The Padres are prepared to be active at the deadline, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. While the team is holding out hope that it will make sense to add pieces, its fall in the standings seems to make a cashing in of expiring assets more likely.
Regardless of record, says Lin, San Diego is not only prepared to function as a seller, but also as a buyer of MLB assets at the deadline. Presumably, that means that the club may look to acquire more controllable players in exchange for current roster members who are nearing free agency (Justin Upton, Will Venable, and Ian Kennedy, most immediately).
Indeed, there is little indication in the report that the Padres are interested in blowing up their roster to re-plant the farm system. Lin adds, instead, that the club will look to be active next year in free agency, possibly even increasing its overall payroll once again.
GM A.J. Preller indicated that he is once again preparing to be flexible and creative as he gathers information for the deadline. “We’ve got a lot of our scouting group on the road, seeing players we could add to the mix,” said Preller. “Then we’re also considering situations where we kind of change the look of the club a little bit. … The biggest thing we preach to our scouts is to just be prepared for all different scenarios.”
While the club obviously hoped for a better spot in the standings at this stage of the year, that doesn’t mean that Preller’s bold offseason has left him exposed with ownership. President and CEO Mike Dee made clear that he is pleased with the young executive thus far and is not afraid of more roster turnover. “This was a franchise that was stuck in neutral for the last 10 years,” said Dee, “so I give A.J. a lot of credit for rolling to the dice to see if we could add to this year’s team to compete, to compete with this group, and I think we still may. If we don’t, then we’ll reassess and reshuffle the deck and see if we can find a different chemistry, a different combination, that can improve the roster.”
My guess is that the Padres are going to trade away the FAs to be while stockpiling guys that are already on the MLB roster to help build for next year, because Preller probably isn’t to excited to tear down the team he made just because of one bad year.
Isn’t that exactly what the article said?
Looks like this could be summed up with the simple statement: “Just Preller being Preller”. Although, I don’t really know how much value Preller will get for guys other than Justin Upton. Maybe he will get enough return from him, but it will have to be more value than the draft pick next year.
He may be an entertaining folk hero, but he seems to be going in circles…..and spending a lot of money while doing it.
I think the 1 move they should make is to give the current GM his walking papers.
That guy has put the minor league system in shambles, and they have no prospects , of any real value, to trade.
He may have gotten a ton of headlines over the winter, but if you look at his moves , individually, you cannot name 1 that will make the team better over the next 2 years.
Just sell what you got, finish in the lower part of the division, as usual, and try to make headlines next year, blowing up the farm system, and major league roster, once again.
Normally, I’d agree with this assessment of the situation, because that’s what in the best interest of the franchise. The problem is that Preller obviously told the owner what he wanted to hear and the owner believed it. Preller made all kinds of promises of turning around an infinite disaster, promises that were impossible to keep, and the owner believed it, because that’s what he WANTED to believe.
I’ll fix the unending disaster that was the 2014 Padres, get you into the playoffs next year, do it without spending much money, without significantly damaging the farm, and get you back to the WS soon. And he bought it!
Ordinarily, I’d feel bad for Padres fan, but I’ve met too many of them to go down that road. So I’ll just say that the problem here is much bigger than Preller.
The guy has been on the job for 1 year. Hardly enough to do an evaluation on him. Guys need at least 3 years to put their plans into place correctly, and get a few drafts and international signings, to see if they’ve been able to accurately evaluate talent. Sure their farm system is depleted after the trades they made, but at the same time, they weren’t his draft picks, nor his prospects. He made a HUGE splash this off season, and got people in the seats, which San Diego was SEVERELY lacking the last few years. He needs time, and 1 year is not long enough.
While I am not a believer in the “only the guys i picked myself count” theory of management, I agree it’s too early to judge Preller’s work in San Diego. Fan in LA can relate to the neglected franchise problem and know that fixes are rarely quick. I give him a B+ for effort.
Too early, perhaps. But not by much. Looking at the team on paper this past off-season, I was never impressed. I’ve always been an Upton fan, but they were relying so heavily on guys having bounce back years – from Wil Myers to Will Middlebrooks, from Yonser Alsonso to Matt Kemp – that this disaster of a season was obvious if you just stopped for two seconds to think about it. When every discussion about a team’s potential starts with “If this guy plays like he did a few years ago,” it’s a recipe for disaster.
