{"id":105137,"date":"2025-07-30T19:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=105137"},"modified":"2025-07-30T19:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:14:25","slug":"pirates-trade-caleb-ferguson-mariners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/30\/pirates-trade-caleb-ferguson-mariners\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariners Acquire Left-Handed Relief Pitcher from Pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Seattle Mariners have acquired left-handed relief pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/ferguca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caleb Ferguson<\/a> in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to multiple sources. Ken Rosenthal of <em>The <\/em>Athletic and Adam Jude of <em>The Seattle Times<\/em> had it first, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Stumpf has never lied to us before, so we\u2019ll go with that. The Mariners later announced the deal themselves on social media. The Pirates will receive minor league right-handed pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=martin000jet&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeter Martinez<\/a> in return.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_105162\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-105162\" style=\"width: 489px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-105162\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"489\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26723109_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-105162\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jul 8, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson (64) pitches during the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Pirates Trade Reliever Caleb Ferguson to Mariners<\/h2>\n<p>There was no deadline buzz about Ferguson, but it was clear he would be dealt. He\u2019s under an expiring contract, and contenders are always seeking left-handed relief help. It\u2019s also no surprise he\u2019s headed to Seattle, a favorite trade partner of Pirates general manager Ben Cherington.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Welcome to the squad \ud83d\udd31<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve acquired LHP Caleb Ferguson from the Pirates in exchange for minor league RHP Jeter Martinez. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TridentsUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TridentsUp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd17 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9UJWMH6eOt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9UJWMH6eOt<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qth08Sn7dG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qth08Sn7dG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mariners\/status\/1950685579181699110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/09\/caleb-ferguson-signs-one-year-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">signed<\/a> Ferguson, 29, to a one-year, $3 million contract last January. It was a deal that didn\u2019t seem to address a pressing need at the time, but Ferguson would soon prove the naysayers wrong by providing stellar relief in high-leverage situations. In 45 games, he\u2019s 2-2 with a 3.74 ERA, 3.14 FIP, and 1.085 WHIP, holding opponents to a .214\/.297\/.286 slash line and a 25.4 per cent hard-hit rate. As recently as July 13, Ferguson\u2019s ERA was 2.70. A recent ugly two-game stretch where he gave up six earned runs in 1 1\/3 innings distorted his present ERA. He righted himself in his last two appearances, pitching two scoreless innings.<\/p>\n<p>As expected, Ferguson has been better against left-handed batters, holding them to a .167 average. He\u2019s been good enough against right-handers to navigate most innings unscathed. Right-handed hitters are hitting .250 against Ferguson. The Mariners lack a left-hander in their bullpen, so Ferguson should step right into a prominent role.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Pirates Acquire Prospect Jeter for Ferguson<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Martinez, 19, was the Mariners\u2019 No. 13 prospect. The six-foot-four, 180-pound right-handed starter pitched in Single-A Modesto, where he\u2019s had a rough time of it. He\u2019s 2-6 with a 6.18 ERA and 1.612 WHIP in 16 games. It seems control problems are at least partially responsible. He\u2019s walked 5.5 batters per nine innings. He was an international signee in 2023. Mariners scouts liked his athleticism and velocity. Along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cruzon01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oneil Cruz<\/a>, Martinez gives the Pirates organization two players named after stars from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/torrejo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Torre<\/a> Yankees era. Pirates fans have to hope that some of that greatness rubs off on their favorite team.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Seattle Mariners have acquired left-handed relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to multiple sources. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Adam Jude of The Seattle Times had it first, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Stumpf has never lied to us before, so we\u2019ll go with that. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":92208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1071,35,26],"tags":[3215,3351,1509,3434],"class_list":["post-105137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mariners","category-mlb","category-news","category-pirates","tag-ben-cherington","tag-caleb-ferguson","tag-joe-torre","tag-oneil-cruz"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105137"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105163,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105137\/revisions\/105163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}