NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Seattle Mariners have acquired starting pitcher Wade Miley from the Boston Red Sox, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The full trade is Miley and reliever Jonathan Aro to Seattle for reliever Carson Smith and pitcher Roenis Elias.
Miley, 29, was 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 147 strikeouts against 64 walks in 193 2/3 innings of work last season, his first in the AL.
After having lost Hisashi Iwakuma to free agency, the Mariners had a need for some rotation depth. We know Felix Hernandez sits at the top, with Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Nathan Karns, Mike Montgomery, Vidal Nuno and now Miley in the mix for the other spots. Given the injury-proneness to a few names on that list, adding another capable big-league arm to the mix was a good move for new Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto.
As for the Red Sox, they still have David Price, Rick Porcello, Clay Buchholz, Eduardo Rodriguez, Joe Kelly and Henry Owens. They were dealing from a position of depth. In return, they get a very nice bullpen upgrade.
Smith, 26, had 22 holds and 13 saves against five blown saves last season with a 2.31 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 92 strikeouts in 70 innings. Teamed with Koji Uehara as setup men for Craig Kimbrel, Smith rounds out a very formidable back-end trio in the Boston bullpen.
Elias, 27, was 5-8 with a 4.14 ERA last season for the Mariners.
Aro, 25, has been a high-strikeout pitcher with several good seasons in the minors. He made his MLB debut last season and had a 6.97 ERA in six outings.