I was looking for improvement so maybe our expectations were different. This year’s Padres team is capable of playing breakeven baseball and maybe even finishing second. That’s progress over the doormat teams they’ve fielded for many years. I see an ownership committed to getting better. That alone would give me hope if I was a Padres fan.
Agreed.. Hopefully Preller has learned from the fleecing he received from a few teams this off season.. One thing he did was show the baseball world that he meant business.. I remember Sandoval pretty much snubbing them during free agency.. Now players know they are serious.. Myers, Norris and Kemp should be a solid core for a few years..
Well our expectations were certainly different. I think I drew mine out pretty clearly. I didn’t expect them to be any good – certainly not the playoff team that the national media was making them out to be.
As for your ‘breakeven baseball’ expectations, is that really enough to warrant giving up 3 of your last 4 first round draft picks? What team in recent memory do you recall mortgaging their future for the chance to go .500?
Let’s be clearer about that, Preller gave up 3 of the team’s last 4 1st round draft picks for one-year of Justin Upton, a 33-year old James Shields, an injury-prone Wil Myers and a guy in Will Middlebrooks who hasn’t looked the part of a big leaguer since mid-2012. And that’s not even factoring in that he traded away Matt Wisler, Joe Ross and Jesse Hahn. The window for this team is very small so incremental improvements on a year-to-year basis with these players is unlikely. Do you still have the same hope moving forward?
He’s made a number of terrible trades that are going to hurt that franchise for years.
He also made a few that will help..
Derrick Norris vs. Rene Rivers and Yasmani Grandal.
Norris is the better overall catcher. Gives you offense and defense. He’s caught a lot of innings, around 630, and he’s wearing down cause he’s being played too much. But he makes the team better than Rivera who’s awful in Tanpa and while Grandal is an all star Norris has better offensive numbers and has thrown out more people which has always plagued Grandal. He’s controllable through 2016 or 2017.
In what world does norris have better offensive numbers?
The world where he’s got 32 extra base hits which blows away most the NL except posey who has 28.
Grandal has the luxury of getting better pitches with better hitters around him. Norris gets the burden of Amarista, Gyorko, Middlebrooks behind him which allows pitchers to pitch around him by giving him nothing to hit trying to paint the edges.
Also, more to the point, Norris has a dwar of 1 while Grandal has -0.4. Norris has caught 36% of base runners compared to grandals 26%
His obp is under 300! He has been a league average hitter. And caught stealing % is more related to whos pitching not the catcher. Last grandal is actually a good framer where norris sucks. And framing is the most important part of catching it just isnt factored in to war yet…
Weird, cause in 2015 Norris ranks as an average pitch framer according to stat corner. So don’t know where you got Norris sucks this year at pitch framing.
Let’s see excellent pitch framer, below/ at average throwing runners out, and bad defense behind the plate.
Or average pitch framing, excellent at throwing runners out, and good defense behind the plate.
Aside from pitch framing which benefits Grandal from having strike throwers especially greinkes reputation for precision pitching he’s awful at catching.
Norris excels in multiple catcher aspects and offers decent pitch framing.
Seeing as how Grandal was traded for Kemp and Norris was brought in to fill the hole I would say comparing the two is moot.. Without Grandal there wouldn’t have been Kemp.. To acquire a bat with the potential of Kemp’s you give the other team whichever player they want.. Especially, if they are in your division.. Suppose Kemp goes on a second half tear like he did last year.. Will the trade be worth it then?
Mostly agree with this. I’m not a Kemp fan by any stretch, too injury prone for my liking, but there’s no denying that his power is a potential game changer.
So if you consider the two trades as a single trade -Grandal and Jesse Hahn for Kemp and Norris – it’s impossible not to think the Padres got the better of that deal. Especially when you figure that Grandal and Norris are both league average catchers, at best… neither is Yadier Molina or Buster Posey.
The Shields signing will prove to be a good move.. Since you are talking ove a 2 year span then the Myers trade will also be valuable to them. Since they gave up a kid (Turner) for him that I view as being more valuable than Myers a few years down the line the trade will eventually be seen as a loss for the Padres.. Preller should have stopped after his first few moves but it seemed like he just couldn’t help himself.. John Hart totally fleeced him for Kimbrel..Getting Preller to not only give up a stud prospect like Wisler, but an additional solid prospect, and a good draft pick (41st).. That alone should have gotten the deal done but Hart got him to take Upton’s anchor contract.. Pure genius on his part and showed that the kid had a lot to learn.. Giving up all of that for a one inning pitcher is foolish no matter who the pitcher is..
