The Athletics and Padres have announced a deal that will send first baseman Yonder Alonso and southpaw reliever Mark Rzepczynski to Oakland in exchange for lefties Drew Pomeranz and Jose Torres. There’s also a player to be named later heading to San Diego.
This deal is clearly motivated in large part by today’s non-tender deadline, as it involves several pieces with arbitration implications. MLBTR projects Alonso to earn $2.5MM in his second-to-last season of eligibility and Rzepczynski to take home $3MM in his pre-free agent campaign. Pomeranz, in turn, projects at $1.3MM as a first-year-eligible player.
By adding Alonso, moreover, the A’s now seem all but certain to move on from fellow lefty-swinging first baseman Ike Davis, who is projected for a $3.8MM salary but will likely end up a free agent. Presumably, Alonso will pair with the right-handed-hitting Mark Canha in a first base platoon. The 28-year-old Alonso has never quite lived up to expectations in San Diego, and the power has never really come around, but he does have excellent on-base abilities. He put up a .282/.361/.381 slash in 402 plate appearances last year.
In Rzepczynski, meanwhile, Oakland adds another pen piece as the team continues to bolster its relief corps. The 30-year-old put up an unsightly 5.66 ERA last year, but that could well have been the product of some ill fortune, as reflected in a .381 BABIP-against and 25% HR/FB rate. He posted a strong 10.5 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 while generating a ridiculous 67.3% groundball rate, and ERA estimators valued him as a much stronger contributor than the results suggested.
On the Padres’ side of the deal, Pomeranz has emerged as a solid swingman option since coming to Oakland before the 2014 season. Last year, he tossed 86 innings (including nine starts) and posted a 3.66 ERA with 8.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Pomeranz was much more effective against lefties than righties last year, but he came up as a starter and could certainly be given a chance to operate from the rotation for San Diego. Though he did just undergo a shoulder procedure, the 27-year-old is reportedly expected to be ready to go when camp opens.
Meanwhile, though the 22-year-old Torres only cracked the High-A level late last year, he was just added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper tweets that Torres works into the mid-nineties with his fastball and has made strides with controlling his secondary offering (a curve).
ESPN.com’s Keith Law reported the major pieces of the deal on Twitter. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the deal was done (via Twitter).
great move Preller if it comes to fruition sure the A’s won’t complain either, perfect first basemen for A’s to take a gamble on High OBP
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh idk about this one
For who? haha
The athletics
Good for Yonder Alonso, finally escaping from Petco.
He’s going to Oakland….not much better
Home/away splits are not different for Alonso
Petco wasn’t his problem. His Fly Ball % was only above league average once – so it’s not like he was victimized too often by flyballs just dying in the outfield. While his HR/FB percentage was below league average during his tenure, his hard-hit contact rate was such that it could explain the below average HR/FB rate.. The fact is that Alonso struggled in SD because he failed to make hard contact consistently – not because of the park.
yes, that and injuries…so many diff type of injuries
If we recall, one of the reasons the Padres chose Alonso over Rizzo was because Alonso projected as more of a line drive hitter whereas Rizzo projected as more of a flyball hitter. The thinking was that the line drive hitter would play better in the bigger ball park. The logic was sound – but Alonso never lived up to being the hard-hitting line drive hitter that he was projected to become.
Yeah that analysis set the Padres back a few years too… Also didn’t help they moved in the fences some which would have benefited Rizzo. Alonso isn’t bad per-se (When healthy) since he has good defense and pretty good on-base skills, but he is at a power position and is slow which hurts his value.
how Alonso ever stole more bases than Amarista always left me wondering, slow guy but can run the bases
Rizzo stole nearly 20 bases last year… it’s rarely about speed.
a good jump, quickness, running on the right pitch all make a difference but speed is the top reason
Yep, thats what John Kruk use to say.
Because it’s Amarista we’re talking about. Mr. AAAA himself.
.282/.361 is struggling? I think I have a different definition of struggling. The only thing he has struggled with is the hand/wrist injuries.
bottom line is Alonso does not drive in enough runs, he may get on base when healthy or did in 2015 anyways but he was not the answer at 1st in SD
How would you know? He was always hurt. And Petco is still better than that little league park the Reds play in.
