Last Friday, Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis volunteered to me that Drew Pomeranz was "as good an arm as we've seen this year." Not only that, Pomeranz is left-handed, just 27 years old and under club control through 2018.
What exactly did people think the Red Sox could give up to land the Padres' best pitcher, three minor-league yo-yos?
Sorry. Not how the game works. Not in a market starved for starting pitching. Not 19 days before the non-waiver deadline, when prices are still high.
Let other top executives blink. The Red Sox's David Dombrowski operates with the courage of his convictions, even if it means sacrificing a precious prospect or two.
Right-hander Anderson Espinoza, the pitcher whom the Red Sox traded for Pomeranz on Thursday night, might develop into a No. 2 starter or even an ace, rival scouts and executives say. But he's hardly a guarantee, not at 18 years old with a 4.38 ERA at Low A.
He's not Julio Urias, who made his major-league debut this season at 19. And he's not Pedro Martinez, no matter what the Red Sox Hype Machine once said. Martinez reached Triple A at 19 despite pitching in hitter-friendly environments. Espinoza, at his current rate of development, will still be in A ball at that age.
Don't get me wrong — the Padres did very well turning Yonder Alonso and Marc Rzepczynski into Pomeranz last offseason, and then Pomeranz into Espinoza. General manager A.J. Preller, by adding prospects through trades, the amateur draft and international market, continues to rebound from a series of missteps that marked the start of his tenure. Even some of the supposed missteps — most notably, the acquisition of Wil Myers in a trade that deprived the Pads of Trea Turner and Joe Ross — are turning out