Would they trade Tyson Ross? He would be an interesting name out there for a lot of teams that need help in the rotation. He would also land a nice package of prospects too.
Tyson Ross to the Red Sox would be just what Cherington is looking for, any idea what it would take?
I have no idea what the Padres would want. I’m sure a deal could be made though. Perhaps start with Henry Owens and go from there.
Id start with Henry Owens and look at Jackie Bradley Jr as a reclamation candidate. If we are selling we have playing time at CF available. Shift venable to LF and try Bradley in CF. can’t be worse than Melvin Upton Jr.
Owens, Bradley, and maybe Sam Travis and Trey Ball.
Red Sox tend to overvalue their prospects but with Preller no one is really off the table. Who do you have in mind?
It’s Preller time!
Son of Frank Lane.
I commend the Padres for shopping their guys for actual major league talent in return. It’s better for the game and for the fans. There’s remarkable parity in the game right now. The game doesn’t need a half dozen franchises trying to lose 100 games to better their draft position. Leave that to the NBA.
Agreed. Just because the new-look Padres haven’t panned out so far this season (which btw is only half over), the team doesn’t necessarily have to be completely torn down and rebuilt again. The Padres are in a sufficiently large market that they can afford to field a competitive roster every year — which, as you say, is better for the fans and the game than constant rebuilding. This franchise was neglected for a long time. The fans in San Diego deserve better. At least the new ownership seems committed to giving them better.
Yeah but those kinds of trades are rare. What competitive team would trade “actual major league talent” for other major league talent? They’d have to have a serious over-abundance at a particular position. There’s a reason why nearly all deadline trades are of the established major leaguer for prospects variety.
A real over-abundance at a position isn’t so rare. Veterans, especially in their walk years, often get traded when their replacements are waiting in the wings.
A player of the caliber of Justin Upton or Craig Kimbrel would net major league pieces.. Very nice major league pieces..
I definitely think the Mets should look to see if they can make a deal for Upton. Aren’t the Padres looking for a long term Centerfielder still? Has Myers been good out there? But I think a solid and fair deal for both teams could be Brandon Nimmo & Dilson Herrera for Justin Upton. Perhaps another piece is added on the Mets end – maybe a reliever.
I also think – if the Mets have any money to spend… ever, they should strongly consider signing Upton to a long term contract. Makes a lot of sense and actually would enable them to make other moves… Of course if they have no money and have to pay him with Mr. Met t-shirts, then forget about it…
That’s such a bad trade for the Mets to make, in that Nimmo+Herrera could more than likely bring in a lot more than a 2 month rental. I’m not even sure signing Upton is a wise move either, Nimmo-Lagares-Conforto could easily be the starting OF in late 2016.
All the Mets need to do is to go get Aramis Ramirez for basically nothing to play 3B the rest of the season. Granderson is fine, Cuddyer has a long enough track record to think he could pull it around, and if not, just bring up the raking Conforto. There’s no need for the Mets to blow up the farm when everything points to them being certified contenders in 2016.
Not so sure that Aramis Ramirez can be acquired for “basically nothing”. Any GM,whot has a team within a playoff focus mode, would be crazy not to consider adding Ramirez’s bat to his team’s roster. This is especially true with his recent offensive surge. In other words, as the trade deadline approaches, the competition for his services will most definitely increase the asking price.
I don’t think it is a bad trade, it is a fair one. You have to give up something to get something. Upton would be better than anyone in the Mets current lineup and makes them immediately better for the remainder of the season. In this day and age it is all about “getting in” to the playoffs as they say. And with that pitching staff, they could be scary and then who knows?
Now that being said, while Upton will test free agency no matter what, if the Mets do have money he is the type of player you should look to sign long term given his age, talent, defense and position he plays – plus he has power which is rare to find.
However again it is irrelevant to discuss if the Mets do not have the financial resources to spend because of their blatant financial issues.
