The Padres are under review by Major League Baseball regarding the exchange of medical information in two recent trades, sources told the Union-Tribune.

Since dealing left-hander Drew Pomeranz to Boston last month and right-hander Colin Rea to Miami last week, San Diego has drawn questions as to whether it properly shared medical records in the deals. It is unclear if the Padres will face penalties as a result of MLB’s review.

“In response to several unrelated issues that arose during the trade deadline, we are reviewing our policies regarding maintenance of medical files to ensure uniformity between clubs,” an MLB spokesperson said in a statement Friday night.

While a Padres spokesperson said the organization currently had no comment on the MLB review, sources Friday indicated the organization is confident it will be cleared of any alleged wrongdoing.


Monday, the seven-player deal that sent Rea to Miami was reworked, with Rea being traded back to San Diego for pitching prospect Luis Castillo. Friday, the Padres announced Rea will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

The trade that sent Pomeranz to Boston will stand, according to sources, although the Red Sox have raised concerns about the exchange of medical information in that deal. Sources said Boston’s concerns were not brought up immediately (Pomeranz made his fourth Red Sox start Thursday), whereas Miami voiced its issues after Rea left his Marlins debut with a right elbow injury.

Teams typically swap and review all pertinent medical information before completing a trade. To this point, however, MLB has not established hard-and-fast rules to govern such exchanges.

Rea, a 26-year-old rookie, threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings Saturday before he exited the game. Sources said the Marlins then asked Rea whether he was taking any medications, presumably for elbow discomfort. The pitcher revealed that he was. According to sources, the Marlins claimed the Padres did not disclose any such medications at the time of the trade.


The two sides subsequently came to an agreement; the Padres would take back Rea and return Castillo, who also was part of the original deal.

× Colin Rea returned to Padres

After Rea underwent an MRI this week and met with team doctors, it was determined he had sustained a torn UCL. The estimated recovery timetable for Tommy John surgery is 14 to 18 months. As of Friday, no surgery date had been set.

“I just knew that it gradually got worse and worse throughout the start,” Rea said. “It got to the point where I just wasn’t able to throw anymore. My velocity was dropping every inning. That last inning was the lowest it had been all year, so I knew something wasn’t right. It wasn’t like a certain pitch, but it was a gradual decline.”


Rea acknowledged earlier this week that he had recently pitched through what he believed to be general soreness. The Padres have closely monitored his workload this year; Rea, who had a 4.98 ERA in 99 1/3 innings this year, has never thrown more than 139 innings in a professional season.

“Obviously, the timing of the whole thing wasn’t great,” Rea said of his injury. “The biggest thing is to get this done with and move forward and work hard through the rehab process and try to come back better.”

Said Padres manager Andy Green: “We’re disappointed, but he still fits very much into our plans. We have every anticipation of him getting back and being fully healthy and being ready to go.”

Coincidentally, the Padres and Marlins completed a trade in late June that also involved a player who later sustained an injury. San Diego dealt closer Fernando Rodney in exchange for pitching prospect Chris Paddack, who suffered a torn UCL after three starts with the Padres’ Low Single-A affiliate. Like Rea, Paddack will undergo Tommy John surgery.


In early June, the Padres acquired right-hander Erik Johnson from the Chicago White Sox as part of the return for James Shields. After four starts, Johnson went on the disabled list with an elbow sprain. He is likely out for the season.

In both trades, the Padres apparently were satisfied with the disclosure of medical information.

“We look at each situation unique. You go through each situation, kind of figure out what we feel like is right, what’s the best possible deal for us,” Padres General Manager A.J. Preller said this week. “Ultimately, in those two cases, we went through the process that we mentioned, the medical process. We took those guys on, they got hurt and you move on, accepting that, hoping to get them better and hoping to get them back on the field as soon as possible.”