Padres bring Musgrove home in 3-team trade with Bucs, Mets
SAN DIEGO (AP) » The San Diego Padres brought righthander Joe Musgrove to his hometown team Tuesday, adding yet another starting pitcher in a sevenplayer trade involving the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets.
The Padres, who believe they can contend for the World Series title, will send major league reliever David Bednar and three prospects —outfielder Hudson Head, left-hander Omar Cruz and right-hander Drake Fellows — to the Pirates. As part of the agreement, the Padres will send left-hander Joey Lucchesi to New York, and the Pirates will receive catcher Endy Rodríguez from the Mets.
Musgrove, who played at Grossmont High in suburban El Cajon, California, joins a rotation that includes Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, who were obtained in blockbuster trades after Christmas.
Musgrove heads from a Pirates team that had the worst record in the majors during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to a Padres club that ended a 13year playoff drought and believes it can make a deep postseason run in 2021.
Anchored by a star-studded infield with Fernando Tatis Jr. at shortstop and Manny Machado at third base, San Diego won a wildcard series against St. Louis before being swept out of the NL Division Series by the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, who went on to win the World Series.
Even after the three big deals, the Padres still have seven players listed on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list released Monday, the most in the majors. They were able to hold on to top prospects MacKenzie Gore, a left-hander who could make his big league debut in 2021, and shortstop C.J. Abrams.
Musgrove, Pittsburgh’s opening day starter in 2020, went 1-5 with a 3.86 ERA last season, striking out 55 in 39 2/3 innings. The 28-year-old made a prorated $1,037,037 of a $2.8 million salary, then avoided arbitration last week when he and the Pirates agreed to a $4.45 million salary for 2021. He can become a free agent after the 2022 season.
Musgrove won a World Series ring with Houston in 2017 before being sent to the Pirates in the trade that sent Gerrit Cole to the Astros in January 2018. Musgrove was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the World Series against the Dodgers.
The Padres needed to beef up their rotation after running out of starters in the playoffs, and then losing Mike Clevinger to Tommy John surgery. Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet both came out of their final regular-season starts with elbow injuries. Clevinger came back for the NLDS opener, but his injury forced him out in the second inning of a 5-1 loss. Lamet missed the playoffs entirely but has avoided surgery.