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Major League Baseball is taking a closer look at the San Diego Padres following two of their recent trades prior to the August 1 deadline. 

Per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune, MLB is looking into the exchange of medical information regarding deals that sent Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox and a package trade that sent Colin Rea to the Miami Marlins. 

“In response to several unrelated issues that arose during the trade deadline, we are reviewing our policies regarding maintenance of medical files to ensure uniformity between clubs,” an MLB spokesperson said in a statement included in Lin’s report.

Lin also noted a Padres spokesperson had “no comment” on the review being conducted by MLB but added the team “is confident it will be cleared of any alleged wrongdoing.”

Rea made his first start for the Marlins on July 30 against the St. Louis Cardinals but lasted just 3.1 innings due to an elbow injury. He was traded back to the Padres the following day, with Luis Castillo coming to the Marlins after he was included in the original deal.

On Friday, Padres manager Andy Green announced that Rea would undergo Tommy John surgery. Lin said the Marlins asked Rea if he was “taking any medications, presumably for elbow discomfort” and the right-hander admitted he was, which the Marlins said was not disclosed when the original trade happened.

Lin added the Padres’ deal with the Red Sox involving Pomeranz will stand, but “the Red Sox have raised concerns about the exchange of medical information in that deal.”

Lin reported that MLB does not have established “hard-and-fast rules” for governing the exchange of medical records before a trade.

Before any transaction is completed—whether it is a trade or a free-agent signing—teams will go through all of the medical information to ensure players are in peak physical condition.

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San Diego Padres manager Andy Green announced on Friday that starting pitcher Colin Rea will undergo Tommy John surgery.

Continue for updates.

Rea’s Odd Season Ends Early

Friday, Aug. 5

After he started the season with a 5-5 record and 4.98 ERA, the Padres dealt Rea to the Miami Marlins in July. But after Rea suffered an elbow injury just 3.1 innings into his first appearance with the Marlins, Miami returned him to San Diego before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline.

He was originally part of a seven-player deal that was headlined by the Padres shipping pitcher Andrew Cashner to the Marlins in late July.

Rea told the media he felt soreness in his elbow before the Padres sent him to the Marlins, but it didn’t alarm him, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com:

Every pitcher kind of goes through some soreness here and there throughout the season. … For me, that’s what it was. It wasn’t anything more. It was something I was able to throw through. It didn’t bother me at all. Then, obviously, in the start on Saturday, it just got a lot worse in those last couple innings to the point where I couldn’t throw anymore.

In a new deal after Rea’s injury, San Diego eventually sent Miami pitching prospect Luis Castillo, a 23-year-old right hander who is playing in Single-A. 

In his first two years in the majors, Rea has been consistently mediocre, posting a 7-7 career record with a 4.69 ERA. He has allowed three or more runs in 13 of his 18 starts with the Padres and won only two games since May 6.

Entering the season as a lower-tier arm in San Diego’s rotation, Rea took on a bigger role after the team traded James Shields to the Chicago White Sox and Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox. 

San Diego also shipped outfielders Matt Kemp and Melvin Upton Jr. to the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays, respectively, as the team suddenly found itself in a rebuilding phase.

Given that the team saw Rea as a trade chip, the Padres won’t feel his absence much. But at 26 years old, he is young enough to turn things around after the lengthy recovery period that Tommy John surgery usually requires.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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To baseball fans east of the Mississippi River, San Francisco is a place where luck strikes in even years and baseballs splash into McCovey Cove.

It isn’t until October that the San Francisco Giants crash sports pages around the country. So it’s not surprising that their aggressive trade-deadline moves went unheralded. Organizations such as the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, both aggressive buyers, and even the New York Yankees, deadline sellers, received more attention.

But consider this notice—for those in the eastern part of the country or those westward who are mired in NFL training camp battles—that the trades the Giants made in the week leading up to Monday’s non-waiver deadline will help them edge the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West race.

