Sox Move Miley

Miley was 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA in his lone year with Boston (Boston Herald)

Less than a year after trading for Wade Miley, the Boston Red Sox are trading him away.

Miley was sent to Seattle yesterday, the latest casualty (along with reliever Jonathan Aro) of Dave Dombrowski's new quest to build a super-bullpen. He'd been acquired by the Sox last winter in a three-for-one swap with Arizona, replenishing a Boston rotation that had been depleted by trades the previous summer. They promptly locked up his arbitration years, making Miley an apparent fixture in Boston for seasons to come.

Ten months later, he's already gone. Not because he pitched poorly--his numbers last year were comparable to his final one in Arizona--but because Boston's new GM is hell-bent on assembling a shutdown relief unit (though I do wonder how much Miley's meltdown last summer contributed to the decision to trade him, as John Farrell is coming back and the Red Sox don't have much patience for internal feuds).

The David Price signing also made Boston's rotation too lefty-heavy, as he joins fellow southpaws Eduardo Rodriguez and Henry Owens. It's generally not a good idea to have 80 percent of your starters throw from the left side when the left field wall in your home park is a mere 315 feet away. Fenway has chewed up and spit out many a lefty, and may well do the same to the aforementioned trio (as well as newcomer Roenis Elias--more on him in a minute).

But as I wrote in my analysis of last month's Craig Kimbrel trade, Boston's bullpen needed help. Red Sox relievers were among the worst in baseball last year, and adding 60 innings of Kimbrel was only a start. Getting another 70 from Carson Smith, Seattle's setup man last year, should help. Like Kimbrel, he's exactly the sort of young power arm Boston needs. Having him, Kimbrel, and a healthy Koji Uehara gives the Sox one of the best late-game relief corps in the majors.

Dombrowski appears to be trying to emulate Kansas City, who have ridden their stellar bullpen to consecutive AL pennants and a championship. Or he could be trying to avoid ending up like the Mets, who were undone in this year's Fall Classic by shaky relief work.

If this had been a one-for-one trade--Miley for Smith straight-up (which is how the press is spinning it)--then I'd be calling for Dombrowski's head. Miley's nothing special, but he's a durable league-average starter who soaks up innings, and that's more valuable than a setup man. But the Red Sox are basically getting Miley back in Elias, a lefthander who posted similar numbers last year. And seeing as how Elias is two years younger and won't be arbitration-eligible until 2018, he's the superior commodity. It's possible the third-year starting pitcher, whose next start will be his 50th, still elevates his game to another level. After four full seasons, the 29 year-old Miley is what he is at this point. Elias could wind up being better.

So Elias is more preferable to Miley, and Smith is probably better than Aro, who has yet to prove himself at the major league level. I'd say that makes this trade a win for Boston.

Revisiting Boston's Miley Extension

Photo credit: The Sports Quotient

(In light of yesterday's Rick Porcello extension, I just wanted to say my piece about Wade Miley, who received his own contract extension nearly two months ago).

The Boston Red Sox must really like Wade Miley. Not only did they trade three players (Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster, and Raymel Flores) to the Arizona Diamondbacks for him last December 12, but they also signed him to a three-year, $19.25 million contract extension before he threw a single pitch for them.

"I think, obviously, with Wade going into his first arbitration year, he's a guy we traded for for a reason—because we like him and we believe that he's going to help us win games," Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington toldMLB.com’s Ian Browne. "When we traded for him, our full expectation was that he could be here for a while.”

Though Miley is coming off a down year in which he went 8-12 with a 4.34 ERA and 1.40 WHIP, Boston determined that he would be a good fit and proposed an extension. Miley expressed interest as well, allowing the two sides to strike a deal on February 5, over two weeks in advance of spring training.

"While we've gotten to know him a little better since the trade, we felt very comfortable with who we were acquiring even before the trade,” Cherington told Browne. “So it made these talks relatively easy, because aside from his performance and durability, he's got a reputation as a good person, a good clubhouse guy, a good teammate. So it made it easier to get into this kind of conversation.

"And so we were either going to try to figure out a one-year number either through a settlement or a hearing or look at some different model or different contract,” Cherington continued. “And I think there was interest from Wade, and he expressed through his agent Tom O'Connell about looking at that."

Miley, 28, is also elated to be part of Boston’s long-term plans and looks forward to beginning his Red Sox career.

"I'm just excited to get the commitment and everything, and hopefully everything works out and we're going to win some ballgames," Miley said via telephone to MLB.com. "I'm just thrilled to be a part of this Red Sox Nation and be a part of the organization and excited to get it going."

The former National League All-Star will feature prominently in Boston’s remade rotation, which has only one holdover—Clay Buchholz—from last year’s Opening Day staff. The southpaw joins newcomers Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson in trying to help the Red Sox rebound from a last place finish. Unlike his new rotation-mates, Miley faces the additional challenges of adjusting to the American League and a ballpark that is notoriously tough on left-handed pitchers. As of yet, however, he does not intend to modify his approach.

“I just try to get guys out at all costs, really. I don’t care what pitch I’m throwing,” Miley said in his teleconference. “My goal is to just try to get hitters out and give [Boston] a chance to win.”

Cherington cited Miley’s health and makeup as reasons for the extension.