Petco is the worst park in baseball for hitting and therefore watching interesting baseball games.
Hitting Home Runs not hitting overall. You sure love what the Padre hating media tells you huh?
probably top 5 worst place to hit but for sure not the worst – not great hitters for the home team in Petco has mainly been the issue
To be fair, they have moved in the fences over the previous years, so it’s not as bad as it used to be.
Seems like a decent move for the Padres. Free up 1B probably for Wil Myers and obtain a left handed arm in the process.
Would you move Myers or Kemp to 1B? I’d rather move Kemp and keep Myers out of CF.
Myers looked pretty good at 1B last year, and I am not sure Kemp has ever played 1B so I’d prefer Myers at 1B. Kemp can probably survive in RF and DH when they play in AL cities.
Kemp has never played first in the Majors, but he was one of the worst outfielders in all of baseball last year. Myers can at least be a lot closer to average out there. But I doubt Kemp agrees to move to first, and we see Myers there most of the year.
I’d go with Kemp at 1B and Myers in LF… I’m not sure I want a guy with a surgically repaired left wrist consistently having to catch 90 mph fastballs over at 1B. Doesn’t sound like much, but that’s unnecessary stress in my opinion
Myers showed in more than a handful of games that he can play first last year while Kemp in left or right would be just fine with a stronger arm than Myers, one full sprint run into the wall for Myers with that wrist, bad dive, collision are just some of the things that could trigger future wrist injuries for Myers while it’s still possible to hurt your wrist at first but way less so. Either way, i’m not sure ground balls & Kemp go together, Myers regardless will play both the outfield and first during 2016
Who dives for balls more often, 1B or RF? 1B by far.
higher running speeds and awkward angles in the outfield – he will see time in both the OF and first base in 2016 but 1st base is far less dangerous to your wrists/most all other parts of the body
Myers has reportedly said he feels most comfortable at 1B, while Kemp has shown little interest in position moves in the past. Add to it that the infield is a lot harder on your hips and lower back, I suspect Kemp will stay in the OF one more year and AJ will hope like heck the DH comes to the NL in 2017.
My guess is Myers takes over 1B but the Padres’ need for a left-handed bat just got a little more urgent. Adding Pomeranz as a flexible lefty piece looks good though.
So replace an injury prone guy that had 402 PA and plays top of the game defense for a guy that is even more injury prone and plays average at best defense and who had 253 PA?
They replaced a second division starter at best with injury issues. Myers is the much much better player with upside to get better. Pomeranz can be a high leverage reliever or decent starter but the injury concerns have me worried how he would hold up starting.
Myers has the same wrist/hand injury as Alonso and has played less than Alonso over the past 2 seasons while hitting for a 20 point lower average and obp. Alonso also is among the top 3-4 defensive 1B in baseball while Myers could aspire to be average. Alonso is also a left handed bat on a team that is far too RH heavy already.
Pomeranz had shoulder surgery in the offseason and they are hoping he is ready for the beginning of the season. At best right now he is a lefty specialist out of the pen who can make a spot start. It would take 2 years at minimum to stretch him out to be a regular starter and I’m not sure he has the secondary pitches to do that.
Pomeranz was a effective starter in 2014. It wouldn’t take him 2 years too stretch him out that is beyond silly. And batting average is not very useful tool for hitting value. Myers is significantly better and can improve even more
Very good trade… It clears the spot at 1B for a trade or for WMyers to take over
Pretty much a meaningless trade on the end. Alonso would have been non-tendered if the trade doesn’t happen, and Pomeranz has never come close to fulfilling his potential.
don’t think alonso would of gotten non tendered but now we will never know & this young Torres kid looks like a MLB reliever by ’17 or ’18
Torres looks like literally dozens of other low-A relievers who may or may not ever see the light of El Paso. But there’s nothing wrong with getting a power arm as a throw-in on a trade.
maybe the throw in is the player to be named later, with Torres just recently going to relieving full time he could move through minors quick if he stays healthy
Well, sure he COULD move through the minors quickly from here. But he’s no more likely to be in the Padres pen in 2017 than (in no particular order) Brad Wieck, Eric Yardley, Geni Reyes, Rafael DePaula, Jimmi Brasoban, Kyle McGrath, Tayron Guerrero, and maybe even guys like Adam Cimber and Brandon Alger.
