MLB: What Does Drew Pomeranz Trade Mean For Pitching Market?

The Boston Red Sox acquired Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres on Thursday. How will this trade impact other trades involving starting pitching at the MLB Trade Deadline?

The big MLB headline on Thursday night was that the Boston Red Sox swung a deal with the San Diego Padres to acquire All Star starter Drew Pomeranz. The deal was a rather simple one-for-one deal, with the Red Sox getting Pomeranz, and the Padres getting 18 year-old pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza.

However, looking past this trade, one cannot help but consider the ramifications. No, the Red Sox did not give up a large haul in terms of the amount of players, but make no mistake, Espinoza is held in quite high regard, so much so that he has drawn comparisons to one Pedro Martinez. Prior to the trade, MLB.com’s MLB Pipeline ranked Espinoza as the fourth best prospect in Boston’s stacked farm system.

What does this mean for teams considering selling their pitchers?

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Whether it’s a rental pitcher, or a pitcher under team control for multiple years, their value just went up, albeit to different degrees. For example, Oakland’s Rich Hill just saw his value go up, but the Pomeranz trade does not change the fact that Hill is a rental. Nevertheless, the Athletics have to be wide-eyed seeing the return San Diego got in exchange for Pomeranz. If Pomeranz fetched Boston’s fourth prospect, Hill will fetch more. And then there is Sonny Gray, who the A’s may or may not trade. Gray is under team control through 2020, making him even more valuable than the aforementioned Hill.

In Boston’s case, Pomeranz is not a rental. He is under control through 2019, which adds to his value, but he has already thrown a career-high amount of innings this season, at 102, and it remains to be seen if he’ll hold up for the remainder of this season.

The Atlanta Braves have insisted that Julio Teheran is not available, and that may well hold true, but imagine the return in this market that Teheran could bring. Yes, the Braves are preparing to move in to a shiny new ballpark next season, and that plays into the thinking of keeping some veterans, such as Teheran, but this is a sellers market. If a team is willing to offer multiple top prospects for Teheran, who is on an affordable deal that runs through 2019 with a team option for 2020, the rebuilding Braves may want to consider it.

A team that should be salivating after Thursday’s trade is the 34-54 Tampa Bay Rays. There have been rumors and rumblings centered around Jake Odorizzi and perhaps Drew Smyly could be moved as well. But Tampa Bay’s most intriguing trade chip could be Chris Archer. Archer, like Oakland’s Gray, is having a down year by his standards, but he has showed ace-type ability in the past. For a team such as the Rays who don’t usually play in free agency, this trade market provides an opportunity to add controllable impact prospects.

There are those that consider’s Boston’s surrender of Espinoza to be an overpay. There are also those who have lauded Dave Dombrowski for his risky nature, knowing full well that if this move benefits Boston come October, it will certainly have been worth it. But on a broader scale, this deal is interesting because it sets a bar for selling teams. It gives teams with more valuable pitchers than Pomeranz a reference point for what their own pitchers are worth.

Next: Red Sox Acquire Drew Pomeranz

It will be interesting to see if this deal changes anything. For example, there have been rumors that Oakland may keep Hill and give him a qualifying offer. There have also been suggestions that Oakland may wait until the offseason to trade Gray. With the return San Diego got in Thursday’s trade, maybe teams that should’ve been sellers all along finally take the plunge and trade their top pitchers. It would give rebuilding teams a chance to sell high, while contending teams will have to pay more, in what is clearly a sellers market this season.

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