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| from ESPN |
The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired LHP Clayton Richard from the San Diego Padres in exchange for OF Connor Panas.
For the Blue Jays, they need a left-handed starter after trading LHP J.A. Happ to the Yankees at the trade deadline. Richard was the opening day starter for a bad Padres rotation this year, and had a bad 2018. It can\’t help him to move from pitcher friendly Petco Park, a national league ballpark, to the American League and the hitter friendly Rogers Centre, that also has Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards and Fenway Park (he\’s a lefty, too, which is bad at Fenway) in the division.
Richard, 35, had a 5.33 ERA, 4.68 FIP and 108 strikeouts in 158.2 innings for the Padres in 2018. The best year of his career came in 2010 with San Diego, when he had a 3.75 ERA, 3.81 FIP and 153 strikeouts in 201.2 innings. In his MLB career for the Padres, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, Richard has a 4.46 ERA, 4.39 FIP and 802 strikeouts in 1239.1 innings.
For the Padres, they get rid of the aging Richard coming off a terrible year, and open up a rotation spot for their young pitchers. They get Panas, a prospect, in the process.
Panas, 25, had a .232 batting average, nine home runs and 39 RBIs in 407 Plate Appearances for AA New Hampshire in 2018.
CarterHud 