On July 28, San Francisco acquired Eduardo Nunez—a player capable of moving all over the diamond—from the Minnesota Twins. Then on Monday, as the deadline neared, the Giants acquired left-handed reliever Will Smith from the Milwaukee Brewers and left-handed starting pitcher Matt Moore from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Nunez is hitting .290/.321/.430 and adds another bat to an offense that ranks in the top half of MLB in most relevant offensive categories, but is most notably fourth in on-base percentage (.333). Adding Nunez allowed the Giants to deal Matt Duffy, who is on the disabled list, in the Matt Moore deal.

Adding left-handers to the pitching staff, though, should give the Giants the edge over the second-place Dodgers.

San Francisco and Los Angeles play nine more times this season, including the final series of the regular season, a three-game set at AT&T Park.

Since no series will be more important in deciding the NL West crown, the Giants had to make sure they’d match up well in those games.

The Dodgers’ two best hitters this season in terms of batting average, shortstop Corey Seager and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, both hit lefty. The difference in their performance against right- and left-handed pitchers is staggering.

Seager is hitting .328/.387/.551 against righties but only .256/.302/.462 against lefties. Gonzalez is batting .293/.376/.428 against righties but .247/.311/.330 against lefties.

Gonzalez is hitting .293 against the Giants this season with four doubles and six RBI in 10 games.

Until the trade deadline, Madison Bumgarner was the only left-handed pitcher in the San Francisco rotation, and Javier Lopez was the only left-hander in the bullpen.

Both San Francisco pitching additions were vital, as teams look to play more situational ball in the final months of a division race. When Moore starts, it prevents opponents from stacking their lineups with left-handed hitting. Every opposing manager knew San Francisco’s staff was largely right-handed, which gave opposing left-handed hitters an advantage even after manager Bruce Bochy pulled a righty starter.

Smith allows Bochy a late-inning southpaw that gives the Giants an advantage against most left-handed bats. Though Smith has been uncharacteristically bad against left-handed hitting this season, he has been solid in those match ups throughout his career. In Smith’s career, he has limited left-handed hitters to a .254 average. 

And the moves will not only help the Giants when they play the Dodgers, but they will also enjoy more lefty-lefty matchups across the board.

Of course, as all contenders do at the trade deadline, the Dodgers made moves, too.

But while the Giants seemingly boosted a contending team, it appeared as if Los Angeles tried to slap gauze on a bleeding roster.

The Dodgers have been without ace Clayton Kershaw, who has been on the disabled list since June 28 with what the team called a “mild disc herniation,” per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Until the injury, he had been by far baseball’s best pitcher, boasting a 1.79 ERA, 1.65 FIP and 0.727 WHIP, per FanGraphs. In 16 starts this season, Kershaw had issued only nine walks.

The team announced Wednesday that it placed Kershaw on the 60-day disabled list, a procedural move that nonetheless spurs more speculation that he will not return in 2016. Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times shares the sentiment.

In anticipation of Kershaw’s continued absence, the club acquired left-handed starter Rich Hill from the Oakland A’s on Monday. Though Hill, 36, is enjoying a comeback season with a 2.25 ERA in 14 starts, he is hardly a replacement for Kershaw.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner made it through at least seven innings in all but two of his starts this season. He went six innings in those two outings, including his most recent effort against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 26.

L.A. can’t expect any replacement to be that consistent, which means the bullpen will be taxed more entering the final months of the season. There is a lot of pressure on Hill not only to stay healthy, but to continue to pitch at a high level.

The same deal that brought Hill to Los Angeles included outfielder Josh Reddick. He hit .296/.368/.449 with the A’s. His trade was a result of another disappointing season from Yasiel Puig.

The latest episode in the ongoing soap opera with Puig saw the team officially demote him to Triple-A on Wednesday, and Reddick is an improvement over Puig’s .260/.320/.386 slash line.

But Reddick also bats lefty and hits .167/.247/.167 against southpaw pitching. So while the move may help Los Angeles, San Francisco’s transactions appear to counteract his addition.

On one hand, the Dodgers made their moves to play catch-up. They wanted to get back to where they were in June with a healthy Kershaw and Puig hitting .333/.371/.455.

On the other hand, the Giants gained a springboard from their trades.

With San Francisco’s recent organizational success, baseball fans might assume they’ll see the Giants when the postseason rolls around. But know that when they’re playing in October this year, moves of the past week will be what got them there.      

