Padres bring Musgrove home in 3-team trade with Bucs, Mets

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres brought right-hander Joe Musgrove to his hometown team Tuesday, adding yet another starting pitcher in a seven-player 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 13-year 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 wild-card 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...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Padres-bring-Musgrove-home-in-3-team-trade-with-15882083.php