He was in low a ball to start last year. He will be in LE in 2016. Maybe we see him in mid-2018 as a reliever. Not much value there.
only recently went to the pen, he will move faster if he’s legit than if he was still trying to start – better pitcher from the pen is the word
Name a pitcher whose velocity and ability to rely on two pitches instead of three doesn’t project better from the pen?
no clue but the move to the pen obviously made a difference in Torres case as the A’s put him on the 40 man roster, less stress on the arm with less pitches & innings – look forward to seeing him in the spring, lefties who throw hard and are healthy always have value if they are throwing strikes
Pomeranz is a solid cheap arm, he never lived up to his potential but clearly has a bit of value.
And in Pomeranz, SD gets a quality LH, who could be a starter or reliever
Don’t want to start him, at least not against a team with right-handed power.
nothing at all like Tyson Ross but maybe the Padres, pitching coach Balsley get lucky with another A’s pitcher
Does this make Crush Davis to SD more likely now?
Has SD ever given a $100 million contract?
No, Shields is the Padres highest contract tendered last year at 75M.
Oh – I knew the answer 😉
Crush Davis & Big Mac in SD’s dugout is more of a possibility but ya first time in the 9 digit club, it’s gotta happen sometime – may as well do it big but money seems better spent in a few other ways after hearing Myers comments
No, but why would you ask that? They aren’t a small market team. They’re paying Matt Kemp almost $100M anyway, so…your point?
Kemp is $73 million over next 4 years.
It would be cool, but I don’t think so. They don’t have a lot of money to work with, and Davis is going to want a lot.
thinking the Padres have a little more room to operate than many are suggesting, but i do think all that money could be better spent elsewhere – i’m not against Davis coming to SD or the resigning of Justin Upton for that matter perhaps Big Mac’s addition would help Justin maxout his power
Don’t really get this for A’s, but I rarely do and they somehow figure it out once the season starts …
Ya, Alonso isn’t an upgrade over Canha, and it isn’t like Canha needs a platoon partner either.
I’d never make a statement about the A’s future team direction in a December, even a late March might be jumping the gun.
I agree. Nearly every trade the A’s make makes little sense and in my mind looks awful, but that is why BB is who he is and I clean crappers all day.
I like the deal. Rzepczynski will be good. He had an off year. Alonso and Canha will be good at first, with Canha playing some outfield. I think Alonso needed a change of venue and could turn out well for Oakland. Sweet swing.
Beane gets his high on base guy playing first and the Pads get a couple more well needed lefties added to the organization while having less possible player(s) to non tender
Beane doesn’t care about OBP anymore. No regular other than Zobrist and Valencia had an OBP over .341.
i’m sure it’s still part of his equation and maybe part of the reason for a bad 2015?
I agree, I would hope he’d get back to getting high OBP guys again. No more Sogard, no more Fuld.
Kind of crazy how the Latos for Boxberger, Volquez, Grandal and Alonso trade sounds now. Even moreso that none of those players are on SD or the Reds anymore.
Even crazier that SD traded Rizzo to make room for Alonso and used Grandal to get Kemp. Sometimes no move is the right move? Gotta love hindsight
Moreso in that Latos once was deemed good enough to bring back 2 future all-stars and the ace of a World Series title winning staff.
Did he get hurt? Or just lose a ton of velocity randomly? (Latos)
he’s had injuries but the guy is a different type of teammate, seems to have trouble accepting responsibility for his own bad pitching at times but if somehow the Padres could take another chance on him i would not complain – talented strong man on that mound who can still throw hard and maybe after an offseason of getting after it he could become relevant again
He’s wildly immature as a pro athlete. To the point where it’s affecting his life and career. His wife is also a trainwreck too, apparently.
Just imagine if the Padres still had Rizzo instead of the underwhelming Cashner…
wow that is quite a good trade the Padres made, did the same GM make the Rizzo trade to Chicago?
That was Jed Hoyer who traded Rizzo to Chicago for Andrew Cashner (meh…)
Uh, no. It was Jed Hoyer who traded Cashner to the Padres for Rizzo.
Thank the guy who chased Hoyer out of San Diego, Josh Byrnes, for that acquisition.
