when he was hit by a Nick Castellanos comebacker. He thankfully avoided a more catastrophic injury but, like Senzatela, is on the 60-day IL and hasn’t pitched in two months.

Lefty Kyle Freeland was the lone member of the team’s Opening Day rotation who looked like he’d make it through the first half of the season unscathed — until he suffered a dislocated right (non-throwing) shoulder in the team’s final game before the All-Star break. He’ll quite likely head to the injured list himself.

In the wake of that staggering slate of injuries, the Rockies are left with a patchwork starting pitching staff that’s in dire need of reinforcements. Flexen may be bound for Triple-A right now, but that seems like it could be a short-term stay. Colorado’s only healthy starters at the moment are lefty Austin Gomber, righty Chase Anderson — another veteran acquired amid this wave of injuries — and right-hander Connor Seabold. They’ve taken looks at younger and less-experienced arms like Peter Lambert, Karl Kauffmann and Noah Davis this season, but none have performed well. On the whole, Rockies starters have “overtaken” the A’s for the worst ERA in baseball, currently sitting at a disastrous 6.47 mark in that regard.

There’s a clear path back to the Majors for Flexen in Colorado — perhaps clearer than with any other club that might’ve had interest. The Rays, for instance, were linked to Flexen over the weekend but have a deeper staff. There’s a short-term opening in Tampa Bay’s rotation, but it’s plenty feasible that as they get healthier, Flexen would again be pushed out. While pitching his home games at Coors Field certainly isn’t an enviable task, Flexen surely recognized the broader opportunity to settle back into a consistent starting role in Colorado and the staying power it presents. Even if his struggles continue, the Rockies will likely welcome a veteran innings eater to simply patch things over in the season’s final months. And, as the previously mentioned Urena demonstrated last year when he was acquired under relatively similar circumstances, if he handles that role well the Rockies could well be open to re-signing him on a guaranteed deal.

For now, Flexen will build up in Albuquerque and wait for a spot in the big leagues, but that opportunity could — and very likely will — present itself before long.

Rays Interested In Chris Flexen

By Nick Deeds | July 9, 2023 at 8:12am CDT

The Rays have interest in right-hander Chris Flexen, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin notes that familiarity with Tom O’Connell, Flexen’s agent who’s based in Tampa and also represents offseason signing Zach Eflin, could give the Rays a leg up in a potential pursuit of Flexen. The right-hander was released by the Mets last week shortly after the club acquired him from the Mariners alongside Trevor Gott.

Flexen came into the 2023 season looking like a solid swingman or a serviceable back-end rotation arm. Across the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, Flexen posted a 3.66 ERA (8% better than league average by measure of ERA+) with 4.15 FIP in 317 1/3 innings of work. He appeared in 64 games during that time, starting 53 of them and finishing the other 11. While those results were certainly solid, his 16.5% strikeout rate left something to be desired even when paired with his excellent 6.8% walk rate.

Unfortunately, the wheels have come off for Flexen in 2023; in 42 innings of work this season, the righty has allowed a ghastly 7.71 ERA. That number surely has some bad luck factored into it. Flexen’s BABIP is a whopping .350 this season, far above his career mark of .303, and he’s allowed 21.6% of his flyballs to leave the yard for home runs. Not only is that a huge spike over his career mark, which stood at 10% entering the 2023 campaign, but it comes as Flexen’s underlying batted ball data is largely improved over last year. His barrel rate has dropped from 9% last year to 8.1% in 2023. In addition, he’s generating more groundballs and soft contact than last year, while allowing fewer flyballs and less hard contact.

Of course, everything about Flexen’s difficult season can’t be simply chalked up to bad luck. His walk rate has jumped all the way up to 9.7% while his strikeout rate has dipped to just 14.8% in 2023, leaving him with a K-BB% of just 5.1%, bottom ten in the majors among those with at least 40 innings pitched this season. Of the nine pitchers below Flexen, just two are having an average or better season by measure of ERA-.

Still, given Flexen’s improved contact numbers and seemingly fluky home run rate, it’s not hard to see why the Rays would have interest in the 28-year-old righty. The club announced yesterday that right-hander Drew Rasmussen won’t return in 2023, joining Jeffrey Springs in missing the rest of the current campaign. Lefty Shane McClanahan is also currently on the injured list, and the Rays have little in the way of depth beyond their current starting four of Tyler Glasnow, Eflin, Taj Bradley, and Yonny Chirinos.

