With a disappointing transaction involving a seasoned pitcher from the Padres, the Pirates end the deadline.
In a transaction originally reported by Francys Romero, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed their trade deadline moves on Tuesday by sending left-handed starter Martin Perez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for lefty pitching prospect Ronaldys Jimenez.
The Pirates selling Perez wasn’t totally shocking; he was on an expiring deal and one of three soft-tossing lefties in Pittsburgh’s starting rotation, along with Bailey Falter and Marco Gonzales.
At first look, Perez’s comeback seems a little disappointing. Jimenez made three DSL starts this year after signing a contract with the Padres in June. During those starts, the five-foot-11, 165-pound southpaw pitched six innings with eight strikeouts and a 1.50 ERA. It’s obvious that the Pirates were more interested in saving money on an unnecessary back-of-the-rotation arm in this transaction than in obtaining quality assets in exchange.
Trading pirates Although Martin Perez never cared about the comeback, they most likely could have received more.
Would a deal for Perez have given Pittsburgh more? Most likely. A little improvement over a DSL pitcher would have been even an A-ball prospect.
But there’s one factor that sets this action apart from the Pirates’ custom of pinching pennies. The money Pittsburgh acquired earlier in the day in deals for outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and super utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa were more than offset by Perez’s outstanding 2024 contract. The only thing the Pirates lost was big league rotation depth, which they already possess in abundance.
We won’t go so far as to say that Pittsburgh has won big in this transaction (a DSL pitcher, really? Is that all?; nevertheless, we’ll take two effective bats over one needless arm any day for an offense-hungry team looking to challenge for the playoffs with a loaded starting rotation.
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