The Padres have designated pitcher Adys Portillo for assignment to make room for Joaquin Benoit on their 40-man roster, Corey Brock of MLB.com tweets.
Portillo is a 22-year-old right hander who has thrown just 35 innings above A-ball. He originally signed with the Padres in 2008, receiving a $2MM amateur signing bonus in a deal that was at the time the largest ever given to a Venezuelan-born player. However, he's struggled since, amassing a 4.86 ERA over five seasons in the minors.
Another Aaron Poreda. Great arm but can’t find home-plate with any consistency. I hope this means the Padres are loaded with talented and consistent pitchers.
BIG arm that’s had some health problems. I’m surprised the Padres let him go. Somebody will pick him up. Astros?
Yeah, Padres have enough pitchers with health issues, don’t they. Do you see us taking him back if he doesn’t get claimed (hard to believe he won’t but you never know).
Yes. He killed Fort Wayne in his 3rd try but once he did they jumped him to the Texas league over the CAL or they could have left him to be best in league instead of a mid year promotion. In the Texas league he got rocked 7.20 era. Last season he pitched less than 10 innings like you said, so he probably belongs in AA or A+; he’s only 21 but maybe he can be productive 2-4 years from now. I think the pads know that and know he’d get rocked in the majors this year so hoping he makes it through and they can gain roster flexibility. IMO this could be a wake up call to him to work harder… To answer your other comment coup, the padres have a dozen arms I like better in their minor system. Portillo has great stuff, better than most of them, but he hasn’t demonstrated control. True he’s a 21 year old international player with a 2 million bonus, but he needs to get better before he should see the majors. The padres can afford losing him with depth that blocks all paths to the majors for him in the near future. As is they are at 40 players on their 40 man. Does this mean they have a completed team going into spring training? I think what we see is what we’ll probably get in 14.