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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Just before the trade deadline, the San Diego Padres dealt the big contract of 31-year-old veteran outfielder Matt Kemp to the Atlanta Braves, ending his short stint with the club. 

On Wednesday, Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler didn’t hold much back when speaking about Kemp’s tenure in San Diego, according to Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“We made a conscious decision to ship them out because we want people that are prepared to improve,” Fowler said. “If you’re making a lot of money and you think you’re already there, you’re not going to get better.”

In 254 games with the Padres, Kemp batted .264 with 46 home runs and 169 RBI. He was in the fourth and fifth years of the eight-year, $160 million deal he initially signed as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, via Spotrac.

He hit 23 home runs in 2015 and 23 in 2016 with the Padres and was on pace for a second-straight 100-RBI campaign before they dealt him.

But it wasn’t enough for Fowler, who commented on the letter that Kemp penned for The Players’ Tribune after the trade to Atlanta. He described himself as building “a reputation for being selfish, lazy and a bad teammate.” He did promise his new team’s fanbase that it wouldn’t happen with the Braves, though.

“You saw Kemp’s letter,” Fowler said, per Miller. “Talk about a bunch of b.s.”

Kemp wasn’t the only casualty of the trade market as the team wallowed near the basement of the National League West. The Padres have been the biggest sellers in baseball over the past few months, dealing pitchers James Shields, Fernando Rodney and Drew Pomeranz, along with outfielder Melvin Upton Jr.

In return for Kemp and his former teammates, the Padres largely got prospects, as San Diego looks to be in full rebuild mode. Fowler was frank in explaining why he broke the team up:

I’ll be damned if we’re going to pay high-priced talent to sit on their butts and not perform…I’d like to tell you we’re breaking up the ’98 Yankees, but we’re not. This was a team that underachieved. Let’s get some younger, hungry players in here that you can be proud of that lay it on the line. 

Shields responded to Fowler’s claims about former players, per Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago:

(Fowler and Kemp) have their own deal and he has his own thoughts about him, so I’m not going to comment on that. But one thing I do know is, I hope he’s not putting me in that category as far as not trying. You can ask anybody around the league, let alone in the San Diego organization — I worked my butt off every single day. I prepared myself the way I needed to prepare myself on a daily basis. And I pour my heart out every time I pitch on the mound.

For Padres fans, though, pride could be hard to come by if the winning column remains barren over the next few years, even if the players show an adequate effort that meets Fowler’s standards. 

It’s not like Kemp will have the last laugh with his new team in terms of winning. Entering Thursday night, Atlanta has the worst record in baseball at 38-69. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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It’s not easy to take Justin Turner seriously as a star player. He used to be an anonymous New York Mets utility guy. He’s now a Los Angeles Dodger not named Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez or Corey Seager. I won’t say he doesn’t have the “good face,” but it’s confirmed he looks like a Muppet.

But I will propose this: Turner is not only a really good player, but an elite one when he has his legs under him.

It feels necessary to bring this up in part because of how insanely hot the 31-year-old third baseman has been. He was sporting a .642 OPS as recently as June 3. The next day, a two-hit game catapulted him to the following numbers over his last 48 games: a .321/.370/.642 slash line with 15 home runs.

It also feels necessary because of the recent buzz in the air about the Dodgers possibly making a seismic shift at the hot corner. Although it was really only a suggestion, Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com raised some eyebrows when he linked the Dodgers to Tampa Bay Rays star Evan Longoria last month.

Obviously, nothing materialized. Longoria is still safe and sound in Tampa Bay, and Turner is still wearing Dodger blue.

But since that “rumor” is nothing if not a good conversation starter, let’s have this one: Would the Dodgers actually have upgraded if they’d gone from Turner to Longoria?

By FanGraphs‘ reckoning, Longoria has only been worth 0.5 more wins above replacement than Turner in 2016. That’s partially owed to a small difference in their offensive performances. Per weighted runs created plus, a metric that rates hitting production on a scale where 100 is league average, Longoria (128) has been only three percentage points better than Turner (125).

