Yesterday, Arizona dealt John Patterson to Montreal for Randy Choate, pending physicals. Patterson is out of options and wasn't likely to win the fifth starter's job in Arizona, so the Diamondbacks decided to deal him rather than risk losing him on waivers for nothing.

A loophole free agent in 1996, Patterson never was able to provide the return Arizona expected when the Diamondbacks invested more than $6M in him out of high school. In 2000, Tommy John surgery derailed his progress through the minors, but after a solid season at AAA in 2002, he was a lock for the Diamondbacks' rotation in 2003. However, Arizona allowed a poor spring training to convince them to send Patterson back to AAA to open the 2003 season. When the Diamondbacks decided Oscar Villareal was better suited to the pen than to the rotation, Patterson was given a spot start to prove himself worthy and then sent back to the minors. Injury problems led Arizona to give him a longer audition from late May into July, but as the fifth starter he wasn't receiving the ball every fifth day, and the results were disappointing.

In his fifth partial season of AAA, he compiled a 74:43 K:BB with 100 H and 6 HR allowed in 109.1 IP for a 2.63 ERA over 18 starts. Those numbers represent a substantial drop in his strikeout rate from previous seasons. His walk rate as usual remains slightly above target levels, and his major league home run problems diminish the positive thoughts his improved minor league HR/9 inspired.