The Boston Red Sox have acquired left-handed starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Thursday.
According to Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald, right-handed starter Anderson Espinoza is going back to the Padres in the deal. Pomeranz, 27, is enjoying the best season of his career. In 102 innings over 17 starts, he has gone 8-7 with a 2.47 ERA and a 115 to 41 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Advanced stats such as FIP (3.18) and xFIP (3.66) also view Pomeranz favorably. This season, Pomeranz has already been worth 2.5 Wins Above Replacement (fWAR), which ranks him ninth among National League starting pitchers. He was just named to his first All-Star Game. Over his career, Pomeranz has struggled to get lots of playing time. Even still, however, he carries a strong 3.66 ERA in parts of six seasons with the Rockies, Athletics and Padres. With just three years and thirteen days of service time coming into the season, he will also remain a cheap option for Boston. The Padres acquired Pomeranz from the Athletics during the offseason, and they avoided arbitration with a one-year, $1.35 million deal. He is not a free agent until after the 2018 season. In a market where starting pitching comes few and far between, Pomeranz is a big get for the Red Sox. Their starting pitching has been among the worst in the American League, ranking 9th in Wins Above Replacement and posting the seventh-highest ERA. Boston has shown the ability to contend thus far, as they are currently tied for a Wild Card spot in the AL. At 49-38, they are just two games out of the division-leading Orioles. Even though Pomeranz fills a large need in Boston, he does come at an expensive price. Boston dealt 18-year-old Anderson Espinoza to get him. Espinoza is currently pitching at Class A Greenville, where he is 5-8 with a 4.38 ERA and a 72 to 27 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 76 innings pitched. While the results might not look pretty, he is definitely a good return for San Diego, ranking fourth on the Red Sox's top prospect list (via MLB.com) and 39th overall prior to the season. With the trade of Pomeranz, the Padres may be more inclined to fully sell off the rest of their roster. This could include dealing first baseman Wil Myers, catcher Derek Norris or outfielders Matt Kemp and Melvin Upton Jr. --Devan Fink
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The San Diego Padres are going to sell at the trade deadline.
At 38-50, the Padres are already 17.5 games out of the division lead in the National League West and are 9.5 games out of a second Wild Card spot. They will not be contending when the non-waiver trade deadline comes on Aug. 1. San Diego has some interesting pieces to deal, including left-hander Drew Pomeranz, first baseman Wil Myers, and even outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. Teams are becoming increasingly more interested in trading for Upton, reports FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal. Prior to the season, trade partners were only interested in Upton, who is owed about $40 million on his current contract, if the Padres were willing to pay his entire salary. Now, as Rosenthal reports, Upton's suitors are more likely to view him in a conventional sense on a "sliding scale," per se. This means, the more money the Padres decide to pay Upton in a possible trade, the better the talent they get in return. Upton, who turns 32 in August, is having his best offensive season since 2008. Upton is hitting for a .265/.311/.458 slash line with 16 home runs and 44 RBI in 349 plate appearances. He could be on pace to set a career high in the home run department. According to FanGraphs, Upton has been worth six offensive runs above average, a half of a run defensively, and over three runs on the bases. This equates to a 1.8 fWAR, already his highest total since 2012. Over his last 21 games, Upton has been playing exceptionally well, hitting .341/.370/.648 with eight home runs and 16 RBI. His value has never been higher since signing his current contract with Atlanta in the 2012-2013 offseason. The Dodgers, White Sox, and perhaps even Royals could show interest in Upton as the trade deadline approaches. --Devan Fink
The Boston Red Sox acquired right-handed pitcher Brad Ziegler from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for two minor leaguers, righty Jose Almonte and infielder Luis Alejandro Basabe, they announced Saturday.
The Red Sox have been active to begin the trade season. They acquired infielder Aaron Hill just days ago to bolster their infield, and now they get Ziegler to bolster their bullpen. The 36-year-old Ziegler is 2-3 with a 2.82 ERA in 38 1/3 innings pitched this season, posting a 3.44 FIP and a 3.98 xFIP. As Diamondbacks' closer, Ziegler was 18-for-20 in save opportunities and 30 of 32 last year. With the Red Sox, Ziegler will not be the closer. The team has Craig Kimbrel to handle that role. However, Kimbrel injured his knee before Friday's game, forcing him to not play in the All-Star Game next week. Perhaps, this led to an increased urgency to add relief help by the Red Sox's brass. As a whole, the Red Sox's bullpen has been solid this season, ranking 10th in the Major Leagues (7th in the AL) in fWAR. Their 3.92 ERA (15th) is a bit more troubling but could be inflated. Their bullpen corps have the eighth-best FIP in MLB. Ziegler is a free agent at the end of the season, and FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Diamondbacks displayed interest in re-signing him as a free agent this offseason. They reportedly told Ziegler upon announcement of the trade that they would have a desire to do so. He in the last year of a three-year, $15 million extension with the Diamondbacks in the 2013-14 offseason. The Diamondbacks get two low-level prospects in return for Ziegler. First, they acquired right-hander Jose Almonte. The 20-year-old Almonte, a Dominican Republic native, is pitching with full season Class A Greenville this season, having posted a 3.91 ERA and a 45 to 13 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 53 innings pitched coming over 10 starts. Almonte was not listed amongst the Red Sox's top 30 prospects on MLB.com. The other prospect that the Diamondbacks receive is 19-year-old Luis Alejandro Basabe, a Venezuelan native. Also at Class A Greenville, Basabe is hitting .310/.412/.467 with four home runs, 25 RBI and 14 stolen bases (20 attempts) in 275 plate appearances. --Devan Fink
The Boston Red Sox announced the acquisition of infielder Aaron Hill from the Milwaukee Brewers today.
