Finding a shortstop is the Padres’ top priority at this point, and a pair of reports which highlight that pursuit have surfaced today. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that San Diego remains in contact with Ian Desmond’s reps at Sports One Athlete Management, and FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the team has had recent contact with free-agent Alexei Ramirez (links to Twitter). Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670 The Score first connected San Diego and Ramirez last month.
Desmond, 30, has remained in contact with the Padres, per Lin, though no deal is imminent at this time. However, Lin notes that Desmond is a favorite of general manager A.J. Preller, not only for his history of production at the plate (last season’s ugly first half notwithstanding) but also for his makeup and the leadership he brings to a team. Lin also notes that Preller said last month that even after acquiring highly touted shortstop prospect Javier Guerra as part of the package that sent Craig Kimbrel to Boston, he wouldn’t rule out landing a shortstop in free agency or in trades. “If we feel like it’s a player we really like and we think is worth the dollars and years, you can never have enough players up the middle, especially talented players,” said Preller. “Especially when you sign shortstops, you get guys who can play other positions and have value in the industry.”
Desmond posted an uncharacteristic .223/.290/.384 batting line in 2015, but much of that ugly slash line is due to a poor first half. Following the All-Star break, Desmond slashed .262/.331/.446 with a dozen homers and eight stolen bases. In spite of that disappointing first half, Desmond did finish the year just one homer shy of his fourth straight year with 20 or more long balls. And it should be noted that while he made 27 errors last year, an astonishing eight of those errors came in the season’s first 12 contests, after which he cleaned up his defense considerably.
None of that is to suggest that Desmond is a surefire bet to rebound to his 2012-14 form, of course. Signing in San Diego would figure to be disadvantageous to his production at the plate, given the typically run-suppressing nature of Petco Park. And while it’s easy enough to write off his poor first half as a fluke, it’s not as easy to write off Desmond’s alarming 29.2 percent strikeout rate in 2015. That mark was easily the highest of his career, and even when looking at his seemingly improved second half, the strikeouts were a problem. In fact, Desmond struck out in 30.3 percent of his second-half plate appearances, with his .262 average following the All-Star break largely due to a .346 BABIP which rests comfortably above his career level of .322. If Desmond is to truly turn his game around, he’ll need his strikeout rate to trend back toward the 21 percent mark he posted from 2012-13.
Desmond would also require a fairly lengthy commitment, and while it’s not known precisely where his market lies at this stage, it’s safe to say that Ramirez would command a significantly shorter term — possibly even a one-year deal. Ramirez also would not require the forfeiture of a draft pick, which Desmond would. As Rosenthal points out, the Padres’ No. 8 overall selection is protected, but surrendering their next-best pick would deprive the team of making six selections in the top 100 of next year’s draft. Adding Ramirez could provide a potential stopgap to Guerra without sacrificing the ability to substantially add to their farm next summer. (Bear in mind that not only would the Padres receive six of the top 100 picks — their bonus pool would be among the largest in the game due to the possession of those six picks, thereby allowing the team to strategically distribute that money and take some tough-to-sign players as value picks in later rounds.)
Ramirez, of course, isn’t without his own pros and cons. While he’s been a largely durable asset for the White Sox over the life of his big league career, showing both power and speed at times, he, too, was plagued by a dismal first half in 2015 when he batted just .224/.249/.292. Given the fact that he’s 34 years of age, the Padres (or any other team) have to be significantly more wary of a potential decline for Ramirez. However, he batted a much more characteristic .277/.325/.432 with eight homers and seven steals following the All-Star break.
First- and second-half splits are admittedly somewhat arbitrary in nature, but in the instance of each player there is nonetheless a notable distinction between the two halves of the season. If the Padres are confident that either player’s second half is a harbinger of things to come, then either would mark a substantial upgrade over the sub-par contributions of Alexi Amarista, Clint Barmes, Will Middlebrooks and Jedd Gyorko in 2015 (the latter three of which are no longer in the organization).
should have never got rid of trea turner
The Padres shouldn’t have made any of those moves last year. They’d be so so so much better off this year and beyond, both in talent and in money to spend.
