Relief pitchers becoming more valuable in the major leagues

This past week, the Miami Marlins traded David Phelps to the Seattle Mariners. Phelps is a 30-year-old setup man, with no saves and a 3.45 ERA in his 44 games with Miami.

It wasn’t surprising Phelps was traded. It’s that time of year when we see a lot of trades. The shock was the price the Mariners paid for Phelps: four prospects. That’s right. For a middle reliever, the Marlins got four prospects.

The deal showed the high price for relievers these days. Now, these prospects were not all top-level players, but that’s not the point. The Mariners needed a reliable setup man so desperately they agreed to pay four players for one.

The Braves may get into the relief pitching trade market. They have veteran Jim Johnson, who drives us crazy sometime with his blown saves. But fans of statistics will tell you Johnson actually has good value. They’ll spit out several acronyms to prove Johnson has been effective since last summer.

So, if the Braves decide to trade Johnson before July 31, could they get that high of a price for him? Could they get several prospects, or maybe just one really good one? Or would they have to instead trade Arodys Vizcaino, a reliever who is eight years younger than Johnson?

The Braves have a young relief pitching prospect named A.J. Minter. He was drafted two years ago out of Texas A&M, even though Minter had just had Tommy John elbow surgery. Minter has recovered now, and we may see him before the end of this season.

Minter throws hard, and he’s probably the best relief prospect the Braves have had since Craig Kimbrel. With the emphasis the Braves have placed on pitching in the rebuild, it’s good to know they may have a future closer who is close to Atlanta.

Last winter, the Braves signed Jacob Lindgren to a contract after the Yankees had let him go. Lindgren was a star reliever at Mississippi State a few years ago, but he’s been sidelined with elbow issues. After having Tommy John surgery, Lindgren is on track to be back next season.

The Braves need even more relievers. The days of believing relief pitchers are interchangeable are likely over. Now it’s worthwhile for baseball teams to develop relief pitchers along with starting pitchers in the minor leagues.

Considering the number of quality starting pitching prospects in Atlanta’s system, the Braves simply could switch one or two to the bullpen. Not all of them are going to make it in Atlanta’s rotation, so would it be good to go ahead and move a few to the bullpen now?

The thought has always been that even if an organization believes a pitcher will become a reliver in the big leagues, it will keep him as a starter in the minors to let him develop secondary pitches and get innings. But would it be better to go ahead and switch some pitchers to the bullpen now?

For example, Lucas Sims in in Triple-A Gwinnett. He has had control issues in the past, and he’s been inconsistent. Chances are he won’t be a starter in Atlanta, even though he has made progress this year. If Sims is destined for the pen, should the Braves go ahead and let him start getting time in the bullpen to prepare for his future role?

If relievers are getting that much in a trade, it might be good to develop as many as possible for potential trade bait. The Atlanta bullpen has had an ERA of almost 6.50 in July, so it would probably be good just to develop some to stick around.

Maybe when the Braves trade some of their veterans before July 31, they will get a reliever or two in return.

They say a team can never have too much pitching, but maybe a team can never have too much relief pitching. Relievers are no longer an undervalued commodity. Teams need to develop their own instead of paying a fortune to get someone else’s relief pitcher.

This story was originally published July 22, 2017 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Relief pitchers becoming more valuable in the major leagues."