Look beyond just 2016, however, and it’s no contest. Here’s how wRC+ ranks the top offensive third basemen in the league over the last three seasons:

1. Josh Donaldson: 146
2. Justin Turner: 140

Ranking just behind Donaldson, who is at least 20 different shades of stupendous, in anything is a heck of an accomplishment. The heck of it is that Turner’s 2014-2016 offensive output might rank ahead of Donaldson’s had it not been for the injury bug.

It seemed like a fluke when Turner broke through with a .340 average and .897 OPS in 109 games in 2014 after the Dodgers picked him up off the scrapheap that winter. However, he hit .323 with a .950 OPS in his first 87 games in 2015, putting any “fluke” reasoning on thin ice.

But then he developed an infection in his leg last July that sidelined him into mid-August. He wasn’t the same after he returned, hitting just .237 with a .691 OPS. He would later have microfracture knee surgery in the fall. In June, Doug Padilla of ESPN.com observed that surgery “looks to have taken a toll on him” as he struggled out of the gate.

But as his red-hot hitting suggests, Turner has since snapped out of it.

“I’m definitely feeling comfortable again,” Turner told Padilla in July. “I felt comfortable all year. I don’t know what was going on those first two months. But yeah, I feel good, I feel comfortable, and I’m getting better results.”

It’s fair to say the Dodgers have experienced two different versions of Turner: the unhealthy one and the healthy one. Focus on what the healthy one has done in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and the numbers are staggering:

Anybody who can put up a wRC+ in the high 150s or high 160s isn’t just a really good hitter. That’s territory that only Mike Trout has consistently occupied over the last three years, and that only a handful of heavy hitters—Trout, Donaldson, David Ortiz, Jose Altuve, Daniel Murphy and Matt Carpenter—are occupying in 2016.

We had to jump through some hoops to put Turner in this kind of company, but the reality that it can be done speaks volumes about how far he’s come as a Dodger.

Turner was really only a glove-for-hire when the Dodgers picked him up on a minor league contract in 2014. He had played all over the infield in three seasons with the Mets but was just a .265/.326/.370 hitter with a 97 wRC+. In other words, below average.

But Turner has always had a good approach. He’s maintained a well-below-average strikeout rate while mostly keeping his walk rate in the realm of average. If a hitter can do that, all he needs to become complete is an ability to barrel the ball.

This is where Marlon Byrd emerges as a key figure in the Turner legend.

Turner crossed paths with Byrd when the two were with the Mets in 2013, the first season of Byrd’s late-career transformation into a power threat. One likely reason for that isn’t fun to think about, but it’s one of the other reasons that Turner latched on to.

“The old saying is ‘stay back stay back stay back.’ Well, [Byrd] was talking about doing the opposite,” Turner told Eno Sarris of FanGraphs last year. “Not backing the ball up, going out and getting it. Being aggressive and get out there and get on your front side, get off your back side.”

This advice opened the door for Turner to stop being content with making contact and instead prioritize making good contact. The new him showed signs of life in 2013, as he put more balls in the air and made more hard contact.

When he’s been on two good legs as a Dodger, he’s mostly continued to up the ante:

Going down this path could have wrecked Turner’s approach. Instead, it’s been like a rock. He’s still tough to strike out and is still taking his walks. Mix that with an increasing amount of solid contact, and it’s no surprise that health has been the only thing barring him from the hitting elite.

Because Turner is on the wrong side of 30, there should be some doubt about how much longer he can keep this up. It’s hard to argue with Tim Dierkes‘ rankings for this winter’s top free agents at MLB Trade Rumors, in which Turner barely missed out on the top 10.

But right now, that’s neither here nor there for the Dodgers. Their hunt for an elusive World Series title got off to a rocky start, but their rebound to the tune of a 59-48 record has them breathing down the San Francisco Giants‘ necks in the National League West. Turner has had a big hand in this, as his hot hitting is in the middle of a team-wide offensive surge the last two months.

That’s what stars can do.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked and are current through August 2.

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Yasiel Puig is a good baseball player.

With all the acrimony and controversy swirling around the Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder, it’s easy to lose sight of that fact. But it’s a fact, nonetheless.