No one was saying that last year when all the moves were made. In fact everyone had them making the playoffs so I suppose that after the team didn’t perform and the guys they brought it didn’t do what they were supposed to now everyone is gonna say they should have stayed put.
Yes, but IIRC, even at the time, most people thought giving up Joe Ross and Trea Turner for Will Myers was an overpay.
Turner might turn out to be a star but at this point is still a prospect who is not expected to start for the Nats in the beginning of the 2016 season. He reminds me a lot of Brent Lillibridge who similarly went from good prospect to blue chip after a trade (Pirates to Braves). The Myers trade has a few years of results to go before automatically being called an overpay.
The expectation is, barring injury, Turner will start the year at AAA, but just to avoid triggering his service time. The chances are quite good that he will be called up as soon as possible (May 30) to be the Nats shortstop. Oh, and Joe Ross is expected to be in the starting rotation (#4 or #5) all year. I do hope Will Myers can fulfill his potential, but I think it’s safe to say the Nats got a pretty good return for Steven Souza.
That whole trade has been disadvantageous so far for the Padres. They gave ross and turner to the nationals, as well as another pretty good prospect in Jake Bauers to the Rays.
Sure, it might take another few years to really see who got the best ends of the deal, but it certainly was not a smart move by Preller to trade from positions of need (SS and pitcher).
I said it last year, to anyone and everyone who would listen.
Once again if Matt Kemp produces the way he did in the second half of last season and Wil Myers can stay healthy, Preller hasn’t missed on any of his major moves. Jesse Hahn for Norris and Seth Smith for Brandon Mauer, you don’t think he should’ve made those deals? How about turning Kimbrel into Manuel Margot and Javier Guerra plus two other young players. I’m getting a little sick of this Preller has no idea what he’s doing narrative. At least Rosenthal admitted Preller got a better return from Sox for Kimbrel than was offered to him at the deadline. Enjoy being a chicken little fan and bagging on every move he makes. Joe Ross, Bauers and Turner all look like capable young players, but I really don’t see any of them as being building blocks for a major league team. Wil Myers can be that guy the Pads just need him to be healthy.
Kemp was a terrible trade. He’s eating up almost $22 million a year for 4 more years and is virtually unmovable. He also had a terrible 1st half the last 2 years and his skills are only going to decline. One can only hope he produces like the second half so he can be traded. As to Kimbrel, we are paying Melvin Upton almost $32 million over the next 2 years. So it’s not just getting Margot and Guerra plus for Kimbrel. A lot of money went out the door for that, but good try. And you chastise me for having wanted to keep Turner and J. Ross etc., but yet you put your eggs in the prospect basket (Margot, etc.). Also, now the Pads have no SS, and Myers to 1B is a waste. He will be an average offensive first baseman at best. So, before throwing around insults, think it through a bit.
Over $18 million per for the next 4…still terrible.
ehh debatable kemp was our best player last year and im pretty sure he will be this year to and plus if we never got kemp we wouldnt have a power hitter in the lineup right now upton is gone and most likely not coming back
Beyou I’m calling you out because you trash every single move Preller makes. You claim every move he makes is awful and he’s clueless, yet you ignore the Norris, Mauer deals. You say the Kemp trade is terrible, I say he’s the best hitter we’ve had in years and is someone I will actually pay to see. We had to take on Melvin who actually wasn’t all that bad last year, but we also dumped Maybin and Carlos Quentins money in the deal. Wisler, Peterson, Fried, etc don’t excite me as much Margot and Guerra. Lets see how Myers, Margot and Guerras career turn out. I think Guerra will end up being better than Turner. Without a doubt he will better both defensively and from a power standpoint. Myers is a young impact bat. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the Pads haven’t produced many of those over years.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. Not every move is bad, just most. Only time will tell. There are a lot of people in baseball who are much smarter than me who are also very unimpressed with Preller so far as well. I hope he succeeds, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve been very underwhelmed with the totality of the moves to date. I hope he proves me wrong. I really do. But as far as the “calling out stuff”, that is just childish. You have to learn that people will have opinions that you don’t share, and it’s nice to at least be respectful and debate things on the merits and not resort to useless name-calling.
