The Padres didn’t get a prospect package or a big-league piece when they moved Ron Marinaccio. They got something quieter, but in this case, a lot more useful: $500,000 in international bonus-pool space for a reliever they had already pushed off the roster.
That deal is starting to look awfully sharp.
Marinaccio was designated for assignment on July 19 after Randy Vásquez came off the IL. By then, the right-hander had already logged 47 innings over 33 appearances for San Diego, finishing with a 4.79 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 38 strikeouts and 18 walks. Those numbers weren’t enough to keep him around, and because he had no minor-league options left, the Padres didn’t have much reason to hesitate once they decided those innings were better used elsewhere.
The alternative was simple: lose him on waivers and get nothing back. Instead, A.J. Preller found a way to squeeze out value before the door closed.
Pittsburgh paid $500,000 in international spending capacity to get Marinaccio and jump the waiver line.
What followed made the return look even better for San Diego. Marinaccio appeared in three games for the Pirates, throwing 3 1⁄3 innings, allowing two earned runs, three hits and one walk while striking out two. Then, just 10 outs later, Pittsburgh DFA’d him after the trade deadline.
The Reds claimed him off waivers after that, and they did it without giving up a player or any international bonus-pool space.
For Pittsburgh, that’s a rough sequence. They surrendered half a million dollars in international spending power, used Marinaccio for three appearances, kept him on the roster for less than two weeks, and then watched a division rival take him for free.
The Padres, meanwhile, turned the last stretch of a fading roster spot into something with future value. International bonus money doesn’t show up like a prospect headline or a new name in the clubhouse, but it matters. It gives Preller another shot at signing a young player and adding to an international class and a farm system that the organization keeps trying to replenish through the market.
San Diego has leaned on that same approach before, using the international market to help restock a farm system thinned out by aggressive trades. In this case, they didn’t need years to know how it worked out. Twelve days was enough.
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