"The best predictor of future durability and performance is past durability and performance," Cherington explained to Browne. "He's taken the ball consistently. He's been a guy that was relied upon by Arizona. Aside from his durability, we had done a lot of work on Wade prior to the trade, just in terms of what kind of guy he was. We had a lot of confidence in what type of person Wade is before we traded for him.”

The contract includes a $500,000 signing bonus and covers Miley’s three arbitration years, paying him $3.5 million this year, $6 million next year and $8.75 million in 2017. The deal also includes a $12 million club option for 2018, which would allow Boston to prevent him from reaching free agency that year. The option has a $500,000 buyout should the Red Sox decline it.

Miley will get his first taste of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry when he makes his Boston debut at Yankee Stadium on Friday.

Boston Bolsters Rotation Via Trades

Miley makes Boston's rotation marginally better (ESPN)

The Red Sox moved quickly after missing out on Jon Lester, pulling off a pair of trades that will bring starting pitchers Wade Miley and Rick Porcello to Boston. While neither are anywhere near Lester's caliber, both are younger and just as durable. They're quality major league arms that make Boston's rotation more formidable.

The Miley trade was consummated first, sending Allen Webster and Rubby De La Rosa, the pitching prospects acquired in Boston's 2012 blockbuster trade with the Dodgers, to Arizona. Webster, 24, has failed to impress at the major league level with a 6.25 ERA, 5.08 FIP, and 1.58 WHIP in 19 big league appearances (18 starts). Clearly the Red Sox did not like what they saw from last summer's audition and felt it was time to move on.

De La Rosa, 25, showed flashes of dominance but has been wildly inconsistent in his major league career, yielding a 4.34 ERA and 1.46 WHIP across 174 and 1/3 innings. Like Felix Doubront, he hasn't been able to translate his great stuff into steady success. Boston was wise to move both while they were still young and raw enough to command some value on the trade market. Each still has the potential to develop into a quality major league starter some day, albeit probably at the back end of someone's rotation. Perhaps they're destined to be bullpen guys. Either way, it seems highly unlikely that Boston just traded away a couple of aces in the making.

Miley's by no means an ace, either, but has been solid since debuting in 2011. He holds a 3.79 career ERA (103 ERA+) equal to his FIP, meaning his results are in line with his skills. He's gone downhill since making the All-Star team and finishing second in the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year voting to Bryce Harper, however, but still made 33 starts and topped 200 innings in each of the past two years with a 3.98 FIP each year. He's also lefthanded, which is a plus for a team that was counting on Lester's return but could spell trouble whenever he toes the rubber in Fenway Park. Good thing he's generated ground balls on more than half the balls he's allowed in play over the past two years.

As if moving to the Fenway and the American League isn't scary enough, the trends in his peripherals are positively frightening. His home run, walk, and hit rates have gone up since 2012, causing his WHIP to jump from 1.18 to 1.32 to 1.40. His ERA has risen more than a full run as he's gone from a solidly above average pitcher to a solidly below average one. At 28, he's an innings eater with little upside, as whatever bounce back potential he has will likely be offset by his transition to the AL East. At least he's under team control for three more years, which gives him a bit of re-sale value should he flop in his Red Sox debut.

Porcello will pitch for Boston in 2015 (HardballTalk)

Porcello, another ground ball pitcher, appears to be the better get here. Boston dealt Yoenis Cespedes to Detroit for him, fulfilling the Tigers' need for a right fielder in the wake of Torii Hunter's departure (three minor leaguers were also involved, two leaving Boston and one from Detroit). Like Cespedes, Porcello will be a free agent next winter, which means the Red Sox probably won't be committed to him beyond 2015.

Unlike Miley, the soon-to-be 26 year-old has become a better pitcher in recent years. His ERA has improved every year since 2010 and so has his ERA+. Last year was the best of Porcello's six-year career, resulting in a career-high 15 wins, 204 and 2/3 innings, 3.43 ERA, 116 ERA+, and 1.23 WHIP, not to mention his major league leading three shutouts (tied with Henderson Alvarez and Adam Wainwright). He probably won't replicate those numbers pitching half his games at Fenway Park next year, but should be good for around 180 league average innings.

His ability to do that over the course of his career has been surprisingly valuable. Despite a career 4.30 ERA (98 ERA+), he's been worth at least 1.7 fWAR every year and at least 2.6 in each of his last four, meaning his floor is pretty high. Seeing as how 2015 is his final arbitration year, he won't come cheap, but at least he'll stabilize Boston's rotation and be a reliable starter every fifth day. Like Miley, he's predominately a ground-ball pitcher who shouldn't suffer too much at Fenway's friendly confines and will benefit away from Detriot's abysmal infield defense (though I'm not sure Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez/Xander Bogaerts on the left side is much better). He also has postseason experience, having pitched for Detroit's division-winning ballclubs in the past.

While these moves fill out the back of Boston's rotation beyond Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly, they still leave the Red Sox in need of an ace. Max Scherzer and James Shields are still available if Boston's open to reinvesting the money they planned to give Lester, or package some of their many prospects for Mat Latos or Cole Hamels. Either way the price is going to be steep, but the Red Sox must land one of those guys in order to contend next year.

Boston's rotation looks considerably better than it did yesterday, but there is still work to be done.