Monday, December 29, 2014

Yankees Trade Shawn Kelley to Padres for Minor League Pitcher

Barbato. (Screen grab via MLBpipeline.com)

The New York Yankees have officially traded RHP Shawn Kelley to the San Diego Padres for minor league pitcher Johnny Barbato. Kelley is on the 40 man roster and Barbato is not so essentially the Yankees cleared a 40 man roster spot with this move begging the question if this is part of a bigger deal. New York also saved about $2 million with the deal and continued their process of getting younger across the board.

Barbato, if healthy, will presumably start the season in Triple-A in his age 22 season. I say if healthy because Barbato was shut down last season due to elbow soreness and there is at least a possibility that he will need Tommy John surgery.

Here's a quick scouting report on Barbato:

He pitches with mid-90s velocity and verve, attacking hitters with a live fastball that sinks and runs as it nears the plate. He throws a true curveball in the high 70s that features extreme break through the zone, and he locates and mixes his two pitches well enough to boast a career strikeout rate of 9.2 per nine innings … Barbato has the raw stuff to zoom to [New York] in 2015 and gradually work his way up to a setup role. - 

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)