And yet, it’s been a while since results were consistently there for Puig.

Now, the mercurial Cuban’s career in Dodger blue is on life support after the team optioned him to Triple-A on Tuesday, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

The move came after protracted trade speculation, as Gurnick outlined:

Puig’s demotion culminates two weeks of drama and intrigue, beginning with a reported tight hamstring, followed by more than a week of limited playing time and trade rumors. According to his agent, Puig was told that he would be traded Monday, and if he wasn’t and the Dodgers acquired an outfielder, Puig would be demoted.

The Dodgers acquired a right fielder at the trade deadline, landing Josh Reddick along with southpaw starter Rich Hill from the Oakland Athletics.

And sure enough, Puig was demoted.

It’s a steep, vertigo-inducing fall for a guy who was one of the game’s most exciting stars just a few seasons ago.

Puig arrived with a bang in 2013, posting a .925 OPS in 104 games and finishing second in National League Rookie of the Year voting. The following year, he was an All-Star and top-20 NL MVP finisher.

In 2015, however, Puig appeared in just 79 games while dealing with injuries and inconsistency, posting a career-low .758 OPS.

His problems extended beyond normal growing pains. In December 2015, Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller painted a picture of a player teetering on the brink:

Tucked somewhere among the salacious stories of [Zack] Greinke tossing Puig’s suitcase off the bus and onto a street in Chicago, ace Clayton Kershaw allegedly advising the Dodgers front office this winter to dump the outfielder and third baseman Justin Turner almost getting into a fight with Puig last spring looms one of the biggest questions facing the Dodgers for 2016:

Is the relationship between Puig and his teammates inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse irreparably broken?

Not everyone thought it was. Veteran first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, for one, came to Puig’s defense at the time.

But one former Dodger didn’t mince words.

“He is the worst person I’ve ever seen in this game,” the unnamed player said, per Miller. “Ever.”

That may sound like hyperbole sparked by Puig’s brash, bat-flipping antics. The old school clashing with the new school, with predictably cantankerous results.

But the preponderance of evidence leans toward Puig being a polarizing clubhouse presence.

That’s fine when you’re producing. When you’re not? That’s a different story.

So as Puig struggled with career lows in on-base percentage (.320) and slugging percentage (.386) in 2016, the ill will apparently festered.

And then, a 25-year-old preternatural athlete with five-tool potential found himself ticketed for bus rides in the minor leagues.

Before that, the Dodgers put Puig on the trading block, per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, but didn’t receive an acceptable offer.

So they sent him down, unceremoniously, despite the fact he hit .308 with an .830 OPS since returning from a hamstring injury in June.

Clearly, Los Angeles had reached the end of its rope with Puig.

Reddick is only a rental, yet the club seems prepared to cast aside a man who looked like a franchise building block a few short years ago—even, it’s worth noting, in the midst of a tight divisional race with the archrival San Francisco Giants, when a few hot weeks from Puig could make all the difference.

The next logical step is for the Dodgers to put Puig on waivers to see if they can move him before Aug. 31. Sports Illustrated‘s Jay Jaffe, among others, listed Puig as a leading waiver candidate. If that doesn’t happen, look for Los Angeles to aggressively shop him over the winter amid a weak free-agent class.

It’s easy to imagine a curious club taking a flier. Again, Puig is just 25. He’s only recently removed from results that teased superstar possibilities. And he’s locked into an affordable contract that pays him less than $20 million through 2018.

Plenty of players his age are figuring out the majors—forget lighting them on fire.

In a way, Puig is like a comet that burned fast and bright across the sky. The question is: Will he crash to Earth or streak across the heavens again?

Puig’s tenure with the Dodgers is likely coming to an end one way or another.

But he’s still a good baseball player. Surely that will be enough for someone, somewhere to give him a second chance.

All statistics accurate as of Aug. 2 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers announced they demoted outfielder Yasiel Puig to the minor leagues on Tuesday, and he is expected to be sent to their Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said Puig is expected to be in Triple-A by the weekend, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said L.A. made the demotion in order to improve Puig as a “player and person,” per Gurnick. 

