6:57pm: Villanueva could earn something in the neighborhood of $3MM if he reaches the incentives in his deal, Lin tweets.
5:26pm: The Padres will sell the contract rights to third baseman Christian Villanueva to Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, per Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter links).* Villanueva would need to agree to sign a contract with his new team; whether he has yet done so is not immediately clear.
Villanueva earned his first full shot at the majors in 2018 and certainly held his own. He finished with an overall batting line that sat just over league-average and hit twenty long balls in 384 plate appearances. Villanueva also graded as an average defender at the hot corner (DRS gave him positive marks; UZR did not).
Clearly, though, the Friars and other MLB outfits were not optimistic about his future. That’s a bit surprising at first glance. Villanueva has generally produced strong numbers in the minors. And though his 27.1% strikeout rate was a bit hefty, that’s hardly an astronomical rate in this league environment. He wasn’t reliant on BABIP (.276) to post the numbers he did. And Villanueva is also still only 27 years of age.
On the other hand, Villanueva was not able to reach the .300 mark in on-base percentage. And he failed to produce much at all with the bat after sprinting out of the gates in the first month of the season. Plus, Villanueva struggled badly against right-handed pitching all year long. (That does indicate that he was correspondingly excellent against southpaws, against whom he maintained a rather robust .336/.392/.726 batting line in 125 plate appearances.)
It would stand to reason that the Padres would have preferred to recoup talent via trade had that been an option. That it wasn’t suggests that there wasn’t much interest. From the player’s perspective, this move is a potential win, even if it is disappointing not to stay in the majors. Villanueva will likely have a shot to earn quite a bit more than the league-minimum salary, to say nothing of what he’d make in the minors. And there’s always still the possibility of staging a return.
*The original version of this post stated the Villanueva was headed to the Hanshin Tigers. Per Rosenthal’s correction of his initial report, the Japanese team involved is the Yomiuri Giants.
In betting he did if he’s getting sold there
Really opens up third base. I liked CV but if we can bring in somebody better, I’m excited for the possibilities.
sayonara!
He got off to a great start but terrible plate discipline and defense played him out of a starting job.
he was hitting middle and right field more towards the end of the season, which looked like progress in his plate approach.
never considered this a possibility, but i dig the move.
at least off seasons for us padres fans are pretty exciting the last couple years. hopefully dominating the months of november-december will translate to dominating the months of august-october in the up coming years.
Hey 420! Didn’t realize one can comment on MLBTR. It is article based as well…
yeah. the only down side i’m finding is that since they changed their system a couple years back, you only can receive notifications of a response via email. used to be like facebook where you’d just get a prompt letting you know you had a reply on the same website. kind of difficult trying to remember which articles you responded to certain people through. glad you’re over here anyways tho. see you on the paddack page
Guy had a fairly decent power season last year. Surprised he agreed to this.
Great against LHP but unless you platoon him, which at 3B you probably don’t want to have to do for roster flexibility, he’s a fringey player.
He probably hopes he can go over there, rake for a couple years and then come back and sign a deal.
It’s not up to him if SD wanted to sell him to a NPB team. It is up to him to sign a contract with the team though.
Not exactly true. MLB teams generally don’t sell a guy’s contract to a Japanese team without his knowing about it first. Usually the Japanese (or Korean) team has already approached both the player and the team about the possibility of a deal.
bigkempin……..
Selling a player to a foreign team requires written consent from the player first, Article XIX Section D of the CBA. A team can’t just sell a player and then say it’s up to you to sign. Link to CBA….. mlbplayers.com/pdf9/5450407.pdf
And given that he “could earn something in the neighborhood of $3m if he reaches the incentives in the deal” as opposed to the league minimum he’d get if he stayed, not withholding that consent makes sense. The real question is why the Padres kept Jose Pirela over him.
Of course the money is tempting but there is always family considerations. Does he want to spend 6+ months away from his wife and 19 month old son? Does he want to move them half a world away?
Apparently he hasn’t agreed yet. The Padres sold his contract rights, but had to DFA him to get him off the 40-man. He now either agrees to play in Japan or he sits – nobody else can sign him without dealing with the Yomiuri Giants first.
It’s kind of sad that he spent years in the minors, finally got to the majors, hit 20 major league homers, and has to leave the country to keep playing baseball.
Wow that’s a lot of Ks.
Really? Why? Why would Villanueva want to leave for Japan at this point?
Money. They clearly wanted his 40 man slot so it’d be no surprised if they outrighted him, which he’d have no control over. Not a significant need for a not great def corner platoon guy. So really opportunity and money.
who knows it worked for Cecil Fielder and will give him chance to make some money
It worked for Thames as well. CV will tear up the heaters there in Japan, he will see a higher number of off-speed pitches. This is his opportunity to learn and become a true hitter. He’s a good ball player, he has the tools, time to implement them.
Ok that’s all 3 spots for Paddack, Espinoza and Allen cleared. Gonna need more for any of the others.
Do MLB or MiLB players have a say with getting traded in intercontinental trades?
I believe so
Sort of. It’s not really a trade, since you can only swap existing contracts with MLB affiliated entities, so this is buying/selling contract rights. After acquiring the rights the player/new team still need to sign a formal contract for his new league.
