"Livid" Marlins Sending Starter Colin Rea Back to Padres After Elbow Injury in First Outing After Trade

The Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres agreed to a seven-player deal last Friday that netted the Marlins two starting pitchers in Colin Rea and Andrew Cashner. Rea took the mound for Miami on Saturday but pitched only 3⅓ innings before being removed with an elbow injury. Rea said he felt minor tightness when he was warming up before the game and it steadily got worse, to the point where he could not continue past the fourth inning. He was subsequently placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder sprain.

The Marlins were reportedly "livid" with the injury, and "felt like they'd been dealt damaged goods." Judging by the picture of owner Jeffrey Loria above when Rea was removed—and the news from Ken Rosenthal that Miami is sending Rea back to the Padres—that report checks out.

Source: #Marlins sending Rea back to #Padres but keeping Cashner. Rea left first start with MIA due to elbow injury.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 1, 2016

Not yet sure how reworked #Marlins-#Padres deal will look. Told that MIA is "trading" Rea back to SD, keeping Cashner.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 1, 2016

Source: #Marlins getting Luis Castillo back, with Rea returning to #Padres.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 1, 2016

The "damaged goods" implication is that Rea had an existing injury that no one documented in his file or alerted the Marlins to during the negotiation, and presumably if Miami's doctors only saw the files kept by the team, they would have no reason to do any sort of real investigation of his elbow. That the Padres have agreed to send Luis Castillo back in return for Rea could be a good-faith gesture, or an admission that they did something sneaky, or maybe they just didn't mind getting him back because they didn't want to give him up in the first place. Whatever the case, a year after Wilmer Flores was seen crying on the field because he thought he'd been traded, we've got a guy who actually was traded get injured during his first start with a new team and promptly shipped back. The MLB trade deadline is pretty weird.

Another wrinkle in this curious story is that one month ago, the Padres and the Marlins worked out another deal that sent Fernando Rodney to Miami in exchange for pitching prospect Chris Paddack. Last Monday, Paddack was scratched from his scheduled start after feeling tightness in his elbow while warming up. On the same day Rea was injured, the Padres announced Paddack had a torn ulnar collateral ligament and was likely headed for Tommy John surgery.