(Hoyer acquired Rizzo for the Padres in the AGon trade btw…)
Ah that’s right, now I remember. Hoyer acquried Rizzo and then Byrnes came in. Byrnes traded Latos too.
Sorry, my mistake. All the Padres GM shuffling over the past few years can make one get turned around!
yes a lot of GM’s and different ideas, i like this GM to stay in SD for a long time
Yeah – tough to keep track. But an easy way to remember is that if it involved something crappy, it probably had Moorad and Byrnes’ fingerprints on it.
I have a great deal of respect for Susan Slusser – she’s always the first to break A’s news, but it’s very odd to me how Keith Law broke this story before she did.
I have a feeling Keith law has a in with white former dodgers Scout on Padres side
I really liked Alonso when he was healthy but therein lies the problem. I admit I don’t know much about Pomeranz but I’m good with this trade. the other players involved in this trade appear to lean our way in terms of benefitting the team. So, overall Preller did good.
Bye bye Yonder.
Do the Padres think they can help Pomeranz like they helped out Ross?
Doubt it. He kind of is what he is, a mostly (but not entirely) lefty on lefty specialist who is quite good when his curve is on, really bad when it isn’t. Has pitched in the NL West already, too.
Ah I see. Well I guess he’ll be a much-needed lefty in the bullpen then.
I disagree with this assessment, mostly because I was following the A’s heavily in 2014 where I watched all his starts as they begun stretching him out to join the rotation, which he was doing a really excellent job of. Then came the start against Texas where he was getting squeezed and therefore shelled and after he got taken out of the game he punched a chair and broke his hand – which also led to why the A’s had to trade for 3 SPs instead of 2 that year.
He had looked like he was in the midst of a breakout as a SP up until that Texas game – look at his game log that year for further detail. He shut down both the Yankees and Angels back to back in June (no small feat) and had been improving almost every start. For whatever reason the A’s weren’t willing to let him take some April bumps as a SP in 2015 so he got moved back to the pen, but I think he’s shown plenty to still be used as an everyday SP – just as long as he’s learned his lesson about punching inanimate objects if things don’t go his way.
the a’s definitely needed some more middling corner guy options
Padres filled the void at LHP, now they really need to invest in a left handed bat. Lineup currently consists of switch hitting Solarte at 3B, lefty Spangenberg probably at 2B, a big ??? at SS, and a lineup completed with right handed hitters.
Profar, Asdrubal Cabrera are the possible left handed bats that come to mind at short but have a feeling Ian Desmond is coming to SD – Padres need some left handed power asap
I prefer Cabrera on a short deal to buy a year or two for Guerra. Desmond would be a massive misuse of resources IMO.
I agree, I like Cabrera as our future shortstop. He is a left handed batter with good hands and some pop. This is almost a no-brainer for the Pads.
Jimmy Rollins could be a possibility now but Asdrubal is fun to say and who i thought they would get once i kept hearing about Alexei Ramirez & the Desmond possibility
I like this move a lot, this means a lot more of Canha in left filling in for Crisp and no more Ike Davis. Solid deal for both sides.
Canha is really terrible outfielder though. Like, “should never play there” bad. He’s very good at 1B though. If only the A’s had an open DH spot for him…
Its December and Beane is far from done.
same with Preller
I want to know what’s next for preller. Does he now look for a first basemen or slot Myers to first and look to get another outfielder, preferably left handed. Also it might seem like solarte is the 3b for 2016 but he played above expectations and I don’t think he’ll repeat his 2015 numbers, maybe slide Jedd to 3b and have spangenberg play 2b?. Padres still have a lot of holes to fill for next year
So you move Alonso from a park he couldn’t hit in to another really big park….and get a guy who’s coming off a horrid season for pomeranz who was beyond solid in the pen. Ugh. Alonso is a bust in my opinion and don’t see him helping them but the A’s have a way of making borderline worthless players worth something so time will tell
Alonso hit .282/.361 in 402 PA which is pretty good and he is also one of the top 3-4 defensive 1B in MLB. Pomeranz is a reliever that had shoulder surgery in the offseason and may or may not be ready to start the season. Pomeranz is a bust in my opinion when you consider he was a top 5 draft pick and now is nothing but a swingman at best. Pomeranz has never pitched more than 115 innings in a season and threw just 86 innings last year, so he won’t step in as a starter for the Padres. The best case scenario for the Padres is that he becomes a late inning lefty specialist in 2016.