In addition, the Rays are well known for being able to maximize the performance of pitchers who had once been on the fringe of big league rosters. Jason Adam owned a career ERA of 4.71 in 78 1/3 innings with the Royals, Blue Jays, and Cubs before joining the Rays in 2022. Since then, Adam has become a fixture at the back of the club’s bullpen with a 2.08 ERA and 3.39 FIP in 99 2/3 innings of work.

What’s more, Tampa has plenty of experience working with pitchers who have similar K-BB% issues to Flexen. Of the aforementioned nine players with lower K-BB% figures than the righty, two of them- Chirinos and Josh Fleming– are current Rays. Chirinos is having the best season of the entire group, with a 3.88 ERA in 58 innings of work. Fleming meanwhile, has by far the best advanced metrics of the group with a 4.62 xFIP and 4.80 SIERA. Every other pitcher in the group sports a figure above 5.00 in both categories.

Considering Tampa’s need for additional starting pitching depth and their success in working with pitchers who sport a similar profile to Flexen as recently as this season, it’s no wonder the Rays have interest in Flexen’s services. Of course, only time will tell if the sides will ultimately be able to come together on a deal. Flexen is still due $3.9MM from the Mets on his current contract, meaning that any club who signs him would only be on the hook for a prorated portion of the big league minimum.

Mets Release Chris Flexen

By Darragh McDonald | July 6, 2023 at 5:50pm CDT

The Mets announced to reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday, that right-hander Chris Flexen has been released.

Flexen, 29, was designated for assignment by the Mariners just over a week ago amid a frustrating season. He posted a 7.71 ERA in 42 innings for Seattle, leading to him losing his roster spot. He was then flipped to the Mets in what amounted to a salary dump for the M’s. Flexen is making $8MM this year and still has almost half of that to be paid out, but the Mets agreed to take that on in order to acquire right-hander Trevor Gott. They promptly designated Flexen for assignment again and have now released him.

Normally, players with less than five years of service time can’t reject an outright assignment while retaining their salary. But players coming from international leagues often get language in their contract to circumvent the normal service time rules and MLBTR confirmed that Flexen could not be sent to the minors without his consent, which prompted this release.

The Mets will remain on the hook for what remains of that money for the rest of the season. Any of the 29 other clubs could sign him and would only be responsible for paying him the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.

Although he’s undeniably struggled this year, Flexen could garner interest based on his previous work. In 2020, he headed to Korea to pitch for the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization. He posted a 3.01 ERA over 21 starts there and parlayed that into a two-year deal with the Mariners that came with a $4.75MM guarantee. Over 2021 and 2022, he tossed 317 1/3 innings with a 3.66 ERA, triggering an $8MM vesting option for 2023 in the process.

With various clubs around the league dealing with injuries to their pitching staffs, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of them give Flexen a shot to recapture his previous form, especially considering it would come with essentially no financial risk.

Mariners Trade Trevor Gott, Chris Flexen To Mets; Mets Designate Flexen For Assignment

By Steve Adams | July 3, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

The Mets added to their bullpen Monday afternoon, acquiring Trevor Gott from the Mariners. New York also acquired Chris Flexen, whom they immediately designated for assignment. Seattle receives lefty reliever Zach Muckenhirn, whom New York had designated for assignment earlier today. The Mets transferred righty Edwin Uceta to the 60-day injured list to clear roster space for Gott.

New York is taking on a decent amount of money to plug Gott into the bullpen. They’re reportedly assuming the remainder of the contracts for both Flexen, whom Seattle had designated for assignment last week, and Gott. That’s about $3.9MM for Flexen and about $587K for Gott.

Originally a Mets draftee back in 2012, Flexen found success overseas pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization and returned to North American ball on a two-year deal with the Mariners. He made good on Seattle’s modest investment, pitching to a sharp 3.66 ERA in 317 1/3 innings over the first two seasons of the contract. Flexen worked primarily as a starter — though he was dropped to the ’pen last year after the Mariners’ acquisition of Luis Castillo — and shouldered a heavy enough workload that he triggered an $8MM vesting option for the current season.

