Colorado Rockies: Should they trade for some of the Marlins relievers?

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MIAMI, FL – JUNE 30: Kyle Barraclough #46 of the Miami Marlins delivers a pitch in the ninth inning against the New York Mets at Marlins Park on June 30, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

The Miami Marlins are going absolutely nowhere in the NL East, as they have a record of 38-56 and in last place in the division. They also have the worst record in the NL. The main reason they are where their awful starting pitching but their bullpen is drawing some interest from other teams.

According to Joe Frisaro, MLB.com’s reporter for the Marlins, a quartet of their relievers have garnered some interest on the trade market. Some teams that have been linked to the Marlins bullpen are the Cleveland Indians (who have the worst bullpen ERA in all of baseball), Houston Astros (who just optioned their closer Ken Giles to Triple-A Fresno after imploding on Tuesday night and telling his manager A.J. Hinch “f*** you, man” when he removed him), Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, with the Rockies only 3.5 games out of first place in the NL West, the Rockies front office needs to determine whether or not they think they need to trade for a reliever, since many of their current group have not lived up to their expectations.

If you ask me or most fans, I would say yes. Even if the current relievers pick it up and they acquire some relievers, you can never have enough pitching. It’s a good problem to have.

Let’s take a look at the relievers that the Marlins could ship off in the next couple of weeks.

Drew Steckenrider

Of the four relievers on this list, Steckenrider is one you probably haven’t heard of. 2018 is only his second MLB season but in the past two seasons, he has appeared in 81 games with a 2.95 ERA and a 3.04 FIP.

This season, in 44 games, he has an ERA of 3.46, a FIP of 2.99, and he is striking out more than 10 batters per nine innings. With only about a year of service time to his name, he would be a good addition to the bullpen because he wouldn’t be a free agent until the 2024 season. This year, he is only making a little over $1 million so he is cheap as well.

Adam Conley

In 2015 and 2016, Conley’s first two years in the majors, he was a fairly successful pitcher (40 games, 36 starts, 3.82 ERA) but it went down hill last year (22 games, 20 starts, 6.14 ERA). This year, the Marlins converted him to a reliever and he has been stellar.

He has an ERA of 3.04, a FIP of 3.47, and an excellent WHIP of 0.887. He’s allowing less than five hits per nine innings and striking out 11 batters per nine innings, which is more than three batters more than his career as a starter.

He is not a free agent until the 2021 season and this season, he is only making the league minimum and he is eligible for arbitration for the first time this coming offseason so he is somebody who also would be more of a long term option.

Brad Ziegler

Ziegler is the most experienced reliever on this list but he has experienced the most issues this season.

Ziegler, the 38 year old veteran who has been a reliever in the majors since 2008, has an ERA of 4.40 in 45 games, as he leads the NL in appearances. His FIP isn’t any better as it is 4.49 and his WHIP is 1.333. He’s also making a total of $9 million this year (which means he’s owed about $4 million for the rest of the season).

He also wasn’t particularly great in 2017 either as he had an ERA of 4.79 in 53 games. His FIP was good (3.73) but his WHIP was a bit high as it was 1.553 and he walked more than three batters per nine innings compared to just over five strikeouts per nine innings. He also spent some time on the disabled list too with a right back strain.

You probably know him best for his career with the Diamondbacks as he spent parts of six seasons in the desert from 2011 through 2016 with an ERA of 2.49 in 348 games with the Snakes.

He’s also a free agent at the end of the season. As a result of the results he has had this year, the money, and because’s he a soon to be free agent, his price tag is much lower than the other three relievers.

Kyle Barraclough

Barraclough is the guy who, perhaps, is the best of the four relievers. In his first three seasons, he had an ERA of 2.87. He was striking out more than 12 batters per nine innings but walking more than five.

However, he has reached another level in 2018. He striking out batters at a lesser rate (9.8 per nine innings) but his walk rate is not great (5.0 per nine innings) but his ERA is an excellent 1.31 in 42 games, a WHIP of 0.944. The reason why it is so low is that he only allows 3.5 hits per nine innings which, with a high walk rate, is a silver lining.

He’s a free agent after the 2021 season so the Rockies, if they were to acquire him, they would have some 3+ years of control, which would help out tremendously. He is also only making a little over $1.1 million this year so he is affordable.

Final Thoughts

The Rockies really should go out and get at least one of these four relievers. While the three that are most palatable would cost more in the way of prospects (or cash to the Marlins), the salary for them and the perk of having them long term would be something to give the Rockies (and fans) a little bit of confidence and show that they are not afraid from showing that they may have been wrong. This considering that their free agent signings for the bullpen have, by and large, not panned out (e.g. Mike Dunn, Jake McGee, Bryan Shaw, and, to a much lesser extent, Wade Davis).

Next: Kyle Freeland deserves to be an All-Star

And the best way of showing that is by showing that they want to fix their problems and put themselves in a better spot to take the NL West crown and make the Rockies’ October an October to remember.

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