Red Sox Trade Wade Miley To Mariners, Acquire Carson Smith

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that the Red Sox have had contact with Napoli. The team had acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the previous Major League Baseball offseason, inserting him immediately into the starting rotation. The 2012 Rookie of the Year runner up went 11-11 for the Red Sox last season and put up an ERA of 4.46 with a FIP of 3.81.

Wade Miley is an interesting name.

Rick Porcello’s contract – making $20 million a year over the next four seasons – would make a deal highly unlikely.

He brings a proven track record with durability, giving the Red Sox more reliability and consistency than could be counted on from De La Rosa and Webster, who both always flashed potential, but have never been able to sustain any type of consistency.

Smith appeared in 70 games with the Mariners in 2015, striking out 92 batters with a 2.31 ERA. With 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings, he gives manager John Farrell another arm at the back of a bullpen that includes closer Craig Kimbrel and holdover setup men Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa.

His 2015 season with the Red Sox was so-so.

Jonathan Aro saw just 10 1/3 innings of work for the Red Sox.

Aro is a 25 year old righthander who had a 6.97 ERA in 6 relief appearances with Boston last year, and a 3.04 ERA in 74 IP between AA and AAA.

A competitive market for Miley could drive up what Boston can get for him in a trade, so a move makes sense from their side too. The Seattle Mariners have obtained left-hander Wad…

It’s interesting to see the numbers on Hisashi Iwakuma. As for the Boston Red Sox trade rumors about trying to improve the pitching staff, acquiring young assets like Roenis Elias and Carson Smith could certainly help long-term efforts.

For new GM Dipoto, it’s the second major trade he’s made in the last week.