While Flexen didn’t have a rotation spot heading into the season, he was locked in as a long reliever and sixth starter — the first man up in the event of a rotation injury. The Mariners incurred such an injury early in the season when Robbie Ray went down with an arm injury that eventually resulted in Tommy John surgery. Flexen, however, scuffled in the rotation when attempting to fill that void and hasn’t generated good results in the bullpen either. He’s appeared in 17 games for the Mariners and logged an ugly 7.71 ERA over the course of 42 innings.

Flexen’s 3.66 ERA from 2021-22 never quite lined up with his pedestrian strikeout rate (just north of 16%), but a downturn of this magnitude still couldn’t have been expected. He’s been extraordinarily homer-prone this year (2.36 per nine innings) but has also been plagued by a .350 average on balls in play.

The Mets’ willingness to take on the remainder of his salary will effectively allow them to purchase the veteran Gott in the midst of a solid year with Seattle. The 30-year-old Gott has thus far posted a pedestrian 4.03 ERA but with much stronger secondary marks: 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate, 0.62 HR/9, 42.5% ground-ball rate, 3.01 FIP, 3.47 SIERA. He’ll give the Mets an experienced middle relief option to help bridge the gap to veterans David Robertson and Adam Ottavino.

Gott is also still controllable through the 2024 season via arbitration. If he pitches well for the remainder of the season, he’d be owed a raise on this year’s $1.2MM salary but would still be highly affordable — especially for a high-payroll club like the Mets.

The whole gambit underscores Mets owner Steve Cohen’s willingness to spend. Not only are the Mets taking on about $4.5MM in total salary, they’ll also pay a 90% tax given their status as luxury tax payors who are in the newly created fourth tier of penalization. It boils down to a roughly $8.55MM in additional spending — a fairly stunning number to acquire a journeyman reliever.

It’s also surely a frustrating series of events for Flexen. He’s already spent a week in DFA limbo wondering where he’ll land, and he’ll now restart that process. The Mets could quickly place him on waivers rather than taking the maximum five days to do so, but it’s hardly a direct trip through the DFA process.

MLBTR confirmed with a source last week that Flexen can reject an outright assignment and retain his salary, despite the fact that he doesn’t have five years of Major League service time. That’s attributable to the nature of the contract he signed when returning from the KBO, which also stipulates that he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent and that he would become a free agent at the deal’s conclusion despite being shy of six years of MLB service.

Because of that contract, Flexen will become a free agent if the Mets aren’t able to find a trade partner of their own. Barring a trade, Flexen will hit waivers and surely clear, as other clubs aren’t going to want to be on the hook for that $3.9MM or so in salary. Once he clears, a new team would be able to sign him and only owe Flexen the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. The Mets would remain on the hook for the rest of that salary.

As for the Mariners, they’ll save more than $4.5MM on that pair of relievers and also add an optionable lefty in the 28-year-old Muckenhirn. The southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Mets over the winter and made his big league debut earlier this season. He’s tallied six innings in the Majors, yielding four runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks with three strikeouts.

Muckenhirn’s work in Triple-A has produced far better results. He boasts a sensational 0.88 ERA in 30 2/3 frames, although his 15.7% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate don’t exactly support that minuscule number. Muckenhirn has induced grounders at a hearty 50% clip, but he’s also benefited from a .230 average on balls in play and a mammoth 95.2% strand rate in Triple-A so far. He’ll give the Mariners a third left-handed bullpen option on the 40-man roster, joining Tayler Saucedo and Gabe Speier in that regard.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the Mets were acquiring Flexen and Gott for Muckenhirn. Andy Martino of SNY was first to report the Mets planned to designate Flexen for assignment. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the Mets were assuming the remainder of Flexen’s and Gott’s deals.

Mariners Designate Chris Flexen For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | June 27, 2023 at 2:55pm CDT

2:55pm: MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports that Flexen can reject an outright assignment while retaining his whole salary. Unless the Mariners work out a trade in the next week, he will almost certainly wind up on the open market.

2:10pm: The Mariners announced that right-hander Trevor Gott has been reinstated from the injured list with fellow righty Chris Flexen designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Flexen losing his roster spot is totally unsurprising given his results this season but it’s a shocking turn of events compared to where things stood just a few months ago. After a successful stint in the KBO in 2020, Flexen returned to North America by signing a two-year deal with the Mariners, with an option for 2023 as well.

