Do The Blue Jays Have A Fit For A Possible Starting Pitching Trade With the San Diego Padres?
After acquiring Randal Grichuk it would appear that the Blue Jays have the pieces needed to roster a competent outfield in 2018. With the outfield and infield depth issues addressed, it can be expected that the front office will turn their attention to shoring up their pitching staff. Rotation depth was a major issue for the Blue Jays in 2017 and the team should focus on gathering as much depth as possible.
Joe Biagini is a capable pitcher and better than his 5.73 ERA as a starter last year would suggest. His 4.36 FIP and 4.23 xFIP say that he was hit with a fair bit of bad luck. Despite the fact that Biagini would likely bounce back if given another shot at holding down a starting job, he would be better use to the Jays as their 6th starter. He has an option left and could start the year getting stretched out in Buffalo. It is extremely rare for a team to go an entire year without injuries to their rotation and despite starting the year as the team's #6 he would probably get his fair share of starts with the big club. With Biagini as the #6 it would also allow more time for their prospects at AAA to develop. The current #6-8 pitchers in the rotation are Ryan Borucki, Taylor Guerrieri and Thomas Pannone. Between them they have a total of 3 starts at AAA. With Chris Rowley still in the organization he could also see some time in the Blue Jays rotation should the need arise.
While there are still a few intriguing options on the free agent market, there are also a few non-contending teams that may have pitchers available in a trade. One such team is the San Diego Padres. Coming off a 71-91 season and projected for the same record, the Padres are far away from contention in one of the deepest divisions in baseball. Despite their poor outlook they do have a few pieces in their rotation that could be of use to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Luis Perdomo is an intriguing pitcher. At first glance his numbers don't look very inspiring. He had a 4.64 ERA a year ago and his 4.40 FIP and 4.24 xFIP show that he was most likely neither lucky nor unlucky. He was good for 1.6 fWAR in his second year in the majors. What makes him interesting is that he was taken in the rule 5 draft 2 years ago and has done most of his development at the game's highest level. Before making his debut in 2016 he had spent most of his time in the low minors and had only 5 starts at the High-A level. Despite being thrown into the fire, he has managed to keep his head above water and, as evidenced by his 1.6 fWAR last year, he has even found a little success.
Perdomo features a strong fastball that averages 94.2 MPH and ranked 16th among starting pitchers last year. He also has an elite groundball rate. His 61.8 GB% ranked second among all starters, behind only Marcus Stroman. With a strong fastball and an elite groundball rate Perdomo has two skills that often translate into big league success.
Perdomo is probably the kind of pitcher the Padres would like to build around. The young righty is heading into his final season before entering arbitration. They most likely feel they will be back in contention before he reaches free agency so it seems like a long shot that they would part with him before his value has even peaked. Hopefully Ross Atkins at least inquires about his availability, something I expect he has already done.
With Perdomo looking like a long shot, there is one other name on the Padres that is not as flashy of a potential acquisition but could also provide value to the team.
The Padres rotation is currently led by veteran Clayton Richard who has a very team friendly 2 years and $6MM remaining on his contract. The Padres signed him to that contract at the end of the 2017 season so they may intend to hang onto him as the veteran presence in their rotation, however, it would be remiss of Ross Atkins to not inquire on the inning eater.
If the Padres are willing to part with Richard, he could be valuable to the Blue Jays as a depth move. His 4.79 ERA last season was not good, but he did put up a solid 4.23 FIP and quality 3.76 xFIP. Steamer projects him for a 3.94 ERA in 2018, while the projections on baseball-reference are a less rosy 4.56.
Richard isn't the type of pitcher that will generate a lot of excitement or push the team over the top and into contention. What he is is a cheap starter that can eat innings and provide depth to a rotation sorely lacking that. He shouldn't be the Blue Jays' first choice to fill the #5 spot among those available in the free agent or trade market, but he is a name worth inquiring about. The price to acquire him shouldn't be monumental and the contract is small enough that if he is pushed out of the rotation by a youngster who outperforms him the money owed to him won't hurt the team.
If the Blue Jays are successful in acquiring one of the Padres starters it would leave plenty of room in the budget to add a solid relief pitcher or two and a back-up catcher via free agency. By adding those type of pieces the team would have seriously raised their floor for this upcoming season and would be well protected against the type of injuries that derailed their season last year.
