Phillies trade top 2010 draft pick Jesse Biddle

Having DFA'd the 24-year-old lefty on Friday, the clock was ticking as the team had ten days to do something with Jesse Biddle, if indeed that was their plan. It seems that it was, as the Phillies and Pirates have reportedly worked out a deal.

Biddle was a local kid, a Germantown Friends School alum whose fan base was pretty excited to see where his future took him. He appeared on many of the Phillies' top prospect lists over the years. However, the recent influx of talent to the team's farm system seemed to knock Biddle out of the way. His unfortunate past (including getting nailed in the back of the head during a hail storm) had stolen time from his development and he faltered in both Reading and Lehigh Valley as a starter, despite early successes - in 2013, he broke Reading's single game strikeout record by K'ing 16 Harrisburg Senators (the previous record was 13).

He even faced Alex Rodriguez that season, giving up a home run to him in the first at-bat and striking him out looking in the second.

Then came the pain through which he pitched the 2015 season, and the subsequent Tommy John surgery that would cost him 2016. While sad, the move to DFA Biddle did not come as a surprise, and it has been said repeatedly that perhaps a breath of fresh air in another town will be good for him (Even if that town is Pittsburgh).

The return is said to be RHP Yoervis Medina, a 27-year-old signed as an amateur by the Mariners in 2005. He didn't appear in the majors until 2013, when he finished 19 games for the Mariners, throwing 68 innings, giving up 71 SO, 40 BB, and 22 ER.  The next season he threw 57 innings in a similar bullpen role, finishing 19 games again, and putting up stats proportional to the slight downtick in exposure (60 SO, 28 BB, 17 ER).

He didn't see much time this past season, going from Seattle to the Cubs, but only throwing 21 innings as a big leaguer and giving up 11 ER and 23 H. Medina spent far more time with the triple A clubs of both teams, putting up a 5.62 ERA for the season through 40 IP.

Medina throws hard, turns 28 this year and struggles to throw strikes

— Matt Winkelman (@Matt_Winkelman) February 3, 2016