The guaranteed portion of that agreement went quite well, with Flexen tossing 317 1/3 innings over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.66 ERA. His 16.5% strikeout rate in that time wasn’t especially strong, but his 6.8% walk rate showed strong control. He also did a good job keeping the ball from going over the fence, as his 8.8% home run per fly ball rate was third-best in the league among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitcher. His pitcher-friendly ballpark may have had an impact but his 3.75 road ERA was only slightly higher than his 3.57 mark at T-Mobile Park.

The 2023 option on his contract could be vested at $8MM if Flexen tossed 300 innings over the first two years, which he did. With the M’s having five other rotation options in Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert and Marco Gonzales, that led to Flexen getting interest in trade talks over the offseason.

The Mariners ultimately held onto Flexen for some extra rotation depth, which seemed like a wise move when Ray quickly landed on the injured list and eventually required Tommy John surgery. Unfortunately, Flexen couldn’t step up and take the open rotation spot, getting torched for a 10.38 ERA in four starts before getting bumped back to the bullpen.

His next five outings were scoreless but he’s allowed at least one earned run in his past seven appearances. Whatever skill or luck he previously deployed to prevent home runs has eluded him this year, as he’s already given up 11 long balls, leading to a 21.6% HR/FB rate that’s more than double his clip from the previous two campaigns. Overall, he has a 7.71 ERA on the year in 42 innings, which has bumped him off Seattle’s roster.

The Mariners will now have a week to trade Flexen or pass him through waivers. He garnered interest over the winter and some of those clubs could now circle back, especially with so many pitching injuries throughout the league, though Flexen’s poor results this season will obviously tamp down whatever trade value he previously had. With approximately $4.1MM still remaining on his contract, the M’s would surely have to swallow some or all of that in order to facilitate a deal.

As for the waiver route, that will be an interesting factor here. Normally, players with more than three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency, but they require five years of service to do so while retaining their salary. Assuming those normal rules apply and Flexen goes on to clear waivers, he obviously wouldn’t leave that money on the table and would therefore stick in the Mariners’ organization as depth. However, players coming from stints in other countries like Japan, Korea or Cuba often have language in their contracts that allows them to circumvent the normal service time rules. For instance, MLBTR confirmed this winter that Flexen would become a free agent after 2023 even though he would be well shy of six years’ of service time. Whether the M’s can potentially keep Flexen as depth or not will have an impact on how much they are willing to trade him.

Mariners Notes: Rodriguez, McGee, Flexen, Hernandez

By Mark Polishuk | April 29, 2023 at 7:27pm CDT

Julio Rodriguez left today’s game due to lower back tightness, with manager Scott Servais telling reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer) that Rodriguez started feeling discomfort after a stolen base in the third inning. The outfielder remained in the game until AJ Pollock replaced Rodriguez in center field before the bottom of the sixth, but the Mariners opted to be a little cautious with the young star.

The injury doesn’t appear to be serious, as Servais indicated that Rodriguez might potentially be back in the lineup tomorrow. However, the Mariners have an off-day on Monday before facing the A’s on Tuesday, so the team might opt to give Rodriguez “a couple days down, [so] he will be okay when we go over to Oakland,” Servais said.

As Kramer notes, Rodriguez also dealt with lower back problems near the end of the last season, which ultimately resulted in a 10-day IL placement. That decision was made in part to get Rodriguez healthy prior to the playoffs, and he was able to return just before the end of the regular season prior to hitting .217/.357/.435 over 28 plate appearances during Seattle’s postseason run.

Rodriguez’s presence might have made a difference late in today’s 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays in 10 innings. One bright spot for the M’s was the performance of surprise starter Easton McGee, who allowed just one hit and one walk over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. McGee held Toronto hitless until his final batter faced, when Matt Chapman lined a double to center field to end the unlikely no-hit bid.

Chris Flexen had initially been slated to start on Saturday, but the Mariners instead called McGee up from Triple-A prior to the game. Going into the season, Flexen was projected to work as a reliever, but a spot in the rotation opened up when Robbie Ray was sidelined with a flexor tendon injury that ended up requiring a season-ending surgery. Unfortunately for Flexen, he hasn’t risen to the occasion, with a 10.38 ERA over 17 1/3 innings in four starts as Ray’s replacement.

