INQUISITR.COM / Sports

MLB News: Boston Red Sox Acquire Drew Pomeranz From San Diego Padres

By Mark Suleymanov
Published on: 06:38 PST, Jul 15, 2016

The Red Sox struck in the trade market once again, acquiring All-Star pitcher Drew Pomeranz from the Padres in exchange for top prospect Anderson Espinoza, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Tribune first reported.

This marks Boston’s fourth significant trade in the last eight days, as the team has acquired infielder Aaron Hill, reliever Brad Ziegler, and utility man Michael Martinez. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is notorious for being aggressive at the trade deadline and spared no expense to improve a shaky Red Sox rotation.

Pomeranz, 27, has put together the best season of his career this year. The lefty sports an 8-7 record with a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts with the Padres. San Diego acquired the former No. 5 overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft from the Oakland Athletics in the offseason in exchange for Yonder Alonso and Marc Rzepczynski.

Initially, Pomeranz was ticketed for relief duty with the Padres, reprising his role with the Athletics from a year ago. However, in Spring Training, Pomeranz approached his new manager, Andy Green, and voiced his desire to earn a spot in the Padres’ starting rotation.

“I sat down with them and I told them how I felt, that I had been working on a third pitch and everything feels good and the shoulder feels great,” Pomeranz said to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “I’d like a chance. [Green] appreciated me coming to him.”

Despite struggling for most of his career as a starter — especially in the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field in Colorado — Pomeranz rewarded Green’s faith with a solid 17-start audition for contending teams. In his career, Pomeranz has never made more than 22 starts or pitched to an ERA better than 3.66. If he stays healthy, the University of Mississippi product is poised to set career bests in those and many other categories.

Pomeranz is under team control for an additional two and a half seasons after 2016.

As for San Diego, they turned half a season of Pomeranz into the Red Sox’s top pitching prospect in Espinoza. Baseball America ranked Espinoza as Boston’s fourth-best prospect after the 2015 campaign and listed him at No. 15 in their midseason Top 100 prospects list.

Despite his small frame, standing six feet tall and weighing just 160 pounds, Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com gave high praise with their comparison for the 18-year-old.

“Because of Espinoza’s small stature, big stuff and precocious command, he draws some extreme comparisons to Pedro Martinez. With little effort in his delivery, he usually works at 94-97 mph with his fastball. Both Espinoza’s tight curveball and sinking changeup are more advanced than those of the typical teenager, showing the potential to become plus pitches.”

The Caracas, Venezuela, native went 0-2 with a 1.23 ERA in 15 games across three different levels of the Red Sox’ farm system last year. This season for Class-A Greenville, Espinoza pitched to a 5-8 record with a 4.62 ERA through 17 starts (76 innings).

“As we looked at and evaluated prospects in the minor league, he was at the top of the list,” Padres’ general manager AJ Preller said about the acquisition of Espinoza.

This trade is the second significant deal between the Padres and Red Sox in the last nine months. In the offseason, the Red Sox acquired Craig Kimbrel from the Friars in exchange for Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Carlos Asuaje, and Logan Allen.

With the non-Rick Porcello and David Price portion of Boston’s rotation pitching to a 7.22 ERA this year, another trade before the July 31 trade deadline is possible.

[Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images]

Share this article: MLB News: Boston Red Sox Acquire Drew Pomeranz From San Diego Padres
mlb Boston Red Sox San Diego Padres
More from Inquisitr