Mariners created their own 6.00 ERA pitcher issue with trade

Apr 6, 2026 - 10:00

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Mariners created their own 6.00 ERA pitcher issue with trade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Seattle Mariners made a key trade this offseason when they sent Harry Ford to the Washington Nationals to get the lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer.

It seemed like a potentially major upgrade to the bullpen, but there's been one problem. Ferrer gets a lot of groundballs. The Mariners' defense isn't up to snuff.

To sum up things somewhat simply: Ferrer has a 6.00 ERA this season.

A stat called expected ERA expects Ferrer to have a 1.73 ERA

This is how Seattle sports reporter Anderson Hirst wrote this on X:

"According to Statcast: He has a 1.73 xERA, has yet to give up a barrel and has yet to walk anybody. He's a guy who gives up soft contact and ground balls, which relies on defense to get results, and the Mariners infield defense is among the worst in the league."

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That definitely is a bad combination.

Feel bad for Ferrer.

Hasn't pitched poorly at all...but he's a ground ball pitcher that relies on competent infield defense to make plays, and the Mariners don't have that.— Anderson Hirst (@AndersHirst) April 5, 2026

It's obviously residing in the territory of being a small sample size right now, but that can continue to grow as a negative trend. It doesn't always regress to some kind of mean.

The Mariners' defense won't just randomly get better. They are who they are.

And that means Ferrer will have to continue grinding even if some of his groundballs simply don't get caught.