Poreda Gone and a Quick Look Back at the Peavy Deal

The Padres lost P Aaron Poreda in the Rule 5 Draft to the Pittsburgh Pirates this past week.  For those of you that didn’t know who Aaron Poreda is, he was one of the prospects that San Diego received in return for Jake Peavy in the 2009 trade.  Now that Poreda is gone, Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune pointed out how Clayton Richard is the only player left on the Padres’ roster from the Peavy deal (Deal was Peavy for Richard, Poreda, P Adam Russell, and P Dexter Carter).  So how did the Padres come out of this trade?  Here are my thoughts.

Expectations were high for the lefty Poreda when he came to San Diego.  While he may not have been as highly touted as Richard, he was still expected to be a major part of the Padres’ Bullpen and Pitching Staff.  Unfortunately, Poreda couldn’t quite make it in the Big Leagues and after a 2011 season that saw him go 4-3 in 41 outings with a 5.43 ERA, the Padres left him unprotected.

Russell’s and Carter’s impacts were minimal at best.  Russell was traded before he made any big splash for the Padres.  He was traded last off-season to the Ray in exchanges for SS Jason Bartlett.  Bartlett did a mediocre job at best in 2011 and the Padres are looking to move him and his contract this off-season.  Russell needed to be traded because the Padres had/have a solid Bullpen and a bat at SS was desperately in need during the 2011 season.  The Padres really had no spot on their roster for him, and the glut of Relievers simply made him expendable.  Carter though couldn’t even make the Padres’ 40 man roster and he was released last season.

I guess the best and most “glass half-full” way to look at this deal is that Clayton Richard is still pitching and a viable #3 starter for the Padres.  San Diego luckily unloaded Peavy before paying him a large sum of money to keep him there and also traded him before his injury hit that would have inevitably destroyed his trade value.

It’s kind of a shame however that San Diego couldn’t quite capitalize on the trading of Peavy.  Sure Richard has worked out decently, but the fact that none of the other 3 prospects the Padres got from Chicago worked out for them at the Big League level is a tad disheartening.  In what could have been a move that revitalized San Diego’s Pitching Staff, it turned into them swapping a Starter for a cheaper Starter.

Anyways, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter, and let me know what you think.

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