Pittsburgh Pirates Sending Rotation Help, Possible Power Bat to San Diego Padres at Trade Deadline

The Pittsburgh Pirates are finalizing a trade that would send Rich Hill and Ji-Man Choi to the San Diego Padres.

UPDATE, 1:23 p.m. Mark Feisand of MLB.com has the full return for Hill and Choi.

LHP Jackson Wolf, OF Estuar Suero and 1B Alfonso Rivas will go to the Pirates from the Padres for Choi and Hill, per source.

@Joelsherman1 was on the return.

LHP Jackson Wolf, OF Estuar Suero and 1B Alfonso Rivas will go to the Pirates from the Padres for Choi and Hill, per source. @Joelsherman1 was on the return.

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 1, 2023

The San Diego Padres, who enter play on Tuesday at 5.0 games back in the National League wild card race, are acquiring veteran pitcher Rich Hill and slugger Ji-Man Choi in a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Padres Finalizing A Trade To Acquire Rich Hill, Ji Man Choi https://t.co/M6cRm03zXE pic.twitter.com/VjzN1e0geY

— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) August 1, 2023

MLB Insider Jon Heyman says that the biggest piece going back to Pittsburgh is pitching prospect Jackson Wolf.

The Padres are 52-55 and one of the biggest disappointments in all of baseball, but after having won six of their last 10, ownership is deciding to continue their trend of going big and trying to win.

The 43-year-old Hill is 7-10 this season with a 4.76 ERA for Pittsburgh. He's been durable, tossing 119 innings. He's in his 19th year in the big leagues with a multitude of teams: Red Sox, Dodgers, A's, Cubs, Twins, Mets, Rays, Angels, Guardians, Yankees and Orioles. 

He's 89-69 overall with a 3.93 ERA in his career.

As for Choi, the 32-year-old is hitting just .205 this season with a .224 on-base percentage. He's got six home runs but he does offer the Padres a bit of power, having hit 19 home runs for the Rays back in 2019.

As for Wolf: He was ranked the Padres No. 16 prospect, per MLB.com. Here's a portion of his prospect profile:

Despite standing in at 6-foot-7, Wolf doesn’t flash huge velocity, sitting in the 88-92 mph range. However, he can make for an uneasy at-bat with the way he stays in almost constant motion on the mound before firing in from a low arm slot. The sinking motion on the heater has traditionally made it play better lower, but the Padres have worked with Wolf on throwing higher in the zone in line with modern practices, leading to the solid K rate in ’22. San Diego officials say Wolf has spent the offseason adding weight in search of getting closer to average velocity.

His sweeping slider and vertical curveball are his two actual above-average offerings, both playing well off the heater...

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