Trade Central: Busy Red Sox Grab All-Star Pomeranz

THE DEAL

Under Dave Dombrowski, the Red Sox have not been shy about attempting to address their shortcomings. They’ve added infield help in Aaron Hill and a bullpen buttress in Brad Ziegler.

On Thursday, the day before the nominal second half begins, Trader Dave made a move to shore up the rotation, which has struggled; Boston’s starters have a collective 4.72 ERA, 19th in baseball. Dombrowski, not beholden to prospects, sent the No. 15 overall prospect in the game, 18-year-old Anderson Espinoza, to San Diego for All-Star lefthander Drew Pomeranz.

Pomeranz has been good—8-7, 2.47—and is cheap, making just $1.35 million, and is not eligible for free agency until after 2018. The emergence of a cutter has been the key to success for Pomeranz.

PADRES ACQUIRE
Anderson Espinoza, rhp
Age: 18

Despite being just 18, Espinoza ranks in the top 20 prospects in all of baseball and is No. 3 in the Red Sox system only because of the presence of elite prospects Yoan Moncada and Andrew Benintendi ahead of him. Espinoza—who ranked No. 4 in the international class of 2014—signed out of Venezuela for $1.8 million, pulling in that kind of money because he showed advanced feel to pitch even at 16 years old.

Even at just 6 feet tall, Espinoza gets tremendous life on his fastball, using an easy delivery from a traditional three-quarters slot. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and can dial up when he needs it and his mid-70s curve dives down and in. He gets swings and misses with the changeup as well.

Boston’s expected signing of 2016 first-round lefthander Jason Groome as well as the progress of Michael Kopech—who hit 105 mph Wednesday—allowed the Red Sox to swallow hard and include Espinoza in a deal for a young, cheap lefthander. Espinoza had a small stress fracture in his elbow before he signed but he recovered with rest and rehabilitation, but he hasn’t had any health issues since then.

Club (League)	Class	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Greenville (SAL)	LoA	5	8	4.38	17	17	76	76	39	37	2	27	72

RED SOX ACQUIRE
Drew Pomeranz
Age: 27

The fifth overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Indians and a key to the Ubaldo Jimenez trade a year later, Pomeranz found success as a swingman with the A’s but has broken out this season thanks to the emergence of a low-90s cutter to go with his four-seamer and knuckle-curveball. The curveball is hard and generates a high percentage of ground balls, and his line drive percentage is a career-low 15 percent. Pomeranz has held opponents to a .184 average, the best mark in the National League, and he’s averaging 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. His improvement in pitching inside and his ability to better repeat his delivery are other factors in his long-anticipated breakout.