Padres Sign Chris Young To Four-Year Deal

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Padres will announce a four-year contract for starter Chris Young tomorrow.  There's also a club option for the fifth year.  Rosenthal also mentions that the club is working on a three-year deal for Mike Cameron; they had been reluctant to add the third year.

The dollars haven't been revealed yet, but Young's deal could be in the neighborhood of $10MM guaranteed with a $7-8MM option for 2011.  However, Young may have wanted more money than the Noah Lowry/Rich Harden/Matt Cain standard package.  He entered 2007 with 69 big league starts under his belt, more than any of the aforementioned three.  Interestingly, PECOTA doesn't like Young.  It doesn't see him ever reaching 200 innings in a season.

I don't want to irritate Rangers fans so I won't go on and on about how badly Kevin Towers ripped off Jon Daniels to acquire Young, Adrian Gonzalez, and Terrmel Sledge.  Let's just say it was one of the most lopsided deals of the decade and leave it at that.

Pitchers like Cole Hamels, Rich Hill, and Scott Kazmir may be in line for similar deals if they post strong 2007 seasons.

UPDATE: Young himself denied Rosenthal's report last night, yet the Padres have a press conference scheduled for this morning.

UPDATE 2: Despite yesterday's denial from Young, the Padres made the deal official today.  The terms: four years, $14.5MM, with an $8.5MM option for the fifth year. 

Additionally, Mike Cameron's agent expects a resolution soon according to MLB.com.

Comments

[cascando]

--Let's just say it was one of the most lopsided deals of the decade and leave it at that.--

Very tactfully put. It's a good thing Soriano for Wilkerson worked out so well for Rangers fans.

Maybe Daniels should be next in line for a GM profile. It's early, but he already has some "interesting" deals on record.

[kevmill21]

i hate you all...

the soriano trade i understood somewhat, but the young trade and the recent mccarthy done were done for the sake of making a trade and have been crippling

im not a big young fan either, but he was a 6 inning 4.5 ERA type guy in the AL and that's not bad, Eaton was a completely shot in the dark on an oft injured NL guy, awful move

and this danks move could be much worse, because i see mccarthy as being one of those 6 inning 4.5 type guys with low K's and a lot of big flys and danks could be a good 2 starter eventually

[El Hombre]

I disagree. I think McCarthy will be better than Danks in the long run.

[bcampy]

Yes.. Well done KT. If he can resign Cameron without giving in that 3rd year, he has to be one of the hottest gm's in baseball lately.

Getting Bard and Merideth (lights out reliever) for Doug Freakin .193 Miribelli, not to mention the texas deal. Also, instead of trading for Marcus Giles, he correctly waited out ATL and got him for nothing. What a stud. Now only if he can raise some prospects..

[Guitar Hero]

Kevin Kouzmanoff, career minor leaguer, for solid young major league quality 2b?

[OkiPadres]

Career Minor leaguer?!? What are you talking about. That can't be farther from the truth. I can only assume you don't follow baseball that much.

[Jason]

Wasn't Texas trying to dump Chan Ho Park's salary on San Diego? I wouldn't say the deal has been a complete rip-off. Eaton was a huge disappointment for Texas, but they ditched Park and got an excellent reliever in Otsuka. Young is also faring much better pitching in Petco than he ever would have in Arlington.

[RotoAuthority]

No, Park for Phil Nevin was a separate trade.

[jmonahan7]

"Kevin Kouzmanoff, career minor leaguer, for solid young major league quality 2b?"

Are you off your meds?

Hes only 25 and has big potential, especially in the power department. He filled a need at 3rd and filled second base with one of the better 2nd basemen in baseball right now.

[nrmax88]

not to sound like a dick, but marcus giles is NOT one of the best 2B in baseball, its really not even close.

[WestCoastBias]

I agree with both jmonahan and nrmax.

He's one of the better 2B in baseball given that, if healthy, he can produce better then league average production.

However, he's certainly not one of the best (no one said he was).

I see a pretty clear difference between "one of the better" and "one of the best."

All of that said, if Marcus produces like he has in the first week (doubtful) then he'll certainly be one of the best.

[WestCoastBias]

I don't mind irritating anyone.

Let's make this even clearer.

Solid clean-up hitter (Gonzalez), potential solid leadoff hitter/already solid #8 hitter (Sledge) & solid #2 SP (Young).

for

Solid closer who by all accounts should fall apart this year (Otsuka), busted #4 SP (Eaton) & nothing AA catcher (don't even remember his name).

He has his faults but KT is the man.

[ArodSucksAtLife]

"Kevin Kouzmanoff, career minor leaguer, for solid young major league quality 2b? "

He's not a career minor leaguer, but I don't think he's going to be anything special, and Barfield is going to be a better player.

[Guitar Hero]

Well career minor leaguer was a bit harsh. But I feel like he's the exact kind of guy who there are so many of...all those 1b/dh quadruple-A hitters that aren't worth it in the majors...I know he plays 3b, passably. But he may have a peak in his career, who knows.

[DentalPlan]

Bar none, the Pads got a sweet deal.

[WestCoastBias]

Xavier Nady for Mike Cameron is looking pretty good too. Granted, Omar was getting rid of his salary so it wasn't a total rip.

As unproductive that he was, dumping Brian Lawrence off for Vinny Castilla seemed to have served a purpose in having a mentor for Adrian Gonzalez in his first year. Adrian said himself how much knowledge he took from him.

The Meredith-Bard-Mirabelli trade made everyone forget about Loretta for Mirabelli.

It's also good to note that Chan Ho Park was far more productive for us then Phil Nevin was for the Rangers.

Branyon was another solid trade who's producing great numbers.

Just thought I'd toot KT's horn while it was still semi-related. If he can lock up Cameron & Linebrink soon, it'll be even better.