MLB trade regrade: Former Braves prospect’s injury makes Kelenic move a bigger steal

Earlier this offseason, the Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners made one of the more lopsided trades of the offseason with Atlanta landing Jarred Kelenic in a pure salary dump. Kelenic has had a bit of a rocky beginning to his MLB career but he had a 109 OPS+ for Seattle last season and was one of the top prospects in all of baseball for a reason.

Kelenic wasn't acquired for nothing, as Seattle did land pitchers Cole Phillips and Jackson Kowar while Atlanta had to take on the money attached to both Marco Gonzales and Evan White. Still, with that being said, the deal seemed to favor Atlanta pretty heavily due to Kelenic's potential.

We just recently found out that the Braves plan on playing Kelenic every day in left field and soon after, the Mariners got some more unfortunate news with the best piece of the deal that they got in return, Cole Phillips, undergoing Tommy John Surgery for the second time, knocking him out for the entire 2024 season and much of 2025 as well.

MLB trade grades: Re-grading the Jarred Kelenic trade with Braves and Mariners

Braves trade grade: A+

The Braves probably got an A or A- before this injury news, but now that Phillips is out for what could be multiple seasons, it has to be an A+. The contracts they got were bad, but Alex Anthopoulos was able to do Alex Anthopoulos things and find a way to trade both of them for what resulted in usable parts.

The part that hurt more was trading Phillips who was their seventh-ranked prospect at the time, but now he's out. The Braves acquired the other player moved in the deal, Jackson Kowar, in a trade that sent Kyle Wright to the Royals. Not nothing, but not anything they'll miss.

In return for an injured prospect and a player they had for just weeks, the Braves got their left fielder of the future with five years of team control in Kelenic who still has star potential. Even if Kelenic doesn't pan out the way they envision, what they gave up are two pieces they won't miss.

Mariners trade grade: D

The Mariners accomplished their goal in this trade by shedding salaries. They viewed Kelenic as replaceable and used him to get their way out of two pretty bad contracts. Marco Gonzales' contract isn't atrocious, but he's making $12 million this season and wouldn't be in Seattle's rotation if everyone is healthy.

Evan White was the big contract that the Mariners got rid of in this deal. He was given a six-year extension that guaranteed him $24 million before he even played an inning in an MLB uniform, but has done little to nothing at the MLB level. He's appeared in just 84 MLB games in two seasons and hasn't made an appearance since 2021. He's owed $15 million over the next two seasons and is unlikely to play in the majors in that time. Shedding that contract is what keeps this deal from being an F.

The Mariners get a low grade because they traded Kelenic and got virtually nothing out of it. Kowar has a career ERA over 9.00 in 39 MLB appearances, and now Phillips is out for the next season and a half at least. They shed money, but haven't done much to re-invest it, especially when taking into account that they also shed Eugenio Suarez's contract for virtually nothing. Their team doesn't look much better, if at all, than last year's team which missed the playoffs.