BREAKING NEWS: Marlins Acquire Aaron Crow In Trade

The Marlins have just traded Starting Pitcher Bryan Flynn and minor league reliever Reid Redman to the Kansas City Royals for reliever Aaron Crow, according to Ken Rosenthal. Already heavy on starting pitching, the Marlins saw an opportunity to move one of their prospects that was struggling to make the move from AAA to the majors.

Bryan Flynn is a gigantic 6’7 lefty that the Marlins received from the Detroit Tigers when they parted ways with Anibal Sanchez. The Royals have one of the deepest bullpens in baseball, and Crow’s velocity has fallen in recent years. This is a rare trade that could benefit both teams involved.

Flynn has a career 3.49 ERA in the minors, most recently starting 25 games for AAA New Orleans Zephyrs in 2014 with a 4.06 ERA. His strikeouts per nine innings dropped dramatically to 6.7, down from 8.0 in 2013 and 9.8 in 2012. Flynn did come up to the Marlins for a bit in 2014. He gave up 7 runs in 7 innings of work. While it was an extremely small sample size, it was not encouraging. In 25 total innings, Flynn has a career 8.64 ERA at the major league level.

Reid Redman has looked strong in his limited play in the minors. He made it to AA Jacksonville in 2014, posting a 1.38 ERA in nine games. He has a career 2.00 ERA in 90.0 innings in the minors.

Aaron Crow is a 6’3 righty that just turned 28 two weeks ago. The Royals drafted him in the first round of the 2009 draft, and he bolted out of the gate as a rookie in 2011. In 57 games he had a 2.76 ERA and made the American League All-Star team. Like Flynn, his strikeouts per nine has dropped every year. In 2014, his rate was just 5.2, after averaging 9.0 from 2011-2013. His ERA also increased to 4.12 after averaging a 3.19 from 2011-2013.

The Marlins have a lot of options for starting pitching, and recent rumors state that they are looking for a veteran starter either on the open market or through trade. Trading off an underperforming starter for a pitcher that could bolster the Miami bullpen makes sense for the team. Crow is arbitration eligible for the second time. After making $1.475 million in arbitration last season, he figures to be a cheap contract this year as well.

The Marlins expect to compete in 2015. Getting a deeper bullpen that can hold onto leads certainly helps that case.

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