After some rough waters in the beginning of the season, the Mariners' offseason trade acquisition has started to look steady.
SEATTLE — This offseason, the Seattle Mariners made an interesting move to bolster their bullpen.
The Mariners acquired left-handed reliever Jose A. Ferrer in return for top 100 catching prospect Harry Ford.
Seattle had been attempting to find high-leverage bullpen help for months. Back at the trade deadline in 2025, the Mariners had an offer submitted to the Minnesota Twins for right-handed reliever Jhoan Duran.
The Twins also had a trade package from the Philadelphia Phillies and opted for that deal over the one with Seattle.
The Mariners walked away from the trade deadline with the addition of southpaw Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates, who wasn't able to consistently pitch in high-leverage situations. The M's' bullpen construction and Ferguson's inconsistency in close games left Gabe Speier as the only lefty the team could consistently go to for high-leverage lefty-on-lefty matchups.
Seattle's hope was that the addition of Ferrer would not only give the team options in high-leverage situations, but it would also avoid an over reliance on Speier, who is pushing 100 appearances in the last calendar year between the 2025 and '26 regular seasons, last postseason and the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
The issue was that Ferrer hadn't yet been a proven commodity as a back-end arm.
Ferrer was used in a closer role by the Nationals for the latter half of last season but the results were mixed. He finished the year with a 4.48 ERA and fanned 71 batters in 76.1 innings pitched across 72 outings. He had 21 holds and 11 saves in 15 opportunities.
Ferrer's start with the Mariners was bumpy, but it looks like he's started to settle into his role.
The 26-year-old left-hander has a 2.45 ERA and has fanned nine batters in 11 innings across 13 appearances this season. Over his last seven games, he has a 1.50 ERA and has allowed just one earned run across six innings.
In Seattle's 5-4 win against the Athletics on Wednesday, Ferrer entered the game in the fifth inning following an early pull from starting pitcher Logan Gilbert.
Ferrer spun two scoreless innings for the Mariners.
"I think the great thing about Jose is he takes the ball when we give it to him," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Wednesday. "Today, it had to be the fifth inning and he went through that lineup and he went through it in the sixth inning, too. I thought he threw the ball well. ... I thought he threw the ball exceptionally well today. What he has done — he's done everything we've asked him to do and it's been a huge part of our bullpen here in the early going."
JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
Remember to join our MARINERS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Mariners fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!