The Padres have reached out to free agent shortstop Ian Desmond to express interest, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter.
That’s not a surprise, given that San Diego is one of a relatively few teams that have a fairly obvious need for a shortstop. And Desmond is, by consensus, the best player at that position in this year’s market, though he certainly carries a fair amount of risk after a tough 2015 season.
Desmond is freely available after declining a qualifying offer today from the Nationals, though that does mean that a signing team will need to part with a pick to add him. Of course, San Diego’s top pick (8th overall) is protected, and the team also now stands to add two compensatory picks if and when Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy land with new organizations.
Tonight’s trade of Craig Kimbrel makes a Padres connection to Desmond far more plausible, at least on paper. The ace closer would’ve cost the team $11MM this season, and shedding his salary (along with the $7.5MM that would have gone to the recently-dealt Joaquin Benoit) certainly opens the door to bigger free agent spending.
And the puzzle that is AJ Preller keeps us guessing.
You spelled terrible GM wrong
Yeah terrible. Just shedded 40+ mill off payroll committments, picked up two top 100 prospects one being highly regarded in Margot. All for 2 relievers.
Aside from the turner ross deal Preller has made great moves for the organiztion.
Seth Smith for Brandon Maurer
Derrick Norris for Jesse Hahn
Upton and now 1st round pick for Fried, Peterson, and others. Which spangenberg>peterson, fried had tjs.
Kimbrel wisler maybin for upton jr margot guerra allen and the other guy.
Picked up a hitter who excelled at triple a for a pitcher we got in the kyle blanks trade from the yankees
Picked up a controlled arm in mazz for 2 years of alex torress…..who the mets released cause he wasnt good.
And now has 5 picks before the 3rd round to play with. He can even spend a 1st on a harder to sign talent knowing if they don’t get him siged they get reimburst next year.
But yeah terrible gm
Anyone can trade a veteran for some prospects. They key here is looking at it over the long haul. Comparing who he traded to get Kimbrel for who he’s getting back. And that’s the best outcome of all his moves. He also traded one of the best catchers in the NL, and more, for Matt Kemp. So …
Grandal had to go. The pitchers didn’t like pitching to him, and outside of framing numbers, his defensive stats were sub-par. He didn’t want to play 1B even though a better catcher was on the roster in Rene Rivera. Then there’s the PED thing and the injuries. He had a nice start in LA, but his last couple of months were awful. Remind me how he’s one of the best catchers in the league? Oh, he can frame a pitch.
Not a single pitcher said or even implied that they didn’t like pitching to Grandal. Several have said that quite clearly about Norris including Cashner who outright said it and Ross who asked for Hedges to be his catcher and improved immensely afterward. LA pitchers had awesome years with Grandal behind the plate in 2015. I’m thinking the whole don’t want to pitch to him is just hogwash made up by fans.
Can I get a link to wherever you heard that Cashner explicitly said that he doesn’t like pitching to Norris? I’m not denying it but I want to hear it from a credible source.
I’m not sure Ross asked for Hedges to be his catcher. On most teams the backup catcher plays once every fifth day and catches the same pitcher every time. Maybe Ross asked for Hedges, maybe he got assigned to Hedges.
You are correct on Grandal only having one injury (that he sustained in a home plate collision at that) but it is well known that the Padres pitchers did not like throwing to him. I do get the feeling that Grandal had worn out his welcome in SD.
The problem isn’t that we traded him, the problem is that we traded him for a replacement level outfielder who we owe $70m.
Kemp trade for now is even. Ross did ask for Hedges sometime in May or alteast commented publically on Hedges & him being in tune with each other. Teams ran on Ross successful or not with Norris catching, Hedges was not run on often which made a big diffrence for Ross due to his walks. Just that confidence alone for Ross can be enough of a reason to make Hedges his catcher, that plus Hedges being able to keep more balls in the dirt in front of him than Norris. Hedges gets a few more called strikes than Norris and what pitches doesn’t like that. Norris was strong with the bat minus that 2 month dryspell. Grandal past PED use, mounting injuries will continue. If injury free Grandal swith hitting power bat in arguably top 5 catchers in the game but injuries will always be an issue. Maybe one more PED bust before he’s 33
You mean the same Rivera who hit .178 this year? Grandal DID play 1B, 37 games to be exact, or were you not paying attention? It was ONE injury. .756 OPS with 16 HR in 355 AB is not awful. In fact it puts him near the top of the list. #8 and #3 overall. #5 in ISO, #3 in wRC+. All with a babip that is 32 points below league average. Meaning he was unlucky at the plate.
