Report: Padres close to signing top reliever Drew Pomeranz

According to a report from Ken Rosenthal, the San Diego Padres are close to an agreement with free agent relief pitcher Drew Pomeranz.

San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller remains active the day before Thanksgiving as he’s reportedly close to an agreement with free agent reliever Drew Pomeranz.

Ken Rosenthal of the Atheltic was the first to report the news.

This coming on the heels of a big trade with the Milwaukee Brewers in which the Padres sent Luis Urias and Eric Lauer to Milwaukee for Trent Grisham and Zach Davies.

The specifics of the deal are not known at this time, but I will update them here once we find out.

UPDATE: Here are the full details of the trade:

MLB Trade Rumors predicted the left-handed reliever would get a two-year deal worth $16 million. The Padres gave him nearly double that.

Pomeranz is a big 6-foot-6 lefty who is 31-years-old and has had an up-and-down career.

He was a top 30 prospect back in 2012 as a starter after being taken fifth overall in the 2010 MLB Draft.

Like many starting pitchers, he was never able to live up to that potential in Coors Field.

Once outside of Coors, he regained his value as a relief pitcher with the Oakland Athletics posting a 3.08 ERA with the club in 155 innings with 146 strikeouts.

In 2016 with the Padres he moved back to being a starter and had an All-Star season posting a 3.32 ERA in 170.2 innings with 186 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.18. San Diego traded him to Boston that season for Anderson Espinoza.

He followed that up with another very good season as a starter with the Boston Red Sox posting a 3.32 ERA in 173.2 innings with 174 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.35.

However, he then fell off a cliff in 2018 with a 6.08 ERA in 74 innings.

Pomeranz started the 2019 season with the Giants and continued to struggle as a starter with a 5.97 ERA in 75.1 innings — although he did strike out 87 batters.

But then he re-established himself as a lights out reliever by posting a 1.88 ERA out of the bullpen with 50 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.

Down the stretch in 2019 you could have made the case that Pomeranz was the best reliever in the game.

And you could also make the argument that if the Brewers hadn’t pulled him in that NL Wild Card game the Washington Nationals wouldn’t have won the World Series — but that’s neither here nor there.

With the Atlanta Braves signing Will Smith, Pomeranz was the top free agent reliever left on the market.

The bullpen wasn’t a top priority for the Padres this offseason, but it never hurts to boost that area — especially when you have so many young pitchers.

What makes Pomeranz so special is that he can come in and go multiple innings.

I like this signing much more than I like the trade made by Preller earlier on Wednesday. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.