The Padres have acquired left-hander Patrick Schuster from the Astros to complete yesterday's Anthony Bass trade, tweets Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The Astros will also receive cash considerations from the Padres, according to a team press release.
Houston selected Schuster out of the Diamondbacks organization with the first overall pick in this morning's Rule 5 Draft. The 23-year-old posted a strong 1.83 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 44 innings at Class-A Advanced last season. He held both left-handers and right-handers to an identical .533 OPS.
The Padres have been said to be on the lookout for left-handed relief help this offseason, so perhaps if GM Josh Byrnes and his staff feel that Schuster can succeed in a lefty specialist role at the Major League level, he can stick on the roster all season. Otherwise, San Diego will have to work out a trade with the Diamondbacks in order to keep Schuster in the organization.
Towers is pretty sharp with his pitchers; therefore, you would think he would have protected Schuster if he was a good bet to pitch in an MLB pen. Furthermore, it was Towers who traded for Thatcher [a lefty] from the Padres midseason last year to shore up the Diamondback pen. I hope Schuster is the Padre answer to the lefty spot in the pen.
Yeah, but he’s not perfect. Don’t forget that he left Joakim Soria exposed to the Rule 5 in 2006.
Good point.
I think Byrnes drafted this guy as well, so maybe he, Black, and Balsley saw/see something that they can fix to get this kid to the Majors.
Need more info on this guy.
Pretty impressed with Byrnes right now… picked this guy up, a SS, and a C in the Rule 5 draft and didn’t lose a player out of our system.