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports initially reported Puig “stormed off” after receiving the news Monday that Los Angeles would either trade him or send him to the minor leagues. Rosenthal later spoke with the outfielder’s agent, Adam Katz, who denied that ever happened:

I’m told he never went to the park. The club informed me and the player understood clearly that they were making every effort to trade him and that if they were unable to come to terms with another club on a trade — and successful in acquiring another outfielder — that he likely would be demoted.

Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times confirmed Puig didn’t take the team’s charter flight to Denver for a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies after the Dodgers acquired fellow outfielder Josh Reddick and starting pitcher Rich Hill from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for three pitching prospects.

Reddick is expected to take over as the team’s everyday right fielder. That left the 25-year-old former rookie sensation without a clear role heading into the stretch run.

Puig took the league by storm during his debut campaign in 2013. The Cuba native posted a .391 on-base percentage with 19 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 104 games. He backed it up with a rock-solid 2014 season, registering a .382 OBP, 16 homers and 11 steals.

His numbers have dropped off considerably over the last two years, though. His OPS, which checked in at .925 during that electrifying rookie year, has slid all the way down to .706 in 2016.

Now the question is what happens next.

The Dodgers could hope some time in the minor leagues, far away from the bright lights of Los Angeles, allows him to rediscover the form that made him an impact performer earlier in his career. If that happens, he could still be a major asset before season’s end.

A trade is still a possibility, too. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network believes it’s “very possible” the right fielder could pass through trade waivers, which would make him eligible to get dealt to any team.

Puig expressed his desire to remain with the Dodgers on Sunday, but he acknowledged the situation is beyond his control, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

“If they decide to trade me, then I’ll have to go to another team and work hard there. I just came to this country to play baseball,” he said. “I would like to stay here. But I also understand this is a business. You never know where you are going to end up.”

Puig’s relationships with his teammates and the L.A. front office might have played a part in his demotion as well. 

Many problems have arisen throughout his tumultuous MLB tenure. He was benched for the 2014 season opener after arriving late to the stadium. 

As Molly Knight discussed in her book The Best Team Money Can Buy—and confirmed by Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan—Puig “argued with pitcher Zack Greinke and nearly came to blows with infielder Justin Turner” when Puig wanted to bring a member of his entourage on a team charter flight that is typically for player wives and girlfriends.

One unnamed former Dodger told Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller in December that Puig “is the worst person I’ve ever seen in this game. Ever.” 

There’s time for Puig to get back on track before what are typically a player’s peak seasons, but he has to show a willingness to change his work ethic. It could make him an intriguing buy-low candidate for a non-contending team if he does end up clearing waivers.

The Dodgers may wait to see what some time in the minors does for him first. He’s still full of talent, but it hasn’t translated into much on-field production this season.

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The Tampa Bay Rays agreed to trade starting pitcher Matt Moore to the San Francisco Giants Monday ahead of the trade deadline.  

The Giants announced they traded third baseman Matt Duffy, shortstop Lucius Fox and pitcher Michael Santos to Tampa Bay in exchange for Moore, after Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported the deal.

Moore emerged as one of the most promising young starters in baseball during the 2013 season when he went 17-4 with a 3.29 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 150.1 innings. Injuries ended up derailing his ascension toward ace status, though.

The left-hander underwent Tommy John surgery after just two starts in 2014. While he completed the recovery process in time for the second half of last season, he didn’t look anywhere close to normal, as he posted a 5.43 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 12 starts.

He’s shown signs of improvement so far during the current campaign. He’s still not all the way back to the level he achieved before the injury, but his strikeout rate is up (7. K/9) and his walk rate (2.8 BB/9) is down compared to last year (6.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9). Those are usually hallmarks of a pitcher who is rounding back into form.

The 27-year-old lefty said he was starting to find a rhythm again after his first outing of the second half, per Gary Shelton of the SaintPetersBlog.

“I just feel like I’m pitching to my capabilities,” Moore said. “Being able to string together back-to-back innings where we retired three in a row, I think that’s something to hang my hat on most these days, just being able to get some quick innings, keep my pitch count on track.”