The only sub-par stat Grandal had defensively was throwing out baserunners and that was early in the season after he returned prematurely from a leg injury. In the 2nd half he was actually one of the better catchers in the league at throwing out runners. A stat that is pretty much useless. Did you know that the difference between the very best in the majors and the very worst in the majors among starting catchers was less than 4 runs? That means that the difference between the best CS% and the worst CS% was less than one win difference. The difference between Grandal and Norris for their pitch framing skills was 12 runs or 3 wins in 2015. Which would you rather have on your team, a catcher 4 runs better per season at throwing out runners or 12 runs better at pitch framing?
Yeah even though he had his warts (Busted for PEDs, rumors of the pitchers allegedly not liking him, etc.) Grandal was still a pretty good ballplayer. The fact that Preller gave him and other prospects to the Dodgers for Kemp and his big contract does not look like a very good move so far.
Preller gave up Trea Turner who would’ve been their SS for years to come. He also added on too much payroll by trading for Matt Kemp. Not ideal IMO, but we’ll see how the Padres are after this offseason.
They’ve already shipped out Kimbrel and now Kemp is being shopped, so maybe Preller is trying to undo some of the damage.
Hopefully it frees up salary to actually sign someone. I could see Maurer taking over closer duties, or even the Quackenbush. Really wish an MLB ready player would have been included, but Preller is building his own farm system so I am happy about that.
IF we could believe Preller, then Maurer would be moving into the starting rotation. But we cant. Preller said going into the offseason and consistently in interviews through the beginning of the GM meetings that the Padres were retooling to contend in 2016. You cant contend without a bullpen and right now we have not a single relief pitcher that would be anything other than middle relief on any other team other than Maurer.
Can you please provide me with a credible source that says they plan on using Maurer our of the rotation in 2016? I want to know for sure if this is true or not.
Preller publically has said Maurer will be given a chance at the rotation. Given the fact Maurer would have to be on some sort of innings limit in 2016 has has gotta be factored into the equation plus solely seeing his stats the last 2 years in the pen. But Maurer in the closer role with a possible of getting 4 to 6 outs some nights would be nice. Jon Edwards at the back end of the Padres bullpen looks interesting too as you mentioned
I hate prellar! He jammed us up in the Bronx dangling Kimbrel and then he trades him the freaking sox?!? I hope he signs Desmond for $100mil plus and he has 30 errors before the all star break and then AJ loses his freaking job!
You should stick to Yankee posts.
But now their bullpen is broken, time for them to just call it a rebuild. Last year was a hail marry, it didn’t work,now it’s times to move on. Trade cashner/Ross/shields and slow build for the future
Bullpen will be fine
You are always posting pronouncements like that with nothing to back them up. So who is our closer? Quack? Mateo? Vincent? Garces? Who are our setup guys? With Kelly gone and Maurer moving to the pen we have nothing. Our pen was a mess last year, one of the worst in the NL, and its worse now. I guess the only good thing is you gave up on having two accounts.
I already said elsewhere that I predict Edwards will be our closer by the end of the 2016 season. I’m sure Preller will sign a couple guys to fill out the remaining spots in our pen. As far as I’ve heard all they have said about moving Maurer to the rotation is that they haven’t ruled it out.
I still only have one account.
With the haul that was brought home for Kimbrel, if Preller can find a similar sucker to trade those starters, Kemp, Myers and anyone else with value to then the Pads could have the best farm in baseball…
No one wants Shields or Kemp and Cashner’s trade value is in shambles at the moment
I was really talking about getting prospects for Ross and Myers while getting salary relief for Shields and Kemp, but either way, depth pieces could still be acquired for Shields anyway and someone will give up a couple B prospects for Cashner
No one is giving up anything for Shields unless we eat some of his contract
Even with eating money, the Padres would have to package him with someone like Ross to get something valuable back.
The Padres are nowhere close to the bsst farm in baseball. They still dont even have a top half farm system. The crack you and Preller are on is apparently very potent.
Who’s your team moron?
In fact, before this trade, the Padres probably had the single WORST farm in baseball. They’ve added two good low-minors players. Probably around #25 now.
It would be a crime to give up on Myers after he had the surgery and an injury year. He was a top prospect for a reason and he had a nice year prior to going on DL. Myers is in SD to stay.
