Royals acquire Flynn, Redman from Marlins

Black Friday shopping extended to baseball this year as the Royals and Marlins did a bit of business on the day after Thanksgiving.

The Royals acquired left-handed starter Brian Flynn and right-handed prospect Reid Redman for right-handed reliever and 2011 American League All-Star Aaron Crow, the clubs announced Friday.

Flynn was ranked by MLB.com as the No. 10 prospect in the Marlins system before the trade. The 24-year-old is coming off his second straight season at Triple-A New Orleans, where he went 8-10 with a 4.06 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 104 strikeouts and 50 walks in 139 2/3 innings. He was a Pacific Coast League post-season All-Star in 2013 after leading the circuit with a 2.80 ERA.

Flynn made six Major League appearances, including five starts, with the Marlins over the past two summers, during which he allowed 24 earned runs and issued 16 walks in 25 innings (8.64 ERA).

Despite those rough cameo appearances, he's drawn solid reviews for his bounty of pitches that includes a fastball (both two-seam and four-seam), slider, curveball and changeup. The 6-foot-7 hurler's fastball previously earned a 60 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale from MLB.com, although that's more for its command than velocity. His average fastball in the Majors in 2014 was around the 90 mph mark.

This will be the third organization for Flynn, who is making a bit of homecoming to the Great Plains after growing up in Oklahoma and playing his college ball at Wichita State. He was also traded from the Tigers, who took him in the seventh round of the 2011 Draft, back in 2012 in the deal that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to Detroit. With James Shields potentially leaving Kansas City as a free agent, Flynn could slot into the back end of the rotation or, barring moves to come, may provide rotation depth at Triple-A Omaha.

New journey w/ the @Royals organization! It doesn't get any better! I've got quite a few excited ol #Shocker friends right now!

- Brian Flynn (@BFlynn277) November 28, 2014

Redman makes the move to the Royals organization off an impressive 2014 with a solid story in his pocket.

The 26-year-old was selected by the Rays as an infielder in the 26th round of the 2012 Draft out of Texas Tech but was cut the following year. The Marlins gave him a tryout as a pitcher in 2013 and signed him soon after. He put up a 2.04 ERA with 68 strikeouts against 12 walks over 44 innings of relief between Class A Advanced Jupiter and Double-A Jacksonville over the summer. He carried that success to the Arizona Fall League, where he allowed five earned runs and owned an 11-to-2 K/BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings against some of the best prospects in the game.

Crow moves to bullpen after his most difficult season in Kansas City. He posted a 4.12 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 59 innings in 67 appearances for the AL champions. After putting up a K/9 higher than 8.0 in his first three big league seasons, the 28-year-old right-hander saw that number fall to 5.2 in 2014. He did not make an appearance during the club's run to the World Series.