His record from the early years of his career makes him an intriguing pickup. That’s especially true because FanGraphs notes his pitch speeds are right in line with what they were during his breakout 2013 season. It just comes down to getting his execution back.

The need for the Giants to bolster the starting rotation is clear. San Francisco has a strong trio of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, but Jake Peavy and Matt Cain are major question marks. Swapping Moore for Peavy or Cain will be a major upgrade.

More importantly, Moore is a longer-term asset for the pitching staff. Bumgarner is the only starting pitcher under 30. Tyler Beede and Phil Bickford are San Francisco’s two best young arms, but neither is close to hitting the majors—Beede has made 18 starts for the team’s Double-A affiliate.

Moore adds nice value for the Giants beyond 2016. According to Spotrac, he has three team options through 2019 that total $7 million, $9 million and $10 million. That gives San Francisco more flexibility with the staff.

Ultimately, if you consider the type of package it would have taken to acquire Moore three years ago, this trade is a reasonable investment. There is no guarantee he’ll ever showcase that type of form again, but he’s flashed enough promising signs for the Giants to take a chance on him.

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The Milwaukee Brewers parted ways with one of their top bullpen arms Monday, as they traded Will Smith to the San Francisco Giants for Phil Bickford and Andrew Susac. 

The Giants announced the trade after Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported the deal.

Since spending the first two months of the season on the disabled list with a knee injury, Smith has been steady in relief, posting a 3.68 ERA, 22 strikeouts and a 1.23 WHIP in 22 innings pitched.

The 27-year-old lefty has spent parts of three seasons with the Brew Crew after two years as a member of the Kansas City Royals, and he has developed into a dominant force out of the pen.

Smith came into his own last season when he posted a 2.70 ERA and struck out a career-high 91 batters in 63.1 innings. He was also a workhorse in 2014, appearing in a National League-high 78 games.

While the Georgia native boasts an electric arm, he became an obvious trade candidate for the Brewers since they are building for the future. With Smith set to receive a raise in arbitration during the offseason, getting something in return for him and saving money was a logical maneuver for a Milwaukee team that is loading up for the future.

As the Royals have proved in each of the past two seasons, having a strong bullpen is a big key to making a deep run in the playoffs and winning a World Series championship.

Kansas City used the triumvirate of Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland to do precisely that, and the Giants took a page out of that book by bolstering their pen with the addition of Smith.

Smith may not be a make-or-break player in terms of winning a championship by himself, but when added to an already strong team overall, he provides an element that could be valuable near the back end of the bullpen.

San Francisco hasn’t gotten much production out of its lefty relievers so far this season, as Javier Lopez is struggling with a 3.93 ERA over 18.1 innings. Smith stands to fill the role of the No. 1 left-hander out of the Giants bullpen down the stretch.

Perhaps the one downside with Smith is that he doesn’t have much experience in high-pressure situations since he has never appeared in the playoffs. However, if he continues to perform like he has thus far in 2016, he may be one of the best under-the-radar additions in Major League Baseball prior to the deadline.

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Colorado Rockies pitcher Jorge De La Rosa earned the 100th win of his career over the weekend by picking up the victory in Saturday’s 7-2 drubbing of the New York Mets, per Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN.com).

He allowed two runs (both earned) on six hits and two walks over six innings, also striking out four batters in a solid performance that pushed his record to 7-7 for the season.

De La Rosa’s 5.51 ERA and 1.60 WHIP suggest he’s rather fortunate to have as many wins as losses, even after considering that six of his 15 starts (and all three of his relief appearances) have come at Coors Field.

In fact, the 35-year-old southpaw actually has a reputation for having mastered his difficult home ballpark, as he posted a 3.59 home ERA (235.2 innings) and 4.21 road ERA (265.1 innings) from 2013 to 2015.

The unusual split hasn’t shown up this year, with De La Rosa now struggling both at home (5.65 ERA) and on the road (5.40 ERA).

Per Elias, the lefty is just the sixth player in major league history to have both a winning record and career ERA above 4.50 at the time he earned his 100th career victory.

Saturday’s win left De La Rosa with a 100-82 career record and 4.61 ERA, which is actually quite good for a pitcher who’s spent the vast majority of his career with the Rockies.

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