Largely agree. I’m not about to just trade Myers after we gave up Trea Turner for him. That one’s gonna sting for a while…
I wouldn’t say sting necessarily. Obviously Turner was the SS SD needs, but he is still an unknown and could end up being just a speedy SS type. Sd did give up a lot to WSH though, but for Myers talent that is understandable. Myers has a very bright future and I can’t wait to see what he will do in 2016.
Ross is an ace though either way
I will never understand how WSH managed to pull off Turner and Ross for Souza and Ott. I wouldn’t have given up Turner and Ross for Souza and Ott even at the time of the trade, before Turner and Ross broke out.
It was Preller being played like a fool and being taken advantage of as a rookie GM. He also gave up pieces to Tampa Bay in that deal.
I could see it playing out like another Anthony Rizzo tragedy where they become excellent players and all the Padres can do is sit back and regret.
So you are basing a good year on 34 games before he went on the DL? Pretty small sample size. Only reason he is staying is what we gave up to get him, not anything he has done on the field the past 2 seasons.
Long way to having the best farm in baseball. The Padres got the Red Sox #4, #11, and a couple non-prospects. They will be SD’s #1 and #2. So, long way …
Don’t see why they can’t put together a workable pen. It obviously hurts not to have those two guys back there, Kimbrel especially, but I’d rather invest in a position player and take my chances on digging up value on the relief market and/or aggressively promoting young arms into pen roles.
Padres had a bad pen last year. Only two teams in the NL were worse. We have since lost the 3 best members of their pen last year to trades and FA. Kimbrel, Benoit and Kelley. Maurer is moving to the starting rotation. That’s 4 of 7. There is practically no salary flexibility even after these two trades. So please help me understand how they are going to put together a “workable” pen with what is left and who we have in the minors?
The inner mechanisms of the Padres are an enigma
That’s his theme this year, The Enigma GM. Rockstar GM is so last year.
We’re rebuilding, trade the bullpen, but wait let’s sign a shortstop. Tough to really nail down Preller’s strategy here.
Like Beane’s 2015 team lol
Hater. Move along now
Not a hater lol. All of this was for jokes and i’m actually a Padres fan… saying that Padres’ are like the A’s from last year doesn’t show hate at all towards the Padres’. “We’re rebuilding, oh wait no we’re not.”- comments like that were floating around on MLBTR last year when Beane traded Donaldson, Norris, etc. for young MLB ready talent and then showed interest on picking up premium players (Zobrist) to balance the team up, which is what the Padres are doing, “BALANCING”. In a different way obviously – clearing some salary to get flexibility to sign a SS or a LHP, maybe a 1B too.
BTW, i love the username, it reminds me of Yasiel Puig getting PETCOED.
We’re not rebuilding. Benoit got traded because he’s 38 and he REALLY outperformed his peripherals this year and Kimbrel got traded because we are the last team that needs to overpay for an elite closer. I’m sure Preller will sign some new guys to pitch out of the pen.
They why’d they trade for him in the first place?
We’ll never know.
Got to love you answering your own post. And to think I complemented you for getting rid of your second account and just posting on your WestCoastRyan account. Do you know how bad it makes you posting on two accounts like that?
If you want to reply to me try replying to my comment instead of someone else’s. Do you know how stupid you look right now trying to talk sxxt to me but replying to the wrong person? By the way, I know how to downvote other people’s comments too.
To acquire the best closer in the game (which we didn’t need), to get rid of Quentin and Maybin and because Preller thought that having Justin’s brother on the team might make him feel more inclined to stay in SD after the 2015 season was over (even tho Justin was always basically a lock to test the open market at the end of this season and even with Melvin we would still have to offer him the most money to get him to stay).
Unless JUP is under 20 million a year i’m not against seeing him go but if the Pads get him for 5 years 100 mill or even 6 years 125 mill that would make the Padres more dangerous, Justin almost won a Gold Glove in 2015, stole a lot of bases, just didn’t drive in enough runs while K’ng a bit too much. Pads aren’t making moves as of yet necessary to free up enough money for JUP or have they? MUP given the chance at a starting job in 2016 with 500 ab’s is something i’d like to see.
No one said they were rebuilding. They just happened to be in a situation where two of their six most expensive players were relievers (which is ridiculous and unusual for a non-low-payroll) and they decided to rectify that. Where is the rebuild?
I don’t understand why they traded for Kimbrel last year when they already had Benoit. But, what do I know?
Because Preller believed the acquisition of Kimbrel would make them a more complete team and one who would be valuable in a potential playoff scenario.
