Some items from around both the NL and AL West divisions…
- Between existing salaries and arbitration salaries (as projected by MLB Trade Rumors), the Padres may not have much available payroll space for 2016, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. The Padres will have just under $104MM committed to 14 players, as per Sanders’ calculations, leaving GM A.J. Preller with little to spend if the team’s payroll is staying in the $120MM range. Some players could be non-tendered, of course, and Sanders suggests that San Diego could get some additional payroll relief by signing Tyson Ross to an extension and exploring trades for Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Cashner and Derek Norris.
- Cuban righty Yoan Lopez had a rough year on and off the field in his first season of American baseball, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. The 22-year-old posted a 4.17 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 1.33 K/BB rate over 54 innings (48 of which were at the Double-A level) in a season shortened by a blister and elbow soreness. Lopez didn’t particularly impress scouts, as “the most positive among them viewed him as a potential back-of-the-rotation starter.” Perhaps even more troubling was an unsanctioned absence Lopez took from his team in July. The Diamondbacks signed Lopez to an $8.27MM bonus last January, surpassing their international signing pool and thus limiting them to signings of $300K or less during the current international period and the next.
- Both Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners have a chance at quick redemption after a messy resignation in Anaheim and a disappointing 2015 season, Tracy Ringolsby writes for Baseball America. While the situation with the Angels wasn’t entirely Dipoto’s fault, he still bears a share of the blame and will have to learn from the situation to succeed with the M’s.
Preller should be fired for that Kimbrel/Upton trade. Kimbrel is elite, but a team like the Padres cannot afford to allot 27 million for a closer.
It’s like having a Ferrari but no money for gas. Including Upton in that deal, even if it got Quentin and Maybin (which now looks like a mistake) off the books was a fireable offense.
You’re making it seem much worse than it is.
Kimbrel can be traded for better prospects that was given up.
BJ Upton was way better in 87 games than Maybin was in 141 games.
The Padres will probably end up clearing a signifcant amount of payroll this off season in trades.
I’m not making it seem much worse at all. While the package without Upton would most likely be better, they paid a steep price to acquire him.
Being able to trade Kimbrel doesn’t make the situation better. They’re trying to win. They want Kimbrel. Problem is, they don’t have a lot of money.
Upton was slightly better than Maybin, we’re not talking a big difference. He put up .5 WAR, made more than double his salary, and is owed close to $22 million more over the remainder of his contract.
It’s a terrible situation to be in.
There is still 18m in bad Maybin money to be dealt with next year and in 2017. That 2/3 of a season Maybin put up that was almost respectible, well he’s done that before and then flopped.. How he landed that big deal in the 1st place and nobody, outside of Atlanta and a few marlins fans maybe think he can do it a second season. Maybin has too poor of swing mechanics to be consistent.
San Diego may be stuck with Upton, though maybe they can pair him with Cashner, even Kimbrel again and get rid of his 32m somehow. No chance of his regaining any semblance of former career that’s been on the skids since ’07.
2017 is an option.
He should be fired for the combination of the Kimbrel trade, the Kemp trade, and the Myers trade.
That offseason hurt the Padres so much, it probably pushed them back 3-4 years before they can contend.
3-4 years? I think you’re being generous. The minor leagues are almost devoid of talent after the trades he made, and they’re saddled with bad contracts. They couldn’t win this year and the big horses (Upton, Kemp, Shields, Ross, Cashner, Kimbrel) were healthy. How much worse would they have been had they lost a starting pitcher or two like in prior years?
A.J. Preller really screwed over the Padres by not trading mid-season. The moves he made this offseason were ballsy… but to not trade players mid-season, even though you are all but certainly out of the playoffs, was simply dumb.
Now many key players are likely to leave AND the farm system was not reloaded. Poor move by the Preller and the Padres.