Seattle’s ongoing topic is the possibility of trading Chris Flexen (29), who has performed well in the starting rotation for the past two yearbaigint.coms. It’먹튀검증s a story that has been coming out since the end of last year, and it’s already divided the opinions of Seattle fans for over six months.
Seattle recruited Robbie Ray, the 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner ahead of last season, and Luis Castillo ahead of the trade deadline last year to reinforce the left and right-handed aces in turn. Logan Gilbert, Marco Gonzalez, George Kirby, and Flexen are a solid starting rotation team.
With González’s return from injury, Flexen’s place has become obscure. Flexen, who signed a two-year contract with Seattle in 2021, has performed well over the past two years and has his team option automatically exercised this year. The main logic of the trade theory is that Flexen, who has one year left in his free agent qualification, should be traded to a team in urgent need of selection to reinforce the team’s weaknesses.
However, Seattle did not trade Flexen in the end this offseason, and Flexen is preparing for the start normally. It is interpreted as Seattle’s plan to use the best player after competing for the starting rotation until the end. If Flexen is eliminated from the selection, it is highly likely that he will play as a long relief player.
Corey Block, a reporter in charge of Seattle for the North American sports media ‘The Athletic’, also declared in a question and answer section with readers on the 8th (Korean time) that he had ‘taken his hands off predicting the future of Flexen’. It is difficult to predict because opinions are so divided and the situation is unknown. Block added that “opinions are divided on this, and I’m still confused why he wasn’t traded this winter.”
“I think it’s worth keeping him (on the roster),” Block thought of Seattle. Block said, ‘First of all he did well. Second, it is durable. Third, something could happen. It’s easy to see a scenario where players get hurt and he starts playing for this team in 2023. Perhaps the way you treat him during the winter has changed a lot. That’s one of the reasons I came here.”
Flexen has achieved good results with an average ERA of 3.66 with 22 wins and 15 losses in 64 games (53 starting games) over the past two years. He deserves to be included in the starting lineup. Flexen has thrown 317⅓ innings over the past two years and has not suffered any major injuries. Here, the Seattle starting lineup has many players with injuries, starting with Gonzalez. It’s not easy for five starting pitchers to complete the season without injury, even if they don’t have that kind of experience. Flexen is the perfect insurance.
However, Block said, “He’s an expiring asset (meaning he’s eligible for free agency after the season), so he’ll need to potentially be paired with someone to find a player who can help the team after the 2023 season.” ‘This does not mean that we do not trade Flexen. It means that there is a high possibility that he is packing up at the clubhouse right now,’ he expressed the current situation.