So while technically the team doesn’t need his consent to make the initial deal, practically it’s all usually arranged before anything gets signed
xabial……A player must give written consent, so yes they have all the say. If a player says no a team can not sell him to the NPB Article XIX Section D of the CBA. mlbplayers.com/pdf9/5450407.pdf
Like, really? They couldn’t find a trade partner with another MLB team? Villanueva was once a top prospect with the Cubs but Kris Bryant got in his way. He still has legitimate talent. Surprised that it looks like his talents will be going overseas.
Interesting. He had a fairly nice season last year and to let him walk for nothing is kind of odd.
Padres looking to clear a spot for a Rule 5 player that hasn’t been above High A ball to be their starter at 3B this year? /s
I highly doubt 1 MLB team wouldn’t want to take a chance on him.
The Padres weren’t content with just developing players for other MLB franchises, now they have started developing players for the Pacific Rim as well. How long before Fernando Tatis is sold to the Netherlands league?
Selling a 43 year old former MLB player?
Him and Raphael Palmeiro are going to start up the expansion Gray Hairs, which I think is going to be based in Boca Raton, Florida if I’m not mistaken.
Hell yeah. Itll be just like the BIG 3 in basketball.
Over the line rules
Really need: Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Ken Griffey Jr, Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mo Vaughn, Mike Piazza, Barry Larkin Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux Tom Glavine, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Vlad Guerrero, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Mcgwire, Cap Ripken Jr, Rickey Henderson, Pedro Martinez on board with this.
I like the idea, but you gotta take out the HOF players. Get an all 90’s/ early 2000’s team together for a reunion.
C- Benito Santiago, Sandy Alomar, Jr.
1B- Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGuire
2B- Chuck Knoblauch, Jeff Kent
3B- Ken Caminiti
SS- Nomar Garciaparra
OF- Barry Bonds, Ichiro Suzuki, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez
SP- Clemens, Musina, Kevin Brown, Curt Schilling, David Wells
RP- Wagner, Rob Nenn, etc…
Ken Caminiti passed away man. Im not saying its impossible just REALLY gonna be hard if balls are hit his direction.
Okay, he might be a bit ‘stiff’ when it comes to playing 3rd then.
Too soon?
Then I’ll put in Matt Williams at 3rd
Well you’ve proven that you aren’t worth talking to, so have a nice life.
Its a joke man. Relax. Lighten up. Get a me love you long time massage from an asian parlor.
Padres at it again , now selling players to non-MLB team what next. I’ve never seen a MLB team sell a player, I’ve seen players released to take a contract with Japan or other country.
I believe the Padres had to ask his permission 1st.
Villanueva was DFA’d.
I was excited to see what Villa could do last year but after a great April, he was brutal in the field and hitting. His fielding errors were often on routine plays and he would let it continue to bother him throughout game and beyond. I hope he can refine his play in Japan. He seems like a good guy.
I know Villanueva has his flaws, but this looks bad. He’s young and as it is he’s a lefty crusher, and that is extremely valuable, just ask the Sox and Pearce. Terrible move IMO.
They were likely to release him. Why not get some cash for him ? I’m sure they tried to shop him to other clubs with no takers
I would rather have an IF lefty masher in Villa rather than Pirela, Spangenberg or Asuaje any day.
Not much of a choice. None of them are any good.
You say that like that trio is going to be on the next competitive padres team. Asuaje and Pirela are going to be lucky to make it through the rest of the day on the 40 man let alone to 2020
they made it further than Vilanueva for no good reason.
Technically Spangenberg was DFAed at the same time, but the point is we’re talking about the bottom tier of players on this roster who are all going to get turned over anyways. Why does the order matter?
Also, I doubt that a Japanese team made an offer to buy the rights of Spang or Pirela either. They may have rather gotten rid of one of them but no one was knocking down the door to take them in return for anything
Still better to DFA Pirela over any one of Spangenberg, Rea or Cordoba
Pirela was quite good in both the majors and minors in 2017. He was terrible this year, but I woudln’t be surprised to see him turn out to be a serviceable player. His ability to play so many positions definitely adds to that
What ability to play so many positions? He was god awful defensively at each one.
Gonna mash 60 homers in that league. Easily.
He’s going to Japan, not korea
Villanueva hit fairly well against LHP and his defense at 3rd improved throughout the season had no Options remaining though. Ty France has hit well in AA/AAA but is rule 5 eligible. Tatis jr can play 3rd base if the Padres do get Segura in a trade with the Mariners. Tatis JR has a cannon at 3rd as he showed it in the minors all star game.
Cubs burned all his options without promoting him to the majors. He got demoted to AA when Bryant leapfrogged him. Then he broke his leg in Spring Training and spent the season on the 60 day DL.
So he’d be arb eligible next year even though he’s only spent a little over a year in the majors.
Great start to his MLB career but looks like righties figured him out.
Franco now to Padres.
Isn’t this the plot of a bad Tom Selleck movie that MLB Network shows all the time?
Already 27, can’t field, can’t hit RHP and wasn’t in good shape. They shopped him and there just isn’t much of a market for this type of profile.
He was an average defensive player by the end of the year (started bad, ended good) and he was a lefty masher. The good shape thing I can agree but he wasn’t prince fielder either. He was a decent piece IMO.
I’ve heard from a buddy who lives in Japan that Tigers games are a lot of fun.
Could be an interesting experience for him. Hope he does well there.
How much money do they get for him? I’d like to see this type of thing more often, and when they are a little younger. He could have been sent over there two years ago for more money while earning more money during his time there and would be an “intriguing option to come back this year. In two or three years we could be supplying all of the 1st/dh option in Japan, Korea, and Tawain.