Pittsburgh Pirates acquire Jesse Biddle from Philadelphia Phillies
Tuesday morning Jim Salisbury broke the news that the Pittsburgh Pirates were acquiring pitcher Jesse Biddle from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Confirming @MattGelb Jesse Biddle traded. He is headed to Pirates, source says. Not sure of return at this point
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) February 3, 2016
Matt Gelb later reported that the Phillies received Yoervis Medina.
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The 6’5 lefty was the Phillies first-round pick in the 2010 draft. Biddle was designated for assignment by Philadelphia last week. In October he underwent Tommy John surgery, and is expected to miss all of 2016.
Through six minor league seasons, Biddle has accumulated a 40-45 record to go along with a 3.82 ERA. His jump to Triple-A last July was not a successful one. Upon reaching Leigh Valley he racked up a 6.25 ERA and his SO/9 dipped to 6.4 (the lowest mark of his career).The Pirates are hopeful that those problems were a result of his sore elbow that progressed into a torn UCL.
As of today Biddle was ranked as the 21st best prospect in the Phillies system. Prior to 2014, he climbed up to #53 in MLB.com’s Top 100 prospect rankings, but his stock has fallen. In this year’s BP annual Paul Boye noted, “Biddle just don’t have the stuff/repeatability/command secret sauce to be effective multiple times through an order….”
Of course, Pirates fans will be hoping that renowned pitching coach Ray Searage can get the best out of Biddle. He’s shown a penchant for, as Jeff Sullivan noted, “getting the most out of troubled live arms.” If Searage can help Biddle become a solid contributor to the Pirates rotation, then this move would fall into a long line of successful Pirates reclamation projects.