Marlins trade pitchers Trevor Richards and Nick Anderson to Tampa Bay Rays
Trevor Richards, a starting pitcher all of his MLB career, began his journey into the life of a reliever just five days ago.
Three appearances out of the bullpen were enough to show his value in that role — and the Miami Marlins capitalized on it.
The Marlins traded Richards and rookie reliever Nick Anderson to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday just ahead of MLB’s 4 p.m. trade deadline, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The Marlins received outfielder prospect Jesus Sanchez (the Rays’ No. 4 overall prospect and the No. 42 prospect in MLB according to MLB Pipeline) and pitcher Ryne Stanek in return.
Richards, whose changeup is one of the best swing-and-miss pitches in baseball, struggled for the past month as a starter. The Marlins had lost eight consecutive starts with him on the mound. In that span, he posted a 6.33 ERA and went five consecutive starts where he lasted just five innings. The biggest struggle came on July 22 when he gave up a career-high seven runs against the Chicago White Sox.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly, looking to give Richards a reset, moved him to the bullpen. It allowed Richards to hone in on his four-seam fastball and changeup command, a one-two punch that can be lethal in short stints but becomes easy to target the second and third time through the order.
“There’s been different guys over the years who get it done differently,” Mattingly said. “Trevor Hoffman ends up in the Hall of Fame with basically a fastball/changeup. So I think there’s been different guys over the years who have been big changeup guys. Fernando Rodney — his changeup is his best pitch and basically sets everything up.
“There’s different spots for guys with that pitch combination — especially if that’s a plus-plus pitch, and that’s what the changeup is for Trevor.”
Anderson, 29, struck out 69 of the 186 batters he has faced this year (37.1 percent) heading into Wednesday. He has five years of team control.
Richards and Anderson are the third and fourth players the Marlins have traded othe past weekwhile adding to their minor-league system. The team traded veteran reliever Sergio Romo, along with pitching prospect Chris Vallimont and a player to be named later, to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday for left-handed, power-hitting first base prospect Lewin Diaz. They also sent starting pitcher Zac Gallen to the Arizona Diamondbacks for shortstop prospect Jazz Chisholm.
This story was originally published July 31, 2019 at 4:26 PM.
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