The San Diego Padres is still increasing its rotation. The Fathers must acquire the right-handed Joe Musgrove in a three-team exchange with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets, report ESPN’s Jeff Passan and the San Diego Union TribuneKevin Acee’s. None of the three teams announced the switch.
Here are the business details:
- Fathers receive: RHP Joe Musgrove
- Mets receive: LHP Joey Lucchesi
- Pirates receive: RHP David Bednar, LHP Omar Cruz, OF Hudson Head, RHP Drake Fellows, C / OF Endy Rodriguez
The Fathers obtain Musgrove for Bednar, Cruz, Head, Fellows and Lucchesi. Mets takes Lucchesi to Rodriguez. The Pirates keep it all for Musgrove. Did you understand all that? Good.
Please check the opt-in box to confirm that you would like to sign up.
Thanks for signing up!
Keep an eye on your inbox for the latest sports news.
Excuse!
There was an error processing your subscription.
Musgrove, 28, it was a fashion choice towards 2020 due to the mechanical adjustments he made at the end of 2019. These adjustments led to the highest strikeout (33.1%), swing-and-miss (14.4%) and ground ball (48.4%) rates of his career last season. Musgrove will make $ 4.45 million in 2021 and remain under the team’s control in 2022.
Ken Rosenthal of Athletic recently reported that the Fathers were still seeking help with rotation, even after acquiring Blake Snell and Yu Darvish, who took them to Musgrove. All recent additions to the pitch suggest that San Diego is concerned about Dinelson Lamet’s health. Lamet suffered a bicep injury at the end of the season last year and has a long history of injuries.
The Padres will be without Mike Clevinger, another pitcher who suffered a bicep injury last year, next season, while recovering from Tommy John’s surgery. The San Diego depth of rotation graph currently looks like this:
- RHP Yu Darvish
- LHP Blake Snell
- RHP Dinelson Lamet
- RHP Joe Musgrove
- RHP Chris Paddack
- LHP Adrian Morejon
- LHP MacKenzie Gore
- LHP Ryan Weathers
Even if Lamet wastes time next year, that depth is impressive. Morejon hit more than 30% of the batters he faced last year and is a former player in the top 100, and Gore is arguably the best pitcher in the game. Weathers is himself one of the 100 best candidates. When you have two talented young people like that at points 7 through 8 on your depth chart, you are living well.
Lucchesi, 27, played nearly 300 entries in the 2018-19 league average before spending most of 2020 at the alternate venue. The Mets have a top three dynamite rotation (Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, Carlos Carrasco) and Lucchesi will join David Peterson and Steven Matz as depth back from the rotation until Noah Syndergaard returns from Tommy John’s surgery.
As for the Pirates, they are at the beginning of their reconstruction, and Musgrove was the best trading chip on the team, in addition to the presumably off-limits to Ke’Bryan Hayes. Musgrove has two more years of control and Pittsburgh is unlikely to endure those two years. Given the inherent risk of injury with the pitchers, changing it during this off-season was smart. Treat it while you can.
The Fathers selected the Head in the third round of the 2019 draft and MLB.com rated the 19-year-old outfielder as the No. 7 prospect in their system. The recognition report says that it “could end up with medium or better tools in all sectors”. Cruz, a 21-year-old southpaw, was ranked 17th on the San Diego and Fellows ranch system, a 22-year-old right-hand man was not ranked.
MLB.com ranks Rodriguez, 20, as the No. 12 prospect in the New York farming system. He is a natural outfielder who started training behind the board. The recognition report says he is a hitter with “an advanced approach and natural bat-to-ball skills”.
Bednar, 26, is a reliever with an elimination divider and a history of strong elimination rates. He has had a few cups of coffee with the Fathers in the past two years and wants to see more action with the Pirates.