All-Time Phillies Saves Leader Papelbon Traded to Nationals

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter #89

2015 Chachi Almost #10

There has been a deal.

The big news throughout the day yesterday was the pending trade of the Phillies all-time saves leader, and general overall nutjob Jonathan Papelbon.  The deal was officially announced before the start of the fifth inning in last night's game and I'm glad the Papelbon era (2012-2015) has officially come to a close.

Papelbon was traded to the Nationals (with cash considerations) for Double-A prospect Nick Pivetta.  Pivetta is a lanky right-handed starting pitcher who was drafted by the Nationals in 2013.  Prior to the season, Baseball America ranked him the Nationals 10th best prospect.  He has yet to appear on any mainstream baseball cards although a quick eBay search shows that he has several cards in recent Nationals minor league team sets.

I decided to add Pivetta to the growing Chachi Almost set and hopefully he's appearing on a Chachi base card in the near future.  Given that he's recently appeared in three games for Double-A Harrisburg, I went ahead and assigned him to the Reading Fightin Phils for his card.  One of Papelbon's final Phillies cards (if not his final Phillies card) is from the recently released Allen & Ginter set.

Departed During Season
Grady Sizemore (6/1/15) - Released  (Signed with the Tampa Bay Rays organization 6/15/15)
Phillippe Aumont (6/24/15) - Designated for assignment and elected free agency (Signed with the Toronto Blue Jays organization 7/24/15)
Jonathan Papelbon (7/28/15) - Traded with cash considerations to the Washington Nationals for Nick Pivetta.

Arrived During Season
Kevin Correia (6/8/15) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the San Francisco Giants organization