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<p>Erik Swanson saw Brian Cashman&#8217;s name pop up on his phone as he was leaving his offseason job at a local sporting goods store in Fargo, N.D., Monday afternoon.</p><p>Swanson thought Cashman might be calling him to let him know that the Yankees would be promoting him to the team&#8217;s 40-man roster ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s 8 p.m. 40-man deadline.</p><p>Instead, it was something that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders starting pitcher wasn&#8217;t expecting at all. Cashman called to tell the 25-year-old right-hander he had been traded to the Seattle Mariners.</p><p>Swanson, along with fellow RailRiders starting pitcher Justus Sheffield, were part of a package for Seattle Mariners ace James Paxton. Yankees outfield prospect Dom Thompson-Williams was the third player in the deal for the 30-year-old southpaw.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a whirlwind, basically,&#8221; Swanson told the Times Leader over the phone. &#8220;Cashman and I, we had a good conversation. I&#8217;m very grateful for the opportunities that I&#8217;ve had the past couple years with the opportunity and the chance that they took on me back in 2016. But, I&#8217;m also very excited for the opportunity that I have in front of me with Seattle.&#8221;</p><p>Like Swanson, the trade also came as a shock for Sheffield.</p><p>&#8220;It definitely caught me by surprise,&#8221; Sheffield, who had just finished playing a round of golf when he got his phone call from Cashman, told The Seattle Times. &#8220;They told me they were excited for me to come over and were excited to see what I could do for spring training. They said I&#8217;ll have every opportunity and chance in spring training to go out there and show what I can do.&#8221;</p><p>In New York, Sheffield and Swanson both had shots to make the big-league club in spring training.</p><p>Sheffield appeared in three games with the Yankees last season, and it was highly likely that Swanson would have been added to the 40-man roster on Tuesday if he had not been traded to the Mariners. With two 40-man spots open and Swanson available to be taken in December&#8217;s Rule 5 Draft, he would have likely been protected by the Yankees.</p><p>But now with Seattle, Sheffield and Swanson will both have opportunities to replace Paxton.</p><p>&#8220;I think both of them are going to compete for a spot in the rotation,&#8221; Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto told the Associated Press. &#8220;We absolutely expect to see both guys before the summer is through in Seattle and they will start cutting their teeth here and hopefully set us up for what we think will be a pretty exciting group as we enter 2020 and 2021.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;In my mind right now, I&#8217;m going into spring training and I&#8217;m trying to compete for an Opening Day roster spot,&#8221; Swanson added. &#8220;My goal has always been to be a starting pitcher, but whatever the Mariners see me as coming in &#8212; I&#8217;m just excited to get into whatever role to help out the big-league club and that&#8217;s kind of how I&#8217;ve always been.&#8221;</p><p>With Seattle trading for him, Swanson becomes a lock to be added to the Mariners&#8217; 40-man roster before Tuesday&#8217;s deadline. A spot on the 40-man roster also guarantees an invitation to the Mariners&#8217; big-league spring training, which will mark his first big-league invite. </p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be something special for sure and I&#8217;m really looking forward to it,&#8221; Swanson said of this spring. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to go and make the most of this opportunity and hopefully be in Seattle here before too long.</p><p>&#8220;My goal has always been to make it to the big leagues and &#8212; second to none &#8212; to help out the Mariners. I&#8217;m really looking forward to that opportunity.&#8221;</p><p>Despite losing their top prospect in Sheffield, who posted a 6-4 record and 2.56 ERA in 20 games and 15 starts with the RailRiders last season, and No. 11 prospect in Swanson, who went 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 games and 13 starts with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees were able to bring back the big-time pitcher that they&#8217;ve coveted all offseason.</p><p>Paxton went 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA in 28 starts for the Mariners last season.</p><p>&#8220;I think I&#8217;ll be a great fit,&#8221; Paxton told the Associated Press. &#8220;They seem very committed to winning, and so am I.&#8221;</p><p>But Monday&#8217;s trade, which is his second after the Texas Rangers traded him to New York in 2016, was bittersweet for Swanson.</p><p>As he leaves for an exciting opportunity in Seattle, he leaves behind &#8220;a lot of really good relationships with a lot of people&#8221; in the Yankees organization.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve learned a lot. I&#8217;ve been taught a lot,&#8221; Swanson said. &#8220;I actually had a conversation with (Double-A Trenton Thunder manager) Jay Bell today. He gave me a call today. The first thing he said to me &#8212; we were talking about my wedding &#8212; and he just gave me some life lessons. And that&#8217;s the kind of stuff that I think&#8217;s pretty cool. That, and being able to play under Jay and all of my pitching coaches and managers. It&#8217;s been awesome.</p><p>&#8220;From all the good things I&#8217;ve head about (Seattle) today, I&#8217;m very excited to get up there and check it out, and experience the atmosphere within the ballpark and the fan base and stuff like that.&#8221; </p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The New York Yankees made a big splash Monday, trading for Seattle Mariners ace James Paxton. The Yankees sent a pair of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitchers as part of the package, Erik Swanson (pictured) and Justus Sheffield. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Erik-Swanson.jpg</photo0><caption0>The New York Yankees made a big splash Monday, trading for Seattle Mariners ace James Paxton. The Yankees sent a pair of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitchers as part of the package, Erik Swanson (pictured) and Justus Sheffield. </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Territo file photo | Rochester Red Wings </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Pitchers sent to Seattle for James Paxton</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>2018 BY THE NUMBERS </strong></p><p><strong>Player`Team`GP`W`L`ERA`IP`SO</strong></p><p>James Paxton`SEA`28`11`6`3.76`160.1`208</p><p>Justus Sheffield`TRE-SWB-NYY`7`6`2.66`118.2`123</p><p>Erik Swanson`SI-TRE-SWB`8`2`2.66`121.2`139</p><p style="text-align: right;"><strong>x -</strong> The Yankees received southpaw James Paxton from the Mariners in exchange for RailRiders pitchers Justus Sheffield and Erik Swanson and outfield prospect Dom Thompson-Williams.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Yankees ship Swanson, Sheffield to Mariners for Paxton