Which players on the Seattle Mariners would be beneficial for the Colorado Rockies?

Juan Nicasio

Unlike Pazos, Juan Nicasio is probably a name that you have heard of before. Nicasio, the 32 year old former Rockie, is now a full-time reliever, unlike much of his four seasons with the Rockies. He has been more successful at it than as a starter but, in 2018, he had a very peculiar season.

He went 1-6 with an ERA of 6.00 in 46 games. If you just see that, you are probably asking why I would have him on this list. After all, the Rockies have plenty of their own relievers that put up similar numbers in 2018. However, his peripheral numbers paint a much better picture. His FIP was less than half of his ERA at 2.99 and his xFIP, or Expected Fielding Independent Pitching, was 3.19, which suggests some bad luck on Nicasio’s part. In fact, those were 28 and 25 percent better than league average, according to Fangraphs.

In addition, he walked only five batters in 42 innings (equivalent to 1.1 per nine innings) while striking out 53 (equivalent to 11.4 per nine innings). His opponent’s BABIP (or Batting Average on Balls in Play) was very high at .401 (.300 is league average).

His season also has the computer’s puzzled as well as his fWAR (or Fangraphs WAR) is 0.8 but his bWAR (or Baseball Reference WAR) is -1.1.

Contractually, he is making a lot in 2019 as he owed $9.25 million before becoming a free agent so he would be a lot more expensive than Pazos but, as in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz deal to the Mets, the Mariners might be willing to take on some salary, in either providing cash to the Rockies or in taking one of the Rockies other higher contracts (at least in part).