Was Harry Ford trade best return Seattle Mariners could get?

Seattle Mariners fans have become plenty familiar with Harry Ford over the past four years.

He was a first-round pick as a high school catcher in 2021 with a tantalizing amount of athletic ability for the position. He shined on the international stage with his displays of power. He was always among the top-ranked players in Seattle’s highly regarded farm system.

And he’s long been the subject of trade rumors.

The Mariners finally pulled the trigger on a trade of the 22-year-old backstop after he spent the final month of the regular season plus the playoffs on the team’s roster. And in return for MLB’s No. 42 overall prospect, they got… a left-handed reliever who is mostly unfamiliar to fans in the Pacific Northwest.

Drayer: What the Harry Ford-Jose Ferrer trade means for Mariners

Following Saturday’s swap that sent Ford and minor league pitcher Isaac Lyon to the Washington Nationals for 25-year-old reliever Jose Ferrer, the general reaction on social media seemed to be, “That was the best the Mariners could get for Harry Ford?”

And the likely answer to that question would be yes.

“I think the reality is, yeah, that’s what he was worth. And we shouldn’t be that surprised by it,” Mike Salk said of Ford on Monday’s edition of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “We talked about dealing him last year, but his value was down after a mediocre 2024. They didn’t deal him. We talked a lot about him being dealt at the trade deadline (in July). I was convinced he was going to be gone by Aug. 1 of this year. I was convinced that Harry Ford would not be a Mariner on Aug. 1.”

But Ford remained a Mariner on Aug. 1, despite speculation that the Mariners could have dealt him for a high-leverage arm like All-Star closer Jhoan Duran, who went from the Minnesota Twins to the Philadelphia Phillies at the deadline.

“(The Twins) chose the package from Philadelphia in exchange for Jhoan Duran and didn’t want Harry Ford. He was not all that valuable to Minnesota,” Salk continued. “They chose a guy in the Philly system (pitcher Mick Abel) that has a lot of question marks. … But that’s what the league thought, and in that case Minnesota thought, of Harry Ford. You don’t think the Mariners have been trying to get more for him since then? Of course they have.”

This is not to discount the impact Ferrer could have in the Mariners’ bullpen, as Seattle clearly has high hopes for the fourth-year southpaw. But why was Ford seen as a trade chip by the M’s?

“Ultimately, the Mariners didn’t really see him as a long-term fit at catcher,” Salk said. “They have a catcher (All-Star Cal Raleigh) that is blocking him. They didn’t see the bat as playing well enough elsewhere, or maybe the glove playing well enough elsewhere to make it worthwhile. And the rest of the league agrees.”

Additionally, Salk’s co-host Brock Huard pointed at the fact that Seattle used a second-round pick in July’s MLB Draft on North Carolina catcher Luke Stevenson, who is only a year younger than Ford. That perhaps made Ford more expendable, especially if the Mariners are confident they can find a backup catcher – such as in a reunion with veteran Mitch Garver – this offseason.

In the end, the Ford trade serves as a reminder that the perceived value of a highly-ranked prospect won’t necessarily match up with how big league clubs see the players.

“The Mariners had a great appraisal from Baseball America, said he was the 40-something prospect. Baseball America didn’t get to make that call (on the trade return),” Salk said. “Ultimately it’s how each team and their scouts and their baseball operations department value a guy. This was the value of Harry Ford.”

Hear the full conversation in the podcast at this link or in the audio player below. Catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

Was Harry Ford trade best return Seattle Mariners could get?

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