Pirates finish off deadline with disappointing Padres trade involving veteran pitcher

The Pittsburgh Pirates rounded out their trade deadline moves Tuesday by trading left-handed starter Martin Perez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for lefty pitching prospect Ronaldys Jimenez in a deal first reported by Francys Romero.

The Pirates trading Perez wasn't entirely unexpected; he was one of three soft-tossing lefties in Pittsburgh's starting rotation, along with Bailey Falter and Marco Gonzales, and he was on an expiring contract.

Pittsburgh had signed Perez to a one-year, $8 million deal to help boost the starting rotation. He had a strong April but has tapered off since then and spent some time on the injured list. With the emergence of rookies Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, plus the recent emergence of Luis Ortiz, Perez became expendable.

At first glance, the return for Perez is pretty underwhelming. Jimenez was signed by the Padres last June and made three starts this year in the DSL. The 5-foot-11, 165-pound southpaw had a 1.50 ERA in six innings during those starts, along with eight strikeouts. Clearly, this deal was more about the Pirates saving money on a back-of-the rotation arm they didn't need than it was about getting valuable pieces in return.

Pirates trading Martin Perez was never about the return, but they probably could've gotten more

Could Pittsburgh have gotten more in a Perez trade? Probably. Even a prospect currently in A-ball would have been a slight upgrade over a DSL pitcher. But at the end of the day, they saved a decent chunk of money – Bob Nutting's favorite activity – without giving up any pieces of major value.

There is, however, one thing that makes this move different than the Pirates' habitual penny-pinching. The remaining 2024 salary for Perez was enough to offset the salaries Pittsburgh inherited earlier in the day in trades for super utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz. The Pirates also didn't lose anything except major league rotation depth, which they have plenty of at the moment.

We won't go so far as to call this trade an overwhelming win for Pittsburgh (Seriously, a DSL pitcher? That's it?); but for an offense-hungry club with a stacked starting rotation trying to make a playoff push, we'll take two productive bats over one unnecessary arm any day.

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