The San Diego Padres are continuing a busy offseason by dealing for Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Joe Musgrove, per reports.
Musgrove, a 28-year-old who posted a 3.86 ERA for the lowly Pirates in 2020, is headed to San Diego for a package of prospects including outfielder Hudson Head, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.
The San Diego Padres are in agreement on a deal to acquire right-hander Joe Musgrove from the Pittsburgh Pirates, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 18, 2021
Fresh off a breakout campaign, the Padres have already acquired Blake Snell and Yu Darvish this offseason to supplement their starting rotation.
Musgrove is more supporting cast to their star-level talents, but he represents depth the Padres will need to compete with the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers. His results have tended to be solid rather than excellent, but he did post a career-best 33.1 percent strikeout rate in 2020, perhaps hinting at breakout potential.
As the Padres continue to stock up on arms, the deal does raise questions about the health of Dinelson Lamet. He had been the rising ace of the 2020 Padres but missed the playoffs with an injury.
For the Pirates, count this move as a new branch in the Gerrit Cole trade tree. Musgrove spent three seasons in Pittsburgh after coming over in the deal that saw Cole make his transformative move to the Houston Astros.
Head, the top prospect headed back to the Pirates, is a highly touted 19-year-old center field prospect who MLB Pipeline ranked seventh in a loaded San Diego system. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports left-handed pitcher Omar Cruz is also headed to the Pirates.
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