All The Right Move: The Padres Pre Deadline Deals
- Updated: August 4, 2016
The San Diego Padres were one of the busier teams in the league heading toward the August 1 non-waiver trade deadline. They made five hefty moves between July 14th and August 1st, which doesn’t even consider the other deals they managed earlier in the summer. While not all of them were home runs so to speak, and one even had to be figuratively reversed, San Diego made out pretty well considering its circumstances. And the team’s best move was arguably its first.
On July 14th, the Padres traded Drew Pomeranz in exchange for prospect Anderson Espinoza from the Boston Red Sox. This deal seemed like a great swap for both sides when it happened, specifically San Diego. Roughly two weeks later, it looks even better for the Padres.
Pomeranz was sensational during the first half of the 2016 season. It appeared as though the former fifth-overall draft pick had finally found a home after bouncing and struggling between a couple of organizations. With San Diego, Pomeranz made 17 starts, accumulated a 2.47 ERA, 3.13 FIP and a microscopic (for a starting pitcher) 1.05 WHIP. He struck out 10.1 batters per nine and rightfully made the All-Star team. Moving out of Colorado yet remaining in the National League seemed like it had aligned Pomeranz’s career. He was finally justifying such a high draft selection years earlier.
Or maybe it was yet another example of a small sample size. Either way, San Diego pulled the trigger on dealing him away even though he is just 27 and remains arbitration eligible following this season. The Padres were selling as high as they possibly could on Pomeranz they figured. And perhaps they were correct.
Since coming over to the Red Sox, he has been mercilessly knocked around in three starts. 14.1 innings is far too few to say this was a bust of a deal for Boston, but what it does do is back up further that the Padres made the right move and pulled the trigger at the right time. And that will remain the case even if Pomeranz turns his Boston season around because in return, SD received one of the top 25 or so prospects in all of baseball and a young man who immediately became the organization’s top overall player in the minors.
Anderson Espinoza is just 18 years old. He is possibly many seasons away from reaching the Major Leagues, but the upside is outstanding. The thin six-footer has a plus fastball that reaches triple digits. It normally sits in the mid to upper 90s. He balances that out with a curveball and changeup that, at his age, could also develop into plus pitches in the Majors. There aren’t many prospects of any kind with his potential arsenal, let alone other teenagers.
Scouts like Espinoza’s delivery and mechanics. The only issue they point to his is smallish/slight stature. Can he hold up over a full Major-League season? Only time will tell. He certainly has time to add strength to his frame as well.
It would be wrong to point to Pomeranz’s first half and say that is the ultimate ceiling that Espinoza could reach because that may not be true, and it was also probably the ceiling of Pomeranz’s own ability. It is always hard for an organization to trade a quality starting pitcher who’s young and under team control, but San Diego pulled the correct strings in this instance.
It made a similarly nice upgrade on a smaller scale when it dealt away Melvin Upton for Hansel Rodriguez a few weeks after that first trade. Upton is less of an asset than Pomeranz was, but the team sold high on his nice season to acquire a solid pitching prospect in Rodriguez. The latter doesn’t have the upside of Espinoza or as well-rounded of a game, but he does possess an upper-90s fastball that could land him a spot in a bullpen if he washes out of the rotation.
San Diego may be out of any playoff chase this season, but its moves set it up to get back in the picture in years to come.
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