The problem is he does not play enough to be a consistent contributor. Brett Wallace is a contact hitter with more power. His defense may not be up to par with Alonso’s but I’d take his bat any day.
He hits .282 but only drove in 30 RBIS, and yes he’s a good defender but so is Canha and Lawrie, Yeah pomeranz had surgery but your clearly talking about them from a statistics stand point so yes pomeranz was ten times better then Rzepcynski was, this trade makes no sense to me and will take time to see how it develops, Alonso has shown virtually no power since coming to the MLB and going to the Oakland stadium is not going to boost his numbers at all
good change of scenery for Pomeranz
Help me understand this move from the Padres perspective please.
The Padres just traded away a 28 year old everyday 1B who hit .282/.361 last year in 402 PA and is one of the 3-4 best defensive 1B in the game for a 28 year old reliever/swingman who just had shoulder surgery. Why?
Preller keeps on saying that the Padres are retooling to contend in 2016, but he trades away a great defensive 1B on a team that is defensively challenged. He trades away an everyday player who hits well, especially against RHP.
Who is he going to replace Alonso with? Myers? He played 1B for the 1st time last year and in those few starts he exactly average. He is also more injury prone than Alonso and is a year behind Alonso in recovering from the same hand injury. That also brings up the question of who plays LF? Norris to 1B? That I might be ok with even though he is a terrible defensive 1B because it means he isn’t behind the plate calling games.
IF he returns healthy what is Pomeranz going to do for Padres? Middle Reliever? Take Rzepczynski’s place as the lefty specialist? Swingman to take OD’s place? He has never pitched more than 115 innings in a season so he wont be a full time starter. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff so he won’t be a closer.
I just don’t get this trade.
I’m hoping Brett Wallace. I’m hoping Wallace is working on his defensive skills this off season. His bat is pretty good.
He’s been working on his defense since he was a bat-only guy coming out of Pat Murphy’s program at ASU. I’m not sure that this winter he’s suddenly going to become more athletic or his hands are going to get softer.
That said, he makes sense as the 25th guy on the roster as a $1M bench LHH with power.
Yonder Alonso is at best mediocre and injury prone, he’s fine if he’s your 8th or 7th most valuable starting position player but this deal was no brainer. In return Padres got a number 4 starter/high leverage reliever that is dirt cheap with injury concerns if he does start. Myers should move to 1B and be upgrade over Yonder easily, question is what happens in OF
Padres have a lot of young corner outfielders
not the same hand injury for Myers & Alonso – the deal added more left handed pitching to the organization & a couple million extra to spend in 2016, plenty of time for more retooling (top 3 or 4 defense 1st baseman in the game is your opinion and not a fact nor suggested by anyone involved in the major leagues)
It’s surprising you’d have trouble with understanding something about baseball… you’ve got such a great track record of it otherwise! (Care to reply on your absurd comments on the Price story? Care to acknowledge your complete misreading of the Kennedy situation?)
The short answer – and I’ll type this slowly so you can keep up – is that Preller just turned two guys who were not going to be on the roster in 7 hours into a LHP with a strong pedigree, plus breaking ball and virtually no salary who, at worst, will replace Scrabble for 1/3 the cost next year and be under team control for two more years.
In terms of the first two paragraphs of your comment… Alonso is a fine enough first baseman, but there is zero statistical, scouting or observational support for the idea that he’s one of the top 5 defensive 1B and there’s less and less reason to think he’s an everyday player.
Now, in terms of trying to predict whether it’s Myers at 1B and a new acquisition in LF, Myers in LF and a new acquisition at 1B, if there’s one thing that should be clear by now… trying to predict what AJ is going to do next is a fool’s errand.
Alonso was most certainly going to be on our roster next year if he wasn’t traded! You don’t non-tender a guy who is that good for that cheap!
Move Myers to 1st base so we can get an extended look at Dickerson, Renfroe or Liriano (who is out of options).
I see Pomeranz ultimately as a LOOGY. Can’t be any worse than Rzepczynski.