Today is the deadline to offer contracts to arbitration eligible players and it seems that may have been the motivation in a deal that went down moments ago between the Athletics and Padres. Oakland is sending Drew Pomeranz, Jose Torres, and a player to be named later to San Diego for Mark Rzepcynski and Yonder Alonso.
#Athletics acquire Marc Rzepcynski and Yonder Alonso from San Diego for Drew Pomeranz, Jose Torres and a player to be named later.
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) December 2, 2015
The non-tender threat involved in the deal was the left-handed Rzepczynski, who San Diego acquired at the trade deadline for journeyman outfielder Abraham Almonte. While Almonte was a spark plug of sorts for the Indians, batting .264/.321/.455 with six steals and five triples in 51 games, Rzepczynski was a total disappointment for San Diego, keeping a 7.36 ERA in just 14.2 innings. He is a LOOGY of the most extreme kind and while he has been excellent against left handers (struck out 3.6% of batters with a .255 average allowed in 2015), he is so terrible against right handers (.372/.460/.512 line in 50 PA against RHB) that he can’t be trusted to make it through even one righty sandwiched between four left handers.
Heading into his final year of arbitration, Rzepczynski is expected to make about $3M next year and is still a valuable LOOGY, just not what the Padres need right now. Breaking down this trade into two parts, it almost makes sense that he is worth another left hander who is already 22 and just in Advanced A. The Padres get the benefit of not having to pay him, only lose his talent for one year and get a chance at a replacement a few years down the line.
The bigger part of this deal was Alonso for Pomeranz. Alonso has been one of the top hitters for the Padres over the past four seasons and Pomeranz was a solid addition to the Oakland rotation, making nine starts at the end of the season. Both players are young (28 for Alonso, 26 for Pomeranz) and will be under team control through 2017 (2018 for Pomeranz).
Going back to the non-tender deadline, there is one more candidate peripherally involved in this deal. Ike Davis, the current A’s first baseman, is expected to bring in $3.8M next year through arbitration and he is a likely candidate to be released today. By adding Alonso, the A’s can now afford this loss should they chose to let him go.
While Alonso is a known quantity, Pomeranz is much more of a risk. He was once a top prospect, being traded for Ubaldo Jimenez back in 2010, but has since bounced from team to team and his two years with Oakland were the first time he ever showed stability at the Major League level. The Padres are likely to immediately drop him into the rotation behind James Shields, Tyson Ross, and Andrew Cashner and if he is able to maintain his short success over a full season, they will have gotten the better of this deal.
The Padres will have to fill the hole at first now, whether internally with Brett Wallace or another option, but Rzepcznyski shouldn’t be difficult to replace and if Pomeranz pans out over the next three seasons, he could be invaluable to San Diego with still sky high potential.