In addition to Monday’s off-day, the Mariners are also off on May 11 and May 18, giving the team some opportunity to reset their rotation multiple times. As a result, the M’s might only need a fifth starter twice within the next three-plus weeks. It would certainly seem like McGee has earned another look, but whether it’s McGee, Flexen, or another pitcher used as the fifth starter, the Mariners will get some time to evaluate and prepare for the longer-term question of how they’ll replace Ray.

McGee was making his first Major League start and just his second career appearance in the Show, after debuting with three innings of relief work (allowing four hits and one unearned run) as a member of the Rays in their 3-1 loss to the Astros on October 2, 2022. Tampa opted to designate McGee for assignment after that game, with the Red Sox quickly claiming the right-hander off waivers. The Mariners then acquired McGee in a trade for cash considerations in November.

A fourth-round pick for the Rays in the 2016 draft, McGee isn’t a hard thrower or much of a strikeout pitcher, with a modest 17.47% strikeout rate over 485 1/3 career innings in the minors. McGee worked to a 4.30 ERA over his minor league career by inducing a lot of grounders and avoiding walks, though his walk rate with Triple-A Tacoma this year has risen to a still-solid 7.6%. McGee largely struggled at Triple-A Durham in 2022, but he has done much better with the Mariners’ top affiliate, with a 3.14 ERA over 28 2/3 innings for Tacoma in 2023.

This weekend’s series marked Teoscar Hernandez’s first time in Toronto since the November trade that sent him from the Jays to the Mariners. Interestingly, M’s president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath and Corey Brock that Hernandez might have come to Seattle much earlier, as “most of the work we did on the Teoscar trade actually happened in Spring Training before the [2022] season began. We tried so hard to pick him up before the season started and talked through a lot of players.”

It makes for an interesting what-if, as Hernandez being dealt prior to the season might have greatly changed the trajectory for two teams that reached the postseason (and faced each other in the Wild Card Series). For Seattle, it could be that the M’s pivoted to the Eugenio Suarez/Jesse Winker trade with the Reds after not reaching an agreement with Toronto over Hernandez, or perhaps DiPoto’s front office might have even explored adding Hernandez in addition to the two former Cincinnati players. That would’ve made for a crowded outfield in Seattle, but it’s possible the Mariners might have sent one or two of those excess outfielders to the Blue Jays as part of a projected Hernandez swap. Erik Swanson may have still be part of such a trade but likely not as the primary piece, given how Swanson hadn’t yet had his 2022 breakout season, and Hernandez would’ve commanded a higher trade ask since he had two remaining years of arbitration control.

AL Notes: Alvarez, Torres, Flexen

By Nick Deeds | February 28, 2023 at 9:52pm CDT

Astros GM Dana Brown discussed star slugger Yordan Alvarez’s health during an appearance on an ESPN game broadcast today, telling ESPN broadcasters that “He should definitely be back for Opening Day. His hands were a little sore. He had some of that last year, but we feel totally confident that he’ll be in games somewhere midway through (Spring Training). But he’s already feeling a lot better.”

The news that Alvarez should be ready for opening day is surely a relief for Astros fans, as the slugger is among the most important players in the star-studded Astros lineup that took home a World Series championship in 2022. Alvarez hit an astonishing .306/.406/.613 with 37 home runs in just 135 games last season. By measure of wRC+, Alvarez was 85% better than the league average hitter in 2022, a fantastic figure only topped by reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge last year.

As Brown mentioned, Alvarez dealt with hand issues throughout the 2022 season, going on the injured list in July and missing time with the issue occasionally throughout the season. Those issues clearly did not hamper his production in 2022, so the fact that Alvarez is not expected to miss time to open the regular season is an encouraging development as he looks to follow up on a season that cemented him among the best hitters in the entire sport and the Astros look to hold off the Mariners, Angels, and Rangers in an AL West that should see all four clubs vying for playoff spots this season. That being said, the situation will remain one to keep an eye on until Alvarez returns to game action, as he’s currently slated to do next month.

Poll: Will The Mariners Trade Chris Flexen?

