http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/07/padres-to-acquire-ian-kennedy.html The Padres have bolstered their rotation for the present and future, acquiring righty Ian Kennedy from the division rival Diamondbacks for lefty reliever Joe Thatcher, Double-A reliever Matt Stites, and a compensation round B draft pick, according to a tweet from MLB.com's Corey Brock. It's a surprisingly light haul for Kennedy, a 28-year-old who is under team control through 2015 as an arbitration eligible player. Drafted 21st overall by the Yankees in '06, Kennedy joined Arizona in the December 2009 three-team trade with the Yanks and Tigers, at a time when Josh Byrnes was the Diamondbacks' GM. Byrnes was fired the following year and later landed the GM job in San Diego, while Kevin Towers took over for Arizona. Clearly, Byrnes has an affinity for Kennedy, who tossed 624 1/3 regular season innings from 2010-12 with a 3.55 ERA. Kennedy's walk rate worsened this year, en route to a 5.23 ERA in 124 frames. His skills suggest something closer to 4.00 moving forward. Kennedy scored a near-record $4.265MM salary for 2013, his first arbitration year, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a mild raise to the $5.9MM range for 2014. Thatcher is a useful left-handed specialist who joined the Padres in a July 2007 trade brokered by Towers. The 31-year-old has a 2.10 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 1.2 BB/9, 0.90 HR/9, and 42.4% groundball rate in 30 innings this year. He's faced 70 lefty batters and held them to a .212/.257/.231 line. Earning $1.35MM this year, Thatcher is under team control through 2014 as an arbitration eligible player. I would have given up Gonzalez and a AA reliever and a pick for him. We could have set up our rotation nicely for next year