Ben

Howard

No word yet on where he might go. The Padres are also shopping lefty reliever Kevin Walker. One player they aren’t going to move is Sean Burroughs. According to the North County Times, they turned down the Dodgers’ offer of Odalis Perez and Adrian Beltre for Burroughs earlier this spring.

Howard is 3-0 with a 3.41 ERA for the Isotopes. He’ll be used in relief.

Howard has a 5.28 ERA in 24 relief appearances for the Marlins. He’ll be used as a reliever.

Howard surely would have been claimed a couple of months ago, but no one figured it was worth taking a chance on such a project now. The stuff is there for Howard to turn into an excellent reliever, but he’s not nearly there yet.

Howard is out of options and has little margin for error in his bid for a spot in Florida’s potential. If he is sent through waivers, a lesser team should take a chance on his potential.

Howard ends the year with a 3.63 ERA in six starts for the Padres. That probably makes him the early favorite for the fifth spot in next year’s rotation. He’ll be a bit of a sleeper.

The Marlins have indicated that they see Howard primarily as a reliever, although whether he’ll be used in that role immediately is unclear.

Maybe the reports that Neal cleared waivers yesterday were wrong. It doesn’t make any sense that the Padres would give up someone as talented as Howard for a pitcher they could have claimed, even if Neal is a little more valuable now that he can start off in Triple-A instead of in the majors. Anyway, this looks like a good trade for the Marlins, especially since Neal had fallen out of their plans. Howard has the stuff to be a solid fourth or fifth starter or a quality setup man. He’s not ready just yet, but look for him to spend some time in the majors this season.