I agree with trading Herrera because he’s probably expendable with Flores manning second and Murphy possibly taking over once wright gets back. I’m think something more along the lines of Niese/Ynoa/Herrera
That might be a starting OF in late 2016, but the whole point of the trade deadline is to put together an outfield for late 2015. Nimmo and Conforto are doing nothing for you this year. The question is do you sacrifice the potential near future for the current season. I say yes. 2016 offer zero guarantees (injury, regression, who knows what) of the Mets even being in the race, right now they have a chance with some added offense.
I agree with you 100% though I think there is a belief that Conforto may be able to help them in 2015 even if it is a September callup. Nimmo on the other hand is a different story and I think would be a terrific AND FAIR get for Preller and San Diego in terms of a centerpiece player.
Upton alone will not make the Mets a world series team.. They would basically be giving up two very solid prospects for a wild card birth.. They would then be facing either Lester, Arrietta, Burnett, Cole, or MadBum in the wild card game..Any of those guys would match up against the Mets well.. Plus all of those teams are more complete teams.. Guys like Matz, Syndergaard, maybe De Grom, and probably Harvey are going to be on an innings limit.. So, your suggestion that the Mets gamble away two solid prospects just to get a wild card and return next year as basically the same team doesn’t make sense..
I was going to disagree with you on the Aramis Ramirez point and say that the Mets’ current infield of Flores at 2nd, Tejada at SS, and Murphy at 3rd is better than getting ARam, but I checked his stats and he’s been hitting very well over the last month. 137 OPS+ over the last 23 games. If he can be gotten for next-to-nothing, the Mets should do it.
I’m just shocked, stunned and amazed, that buying a whole team in one offseason, hasn’t gone as well as planned. Preller shouldn’t be a GM, he should be in sales.
I’m not as bullish as other commenters are on ousting Preller: he did what it took to make it “his” team. The previous regimes hurt SD more than he ever could, in deciding that Alonso was a better bet than Rizzo, trading Kluber for Ludwick etc etc etc.
I think if you are taking over a team, you should have your own specific vision for the team and simply put, the prospects Preller traded were not part of his vision. So he cashed them out and got what he could to try and contend asap. Not his fault Cashner, Ross and Kennedy have all underperformed this year so far.
Of course, Preller’s “Rizzo, Kluber, etc.” was giving up on Grandal too early, trading Jace Pederson, Trea Turner (a consenus top 20 prospect) and Joe Ross. He also traded for Melvin Upton.
No, he didn’t trade “for” Melvin Upton, he traded for Kimbrel and to get Kimbrel, he needed to take on Upton.
Also, according to baseball-ref Turner was not rated in Baseball Prospectus’s top 100, and was #62 by mlb.com and #65 by BA. So, absolutely no idea where you get this “consensus top 20” from. Do tell.
He’s a top 20 prospect in Keith Law’s mid-season prospect list, same with Baseball America, and I believe he’s right there on Baseball Prospectus list.
He did trade for Melvin Upton, while trading for Craig Kimbrel, while giving up some good assets. Pretty much all trades were like that. He gave up major league ready prospects or major league players w/ some upside for established players. The problem is, he gave up like 10 of those type of prospects which has killed their system.
Mid-season BA prospect rankings had Turner at 9th in baseball.
That’s mid season.. Since Turner was traded before the season began it is not a valid argument..
Point is there is really no need to give up actual talent for a reliever. Especially because kimbrels contract was never going to be team friendly. Sure enough ss is a big whole for them and turner looks ready right now.
He didn’t give up on Grandal.. That is who the Dodgers wanted for Kemp.. Nobody could have predicted Pederson would be as good as he has been.. I agree with you completely on Turner though.. As talented as Myers is he is injury prone, but had Preller had hindsight and seen how good Turner would do in AA I doubt he would have traded him.. Joe Ross was worth getting Norris.. The Kimbrel trade was just bad all the way around for San Diego.. I didn’t like it from day 1, but I never agree with trading stud prospects like Wisler for relievers..
The dodgers would have taken less for kemp. They just suckered preller in.
I think he was hired to do exactly what he did…the fact that it’s hasn’t been successful in a single season isn’t a.shock…last winter I’d say that 60% of commenters here questioned the Padres moves and assessed the problems they are currently having. It’s like Preller took a large chunk of clay to mold. I’ll say he’ll be very active in the Latin markets where he specializes and they’ll augment more strategically over the winter. Just about everyone they added outside of Shields was a huge question mark….and each had a percentage to flop or not stay healthy…and that’s what has occurred…roll the dice and sometimes,it happens.