Obviously it didn’t pan out and he wanted to restock the farm to fit his own vision.
It sucks Kimbrel is gone, but it frees up space for other areas of need. Even though the bullpen was a bit of a mess last year.
Now that trade is looking rather silly, with Melvin’s contract and no Kimbrel/Maybin. Name of the game I suppose.
Perhaps, but Maybin is still a question mark for at least another year, and SD got back 4 guys for Kimbrel.
But yeah, you never know how a trade will work out for at least 4 years.
Yeah Boston certainly paid the price for him. I’ll always root for Kimbrel, not just because I’m a Braves fan, but because a few years ago he skipped a ball over the fence while warming up at spring training and almost took my head off, and then promptly hollered and waived to apologize!
been fine for the Pads, Kimbrel helped fill the seats at Petco this year and showed ownership & GM are prepared to go all in when possible. Then flipped him to the Red Sox for what looks to most as a trade favoring the Padres. Melvin has not been as bad as advertised.
8th and 9th inning pitchers were going to make 18.5 million this year. Money spent better elsewhere plus the prospects
Very old school mentality on here that trading your two best relievers equates to trading away your bullpen. Bullpen’s are much deeper than that and can be augmented in ways other than high profile trades.
People just love picking on the little ol Padres.
I agree…. But tell that to the Mets… An additional arm or two in the series could have swung things their way.
If only their closer didn’t get popped twice for PEDs…
They’re losing two more to free agency as well.
I dont like it…I dont like sniffing behind a guy in Desmond, whose strikeout rate has increased, 3 yrs running…almost 200 strikeouts last season. Come on, Preller. I know Upton is leaving and you dont know what you’re getting from Myers next season…but this aint it, dude.
Padres trying to bust a Billy Beane of 2015
I smell a point for my free agent predictions!
Gotta have someone of value to trade next offseason.
“That’s not a surprise, given that San Diego is one of a relatively few teams that have a fairly obvious need for a shortstop.” The fact that there are few teams in need of a shortstop doesn’t do anything to limit the surprisingness of San Diego contacting Desmond (their interest would be just as unsurprising if their were many teams in need of a shortstop) and therefor needn’t be mentioned in that sentence. If you wish to explain why it’s not surprising they contacted him just mention that they need a shortstop, that’s enough.
CJ Wilson CJ Cron Shoemaker Sales and Johnny G for Cashner or Ross?
Lol
I wish. Don’t think that’s too realistic tho.
No
Heaney plus cj cron and 1 B level prospect for Ross. Your division rival astros have better prospects and could use Ross. So better be ready to beat their deal.
Heaney plus Cron and a prospect for Ross? That would be a Dipoto type of trade. Hell maybe Seattle will give you Hernandez and Cano for Ross.
Lol. Cruz, Hernández, Cano and cash for Ross or Cashner
Angels are wasting years on Trout, Pujols, and doubt they are signing a top flight pitcher.
Ross is a solid #2 which the Angels dont seem to have considering at one point all their pitchers seemed to have an xfip over 4 for a good strech of the season.
They dont have prospects to get Ross esp after the simmeltons deal.
Rangers, astros, even mariners have a need for pitching and have players to get the deal done for ross.
As such angels want ross theyll have to use heaney and cron otherwise he’s going elsewhere for more players/prospects.
Is it an overpay? Sure, but doubt the angels want to scrape the bottom of the barrel for arms if they hope to contend.
Ross is a solid #1. 30 teams in the league and he ranks in the top 20 in every pitching stat over the past two seasons. Top 10 in every stat if you take out the games Norris caught him this season. He may not be an ace, but there are only a half dozen true aces in the league.
All the CJ’s! Still a load of nothing.
Padres are interested in a shortstop. In other news, water is wet.
Lessee … Trade for a Top 100 Shortstop, and the very same day, leak that you’re interested in a SS who will likely draw a 5 year contract. Huh. No wonder everyone wonders what Preller’s doctor prescribed him …
Guerra is still a few years out and may never hit well enough to be a Major League shortstop. We could sign Desmond and use him until Guerra is ready (if he’s ever ready).
I’d say if that was the strategy then maybe a five year backloaded deal with 2 years of team options would work. Desmond knows he can’t get over 12 mil a year
Would be surprised if the Pads spend the big money on Desmond this offseason after getting Guerra from the Red Sox.
This makes absolutely no sense.
It seems you commit to a rebuild, which I think is great, but then you are close to signing Desmond?
Wow