By Steve Adams | February 8, 2023 at 9:49pm CDT

Early in the offseason, it looked as though there was a good chance the Mariners would move one of their two candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation. The quartet of Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby create a standout set of options in slots one through four, and Seattle has a pair of solid back-of-the-rotation options in Marco Gonzales and Chris Flexen. Behind that duo, prospects like Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller and Taylor Dollard have all reached Double-A and enjoyed success there, placing them within reasonable proximity of MLB readiness. Miller, in particular, cracked the back of some top-100 lists this year, landing 74th on Kiley McDaniel’s list at ESPN, 98th at MLB.com and 100th at Baseball America.

It’s a strong collection of depth, and the presence of Miller, Hancock and Dollard seemed like it could be enough to sway the Mariners to move one of Flexen or Gonzales. Flexen, as a free agent next offseason* with a palatable $8MM salary — compared to the $18.5MM still owed to Gonzales through 2024 — seemed to be the likeliest candidate. That’s true not only from an on-paper standpoint, but also when considering that president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto plainly acknowledged in November that he’d been receiving trade interest in Flexen at the annual general managers’ meetings.

(*=There seems to be some continued confusion regarding this, as Flexen won’t have six years of Major League service time after the season, but MLBTR has confirmed that he will become a free agent next winter, as is the case with the vast majority of KBO/NPB signees whose free agent contracts expire.)

The Mariners, however, were never going to give Flexen away just to shed his salary, and the fact that he remains with the club is a clear indicator that another club has yet to put forth an offer Dipoto & Co. felt was commensurate with Flexen’s value. The extent of that value is subjective, but Flexen would be a clear upgrade to the back of several teams’ rotations.

Since returning from a successful one-year stint in the Korea Baseball Organization, he’s pitched to a 3.66 ERA in 317 2/3 innings. Granted, his 92.4 mph average fastball and 16.5% strikeout rate are below average, but Flexen also has sharp command (6.8% walk rate). He keeps lefties in check with the help of an above-average changeup and has generally done a good job keeping the ball in the yard since his MLB return. Flexen has benefited slightly from a pitcher-friendly home environment, but his numbers away from T-Mobile Park (3.75 ERA, 1.12 HR/9) are only slightly worse than those compiled when pitching at home in Seattle (3.57 ERA, 0.91 HR/9).

Because Flexen’s numbers were superior to those of Gonzales across the board, some argued that Gonzales should be the odd man out, despite his relatively lengthy tenure with the club. Gonzales is nearly three years older, however, has more than double the money remaining on his contract. Flexen’s trade value was and is higher, and while he alone wouldn’t have fetched a substantial upgrade to the Seattle lineup, he could certainly have been included in a package that worked toward that endgame.

Now, however, the majority of the teams around the game have exhausted the bulk of their offseason budget and filled the rotation vacancies that existed early in the winter. That ostensibly points toward both Flexen and Gonzales beginning the year with Seattle, perhaps with one in a long relief role. It’s always possible that a spring injury elsewhere on the staff would necessitate a scenario wherein both Flexen and Gonzales are part of the Opening Day rotation.

That said, the injury component still looms as a possibility for other clubs. Even teams that right now believe their rotations to be full could run into trouble over the next 50 days. Nary a spring training goes by without multiple pitchers going down to major injury; situations like the one that popped up today in Milwaukee — where Aaron Ashby is being slowed by shoulder fatigue — are commonplace this time of year. As the exhibition season wears on, more severe injuries that threaten long chunks (or the entirety) of an established pitcher’s season will arise. Many teams are in positions like the Mariners, where they have the depth to withstand such a hit. Others, however, are already looking at questionable depth beyond their top few names (e.g. White Sox, Blue Jays, Padres — to varying extents).

Injuries are an inevitability this time of year, and the Mariners’ depth will likely be attractive to other clubs as health troubles throughout the league arise. Seattle may prefer to stockpile that depth, but moving Flexen would likely free up some resources to expand the budget for in-season acquisitions. It’s also possible that they take on some salary to address another need on the big league roster by way of the Flexen trade itself.

For what it’s worth, Corey Brock of The Athletic speculated in his latest mailbag that the Mariners will ultimately find a deal for Flexen during spring training when an injury on another club creates a need, though it’s just as possible that said injury occurs on Seattle’s staff and takes Flexen out of the trade equation entirely.

Let’s put this one up to a vote for MLBTR readers to weigh in (link to poll)…

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