San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller has been suspended without pay for 30 days for providing inaccurate medicals during trade talks, Major League Baseball announced. 

Preller's suspension specifically relates to the Padres' trade of Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox, though the Miami Marlins, Chicago White Sox and one other unnamed club reportedly complained to the league, believing that San Diego did not provide full medicals when completing trades. 

Perhaps the most notable of these incidents came with the Marlins, when right-handed starter Collin Rea exited his first game with Miami with elbow soreness. The Marlins allegedly were informed that the Padres did not provide full details on Rea, and they returned him to San Diego for highly touted right-handed pitching prospect Luis Castillo. 

According toESPN's Buster Olney, the Padres' inaccuracies with their medicals ranged just past their trades. 

Major League Baseball has a centralized injury report system known as the Sutton Medical System. Here, teams report their players' issues, varying in degree from getting some aspirin to going on the disabled list and having Tommy John surgery. 

According to Olney, most teams had approximately 60 entries in the Sutton Medical System by the All-Star Break. The Padres, rather, had fewer than 10. 

When teams are close to completing a trade, players' identifications are exchanged in the system, allowing teams to see the medical history of a player they will be acquiring to make an informed decision as to whether they are worth trading for. 

The suspension was handed down by Major League Baseball this afternoon. The Padres and Preller each released statements in response. 

From Preller:

"I accept full responsibility for issues related to the oversight of our medical administration and record keeping. I want to emphasize that there was no malicious intent on the part of me, or anyone on my staff, to conceal information or disregard MLB’s recommended guidelines. This has been a learning process for me. I will serve my punishment and look forward to being back on the job in 30 days."

From Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler, Managing Partner Peter Siedler and President and CEO Mike Dee:

"We accept the discipline handed down from Major League Baseball earlier today and will fully comply with Commissioner Manfred's recommendations pertaining to changes with our medical administration and record keeping. Rest assured, we will leave no stone unturned in developing comprehensive processes to remediate this unintentional, but inexcusable, occurrence. To be clear, we believe that there was no intent on the part of A.J. Preller or other members of our baseball operations staff to mislead other clubs. We are obviously disappointed that we will lose A.J.’s services for 30 days, but will work closely with him upon his reinstatement to ensure that this unfortunate set of circumstances does not happen again."

Today's suspension was not the first of its kind for Preller. 

In 2010, while the Texas Rangers' Assistant General Manager, Preller was suspended for three months for violating international signing rules. Since moving to San Diego, he again was reprimanded for conducting an international workout that is against industry regulations. 

​--Devan Fink

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.
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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

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 Boston Red Sox have had a flashy offseason, signing top starting pitching free agent David Price and acquiring stud closer Craig Kimbrel under a new front office regime headed by Dave Dombrowski. 

Their only offensive addition, however, was the modest signing of outfielder Chris Young to a two-year, $13 million deal. 

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox could consider signing star free agent outfielder Justin Upton.