Boston Red Sox Acquire Padres’ Ace Pomeranz
By Blake Yagman
The Red Sox Have Made Their Fourth Trade in a Week; Padres’ Send Ace Drew Pomeranz to Boston.
Boston Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski got his guy. Actually, the fourth guy he’s gotten in the last week; the Red Sox have acquired four new players over the span of about six days.
All-Star pitcher Drew Pomeranz is going to be headed to New York tomorrow morning, where he will join the second place Boston Red Sox prior to their weekend series against the Yankees. In exchange for Pomeranz, the Red Sox will send a package of prospects to San Diego; this package of players will include 18-year-old pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza.
Pomeranz, who made his first All-Star game of his career this season, is a huge, 6’6″ 240 pound lefty. The Tennessee native attended ‘Ole Miss and was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Indians of the 2010 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Because of Drew Pomeranz’ status as a ‘can’t miss’ prospect, he has been traded numerous times as part of packages for more established players.
Today, Drew Pomeranz is an ace. This season, Pomeranz has stellar numbers: in 102 innings pitched, he has a 2.47 ERA with 115 strikeouts in an offensive-heavy NL West.
In 2011, Pomeranz was traded to the Colorado Rockies as part of a trade for Ubaldo Jimenez. Then, in 2013, Pomeranz was traded to Oakland Athletics as part of a deal for pitcher Brett Anderson. And, most recently, Pomeranz was traded last year to San Diego in exchange for catcher Yonder Alonso. Hopefully, Pomeranz will continue pitching the way he has; and Boston will remain his forever home. At the very least, hopefully the guy will get to live in the same city for more than one season.
The Red Sox acquisition of Pomeranz is significant for many reasons. First, he gives the Red Sox a controllable, young starting pitcher who does not reach free agency until 2019. Pomeranz is also signed with an agency that has an established relationship with the Red Sox (Beverly Hills Sports Counsel); BHSC represents current Red Sox Pablo Sandoval.
Second, the addition of Pomeranz means that the Red Sox are serious about competing and winning now. This means that Dombrowski may not be done dealing yet.
Finally, the trade of Anderson Espinoza, while it hurts, is important because it means that the organization is comfortable with some of the younger talent in the lower levels of our minor league system. This is especially true now that the Red Sox have signed much of their outstanding draft class this year, including first round pick Jason Groome (with a little help from $3.75 mil.) out of New Jersey and fourth round pitcher Bobby Dalbec from the University of Arizona; and, last night, Red Sox minor leaguer Michael Kopech allegedly hit 105 MPH on the radar gun (which doesn’t necessarily mean he will be the next Roger Clemens, but it definitely inspires some optimism).
The Red Sox starting rotation now features David Price, Rick Porcello, Steven Wright, Drew Pomeranz, and either Clay Buchholz or Eduardo Rodriguez. Will that be enough to push Boston into the post season?
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