The Brewers received two prospects in return for Hill: right-hander Aaron Wilkerson and infielder Wendell Rijo. The 34-year-old Hill finds himself with his third organization in the past two years. After a stint in Arizona with the Diamondbacks that lasted five years, Hill was dealt to the Brewers this offseason in the Jean Segura trade. Now, he heads to Boston. Hill's primary position is second base, but he has spent time at shortstop and at third base in the past. He'll likely fill in at all three of those spots, though it appears that he will be used as a right-handed complement to Travis Shaw, a lefty, at third. In 292 plate appearances this season in 78 games, Hill is hitting for a .283/.359/.421 slash line with eight home runs and 29 RBI. He has been worth 4.6 offensive runs above average this season but has been worth -1.2 defensive runs above average. Overall, Hill has a 1.3 fWAR, making 2016 his most productive season in four years. Hill's trade value has spiked over the past month or so. In his last 20 games, Hill has hit .333 with a .838 OPS. Fueled by a .381 BABIP, Hill added two home runs and eight RBI over his 85 plate appearances. This productivity showed that he still has some life left in his bat and could be serviceable at least in a platoon role going forward. It's hard to know if the Red Sox gave up too much to get Hill, though. With a struggling rotation, trading Aaron Wilkerson does not make too much sense. Wilkerson is 27, but he is dominating in Triple-A, prompting some to plead the Red Sox to bring him up to the Majors. Wilkerson has a 2.44 ERA in nine games (eight starts) with Pawtucket, backing up his good ERA with a solid 54 to 11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 48 innings. He was pitching in independent ball as recently 2014, when the Red Sox decided to add him as minor league depth. Over the first few months of the season, though, he's looked like more than just depth. It'll be interesting to see how he does in Milwaukee. Rijo, on the other hand, is on the prospect radar. He ranked as the Red Sox's 17th-best prospect prior to the season, according to MLB.com. The second baseman has struggled to a .186 batting average and a .510 OPS in his first taste of Double-A, though. Overall, the Red Sox are adding depth to their already stacked lineup in Aaron Hill, though at the cost of a potentially helpful rotation arm. --Devan Fink
The Pittsburgh Pirates will promote top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow to start Thursday, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reported.
The 22-year-old Glasnow has been pitching at Triple-A Indianapolis this season and is rated as a consensus top 15 prospect from MLB.com, Baseball America, and Baseball Prospectus. MLB.com was the highest (relatively speaking) on Glasnow, ranking him No. 10 when 2016 started. With promotions of other top prospects, Glasnow is the league's eighth-best prospect, receiving a sparkling scouting report. His stuff is ready to get big league hitters out, starting with a mid-to-upper-90s fastball that gets swings and misses both in and out of the strike zone. When Glasnow returned from an ankle injury in 2015, his feel for his curveball was inconsistent, forcing him to throw his changeup more and helping him improve his third offering. Control has always been his biggest issue, but he's made significant strides in that area. Glasnow has a clean delivery and arm stroke, but at 6-foot-8, there are a lot of long parts, making it hard to consistently be on time to the plate, particularly with that breaking ball.
Glasnow is projected to be a frontline starter and has shown his abilities at the minor league's highest level already this season.
In 96 innings pitched over 17 starts, Glasnow has a 1.78 ERA and a 7-2 record. He has a 113 to 52 strikeout-to-walk ratio, highlighting some of his aforementioned control issues, but he compensated for this by allowing just 57 hits. Overall, he posted a 1.135 WHIP. Glasnow was a 5th round pick by the Pirates in 2011 out of a California High School and jumped into top prospect status just two years later. Pirates fans have been clamoring for Glasnow to come to the Majors for years, especially during playoff pushes, but this promotion comes to fill a need more than anything else. Gerrit Cole (triceps), Jon Niese (knee, but is expected to make his next start) and Ryan Vogelsong (eye) are all injured. The Pirates called up fellow top prospect Jameson Taillon to help with this problem but now he is on the disabled list with shoulder fatigue. In the end, they needed to go to Glasnow, even if he might not be completely ready for the Majors just yet. As a whole, the Pirates' starting pitching staff has posted a collective 2.1 fWAR this season, ranking third-worst in the Major Leagues. However, their ERA as a whole is slightly better, as a 4.67 mark ranks 11th-highest in the Majors. Glasnow's MLB debut will come against the division-rival St. Louis Cardinals and Adam Wainwright, as the Pirates look to remain in the mix for a Wild Card spot. --Devan Fink |
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