But no hard feelings. That is one of the things that makes baseball so fun – the difference of opinions.
Yeah not everything Preller has done is bad. The Norris trade has been working okay so far, and he got a good return for Kimbrel. However, many of the other moves he has made have not been looking good. I’ll give a little bit of a pass on the Myers trade since he needs to be given a fair chance to produce now that he’s actually fully healthy, but the fact that Preller traded from a dire position of need to get him (SS) was not very smart if you ask me. Kemp will only get more expensive and decline more, and Shields might too. Melvin Upton is getting paid too much for his actual production, and it’s just puzzling to try to figure out of the team is trying to rebuild or contend.
Preller’s not horrible, he’s not Reuben Amaro Jr., but the path he’s taking this team down has been a little unsettling so far, for the most part.
beyou your basically trashing ever move preller makes okay so what about the past general managers we had trading gonzalez got rizzo then trading rizzo for cashner a year later thats a dumb trade and the headley trade for solarte yeah sure solarte a good player but he couldve got more out of that trade so basically im saying preller is the best gm we have had in a while he’s actually trading to get player that could possibly win a world series he not like the past gms who would trade our key player that could win a world series for minor leaguers
Sorry for the chicken little jab, that was childish on my part. The frustration of being a Pads fan got to me lol. I just get annoyed hearing the consistent slamming of Preller. Let’s see how he drafts, retools the farm with the young guys he wants. I’ve seen him add some nice pieces to an organization that didn’t have much. I don’t trust the previous regimes because they didn’t give us much in terms of home grown talent over the years. Preller is smart, aggressive and seems to drive a lot of people around baseball nuts so they seem quick to pile on. Every talking head trashed him at the deadline for not selling and he ends up getting a better deal for Kimbrel. He is likely to pick up a first round pick over taking the Mets rumored deal of Zach Wheeler who is talented but is coming off of TJ. I think we finally lucked out and have a smart and competitive GM who gives me some hope.
mwa ha ha
I wish writers would stop characterizing Petco as a ” run-suppressing nature of Petco Park.” or as cavernous. Ian kennedy showed everybody last year that hitting homeruns at Petco was not a problem.
ha
I’d rather Padres signed Ramirez on a 1-2 year deal than Desmond.
Still it’s hard to tell if the Padres will try to compete or not this year… Smells of a rebuild, but in a quieter sense.
I’ll take either one as long as no more than three years are guaranteed. If Rondon/Guerra/Giron comes up, they can move the veteran to 3B or elsewhere.
If Ramirez had tailed off in the second half, or had as bad of a half as his first half, I’d stay away from him. However, he was a solid hitter and looked decent in the field. Having watched him his entire career for the Sox, he’s for sure a feast or famine player, sadly the famine can last half a season. He’s worth a small gamble for anyone who needs a SS..
“looked decent in the field”????
Seriously? He was a train wreck. His bat improved in the second half but that’s expected from Ramirez. He’s either great the first half and lousy the second half…or vice versa. He’s really only had 1 or 2 solid full seasons his whole career.
Padres can have him.
Couldn’t they have looked for a SS before dealing Gyorko? Regardless of his negative dWAR, I don’t see how Gyorko was much worse than Desmond (assuming a long-term contract) or Alexei.
Preller got super-lucky that Kung-Fu Panda declined the Padres’ offer last season. I hope no similar offers go out again.
once again….the Padres are doing more of the same (sigh)….we’ve seen this crap before, when we brought over aging/declining/ infielders like Iguchi and Jason Bartlett and Orlando Hudson. They had “names” and had very solid seasons, BEFORE THEY CAME TO SAN DIEGO…
I just dont like how this smells. If Ramirez is going to be effective enough to really make a difference on ballclub, everyday, Chicago woulda” picked up his option..end of discussion. I suppose he’s the best option over Desmond, because Preller isnt losing a pick…but again, this smells more like “we’re not really contending…we’re just biding time”