Padres Trade For Scott Hairston

In a nice little move, the Padres sent 26 year-old Triple A reliever Leo Rosales to the Diamondbacks for 27 year-old outfielder Scott Hairston.

I’ve always wanted to see what Hairston could do with a healthy 500 ABs, but he’s run into bad luck at the worst times.  He was once very highly regarded; you can read a post I wrote on his history here.  Hairston’s only played outfield this year, but he broke in as a second baseman so he might be able to fill in for Marcus Giles if the Padres can put up with subpar defense.  Otherwise he can help out at either outfield corner, especially against lefties.  Hairston has proven himself time and again in Triple A; I think he can succeed at the big league level.  He’s also under control for quite some time in the event that he does hit for the Padres.

This looks like another smooth move by Kevin Towers – he bought low on Hairston and didn’t give up much.