Justin Upton to Mets for Lageres, Wheeler and Mejia. I know Wheeler is hurt, but the Padres and Mets could make a deal with approval of MLB.
The Padres would be overjoyed by that offer. Preller would take it and run.
Problem is Lagares has elbow issues that may require Tommy John. If that is the case you are essentially getting two players back who both wouldn’t be on the field until 2017.
For a 2 month rental? Preller would be weeping with joy if that was an actual offer. Beane would probably give you multi-years of Reddick for that package too.
Mets fans on here need to chill out a bit with your trade ideas. Hitters are not consistent month-to-month, yes it’s a bummer your entire lineup slumped at the same time pretty much, but its not going to be like this for the entire season. The thirst of “we need someone mashing NOW, so lets overpay for that” is deadly.
Calling it now: Kennedy and Venable in a package deal to the Royals.
Probably going to be a seller, but only acquiring long-term, MLB pieces rather than prospects.
The thing is they look set in the outfield for 2016 with Renfroe stepping in for Upton, set at 1B and C as well.
They could look to trade Justin Upton and/or Ian Kennedy and Andrew Cashner for young middle infielders, a 3B and some young controllable pitching.
Eh, I’d move Alonso to 3rd next year and put Myers at 1st. Then they just need a SS and CF. And pitching if they deal some. Maybe trade Kennedy to the royals for Jarod dyson and other prospects. Maybe Cashner.
Alonso cant play 3rd. And kennedy probably doesnt get dyson straight up. Look at his numbers outside of petco.
Alonso played 3rd this year for a few games. So he can play third otherwise they wouldn’t have experimented with it during the actual season. He may not be an elite defender but he’s capable enough to play 3rd.
Dyson is a 30 year old outfielder who’s a 4th option. With Gordon’s injury they may not trade him but if they bring in a replacement for Gordon Kennedy helps them more than Dyson does.
Also, this year Kennedy has better numbers away from petco than at petco according to fan graphs….
Should they dangle Kimbrel? At 24M for the next 2 years it is about market value for a closer. Also comes with 3rd year option.
I’ll always like Matt Kemp. But he is a shadow of the player he used to be. Would he be trade bait himself?
I’m sure he would be. I doubt any team would pay the cost to land him though.
How about Wil Venable to the Cubs for 3B Mike Olt
Cubs say please and thanks. Padres at least have to ask for a bullpen prospect too.
Is Venable really worth more? the Padres move about 2-2.5 million for the rest of the year. His contract is up and he is a free agent at year’s end. The Padres won’t make him a qualifying offer so he walks away and they get nothing. It is doubtful they resign him since they already have Wil Myers and Matt Kemp next year plus they are stuck with Melvin and want to resign Justin. With Olt they get 4-5 years of control at a position where they are weak since Middlebrooks hasn’t taken hold of the job and Gyroko has been bad since signing the long term deal and already lost 2B to Spangenburg. Why give up more?
Venable is a proven above average hitter that can play all 3 of spots fairly well. Olt hasnt done anything. So yeah more control is cool but olt isnt even a prospect.
I agree Olt is no longer a prospect but the Pads need help on the left side of the infield and a guy who can play defense somewhere on the field. Preller also had Olt in Texas and would know his abilities well. Venable is a solid defender but is essentially a 4th OF about to leave the Padres for nothing. If you believe defensive metrics his defensive WAR for this season is -0.4. His offensive WAR is 1.1 this season. So he provides less than 1 win above replacement. How can you justify adding a relief prospect, or anything else to the deal? Strangely, Dexter Fowler has almost the same WAR numbers as Venable (-0.3 defense). Perhaps a platon of the two would improve the numbers for both guys. Mike Olt is 26 and would have 5 years of control after this year if he spends a few more weeks in AAA. If I am Preller I shop Venable to see if I can get more, but realistically that’s unlikely.
I can imagine A.J. is looking in utility closets, under tables and in the trunk of his car for some prospects to trade away.
What a failure of a season!
The braves should strike a deal for the left handed bat of Venable , he’s a solid OF and has prove that can really hit, plus runs very well,he can give us an extra boost