The Padres locked up Cameron Maybin to a five-year deal earlier this month, and now they're working on another core player. MLB.com's Corey Brock reports (on Twitter) that talks between the team and catcher Nick Hundley have heated up this week, and an agreement could be close. He's an Athletes First client.
Hundley, 28, will earn $2MM this season, his first as an arbitration-eligible player. A .255/.314/.420 career hitter, Hundley broke out with a .288/.347/.477 batting line in 308 plate appearances last season. He did miss more than two months with an oblique strain and an elbow issue, however. Since breaking into the league in 2008, Hundley ranks 13th among all catchers with 6.5 wins above replacement (min. 1,000 PA).
As our Extension Tracker shows, catchers like Kurt Suzuki (four years, $16.25MM), Carlos Ruiz (three years, $8.85MM), Chris Iannetta (three years, $8.3MM), and Yadier Molina (four years, $15.5MM) have signed extensions when they had between three and four years of service time. Hundley's three arbitration years figure to cost San Diego $8-10MM.
Where’s Baseball Blogs Weigh In?
Bill Center spoke of a possible extension last week on his chat to be fair. I’d like to see what Hundley can do during a full season healthy before extending him. Especially with Hedges and Grandal behind him.
I don’t think this is a scenario where they are signing Hundley to keep him. Plenty of teams are looking for catching help (Arizona and Tampa come to mind), and Hundley’s value increases if he’s controllable for a couple extra years. Hopefully he gets off to a great start and they can trade him mid-season to fill a hole (SS or 2B) for the longterm. I can’t imagine they traded for Grandal with the intention of keeping Hundley around for very long.
I’ve never been a huge fan. He calls a pretty good game, but he can’t stay on the field. He’s also pretty streaky with the stick.
Good point. However, still somewhat risky given his lack of playing time, and health questions. I mean, I’ve been his biggest supporter but the guy is currently nursing an oblique strain, and the one last year had him down over a month last year. I’d wait until mid-season at LEAST.
It’d be kind of ideal in weird way. Hundley has pretty much shown he can’t stay healthy over a full season. He might shine in backup role to Grandal.
Pretty sure I said “hopefully he can get off to a good start and we can trade him mid-season”. :)
Just expanding on that. I agree. I would wait. No rush.
Hak-ju lee would be nice.
It seems as though Byrnes has no problem bringing in his guys and it would surprise me a lot if they kept Hundley over Grandal. I’m sure the plan is to have Grandal catch many of the Padres top prospects this year and to have him take over next season. The two teams you mention could use a catcher, but I’m sure Byrnes would want Lee from the Rays and they wouldn’t deal him for Rizzo, at least that was rumored. Other than a SS, the Padres would want a guy who has the potential to become a front line starter, at least you’d think, and Tampa Bay doesn`t trade those away.
A deal with Arizona would be interesting. I would like to see what the “old gunslinger” would be willing to give up for one of the only decent players he ever drafted, let alone being a interdivision team. The DBacks seem to have a lot of pitching at the top of their farm system, but it falls off pretty quick. The one thing that would worry me with a deal with the DBacks is that Byrnes is so familiar with their prospects, he may reach for a lesser known one who he drafted instead of going after a top tier prospect and as we all know, Towers doesn’t lose a lot of trades.
It seems as though Byrnes has no problem bringing in his guys and it would surprise me a lot if they kept Hundley over Grandal. I’m sure the plan is to have Grandal catch many of the Padres top prospects this year and to have him take over next season. The two teams you mention could use a catcher, but I’m sure Byrnes would want Lee from the Rays and they wouldn’t deal him for Rizzo, at least that was rumored. Other than a SS, the Padres would want a guy who has the potential to become a front line starter, at least you’d think, and Tampa Bay doesn`t trade those away.
A deal with Arizona would be interesting. I would like to see what the “old gunslinger” would be willing to give up for one of the only decent players he ever drafted, let alone being a interdivision team. The DBacks seem to have a lot of pitching at the top of their farm system, but it falls off pretty quick. The one thing that would worry me with a deal with the DBacks is that Byrnes is so familiar with their prospects, he may reach for a lesser known one who he drafted instead of going after a top tier prospect and as we all know, Towers doesn’t lose a lot of trades.
If the price is right he’d be a heckuva backup to Grandal. You need at least two catchers anyway, why not have a strong battery in San Diego for years to come?
Padres will probably trade Hundley and Headley by July for even more prospects. I think both could feth some decent guys.
Headley I see being dealt for sure.
I’m not trying to sound like a homer or anything here, but he really makes sense for the Phillies. I could see the price being Trevor May for him. I don’t think Chase warrants Brown or Biddle, but I could def. see the Padres ask for May or Colvin (if he is healthy) and another relief pitcher.
Headley would be a MONSTER in Philadelphia.
Yes he would. His road numbers are great. I would love to see a 1-5 of Rollins Shane Pence Howard Headley…
I’m a Padres fan and Headley’s splits are a major frustration for me, since he’s so mediocre at home and like a poor man’s Chipper Jones on the road. Thinking of him playing a majority of his games in a park of that size is beyond exciting.
But would the Phillies really be willing to trade at this point? The farm is so depleted, you’d think they’d want to leave something in the tank for later?
If they were getting a young player, they would trade an arm like Colvin or May. I don’t think they would trade Gillies, Brown, Valle, or Biddle at this point however. Their system is pretty rough right now to say the least.
At this point it probably wouldn’t take much to move Headley anyway, since he’s blocking the path for multiple corner-infield prospects in the Padres’ system. I would think other teams know this and eventually their hand would be forced.
Don’t buy that. The Padres will look to get maximum value for Headley when it comes time to trade him. The price would be a minimum of 2 B level prospects. But I don’t think he’ll be traded until we’re sure Gyorko can handle big league pitching. I see them working Gyorko into the lineup slowly until he replaces Headley like Headley replaced Kouz.
I agree with you and believe the padres may even try and extend Headley. If Headley makes it known thay he wants to leave petco it could force the padres hand though. Signing Headley to an extension would not prohibit them from trading Headley and could help with leverage since they would appear comitted to them. Oh, and there is always the fact the Headley is a proven bat and Gyorko is still a prospect.
It’s pretty well known he dislikes Petco park. lol
Disliking petco and publicly expressing a desire to leave are two different things. My guess is that Headley will use the park as a negotiation point by pointing out he would make more money in FA if he hit in another park.
It won’t get that far. The Padres will maximise his value by dealing him. Using any sort of leverage in negotiations will only gprovide minor dididens financially. It won’t do anything about an unhappy player’s performance because of petco. When he say’s this park is killing me, I think we can deduce what he feels about th epark and what the linklyhoof of him extending here will be.
Really MLBTR? All I see is a vertical line of text!
4 years at $14m plus a $1m buyout or $7m 5th year option sounds about right.