The Mariners announced that they’ve traded infielder Luis Sardinas to the Padres in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The Padres have also announced the move, adding that Sardinas has been optioned to Triple-A El Paso, and right-hander Erik Johnson has been moved to the 60-day disabled list in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster.
Seattle designated Sardinas, 23, for assignment last week after he posted a meager .181/.203/.264 slash in 77 big league plate appearances and a similarly uninspiring .252/.295/.276 batting line in 177 Triple-A plate appearances. A disappointing 2016 campaign notwithstanding, Sardinas is a former Top 100 prospect that is a known commodity to San Diego GM A.J. Preller, who signed Sardinas out of Venezuela in 2009 with the Rangers and watched him develop into a well-regarded infield prospect. Sardinas has experience at shortstop, third base and second base in both the Majors and minors, and he’s a career .279/.311/.347 hitter at the Triple-A level even when including this season’s dismal results.
At the peak of his prospect status, Sardinas drew praise from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo for his “terrific defensive skills” and “outstanding arm” as well as a contact-oriented approach that allowed him to hit line-drives to all fields. Sardinas has solid speed — 107 steals in 142 attempts in the minors — and hits from both sides of the plate. While he may not be as well-regarded as he once was, he makes for a reasonable low-cost addition with the upside of at least being a glove-first utility option for a Padres organization that is presently thin on infield depth at the upper levels of its minor league system.
He just needs time to play regularly, will he get that with the Padres?
LOL yeah he will. Ramierez is 34- noonon is almost 30. He will get a chance.
He’s immediately the starter at SS for the remainder of the season. Alexei Ramirez has been effectively benched, as AA rookie Jose Rondon and journeyman Nick Noonan have been started over him. With no options left after 2016, they’ll certainly take a long look at him for the remainder of this year and probably roll in to 2017 with him starting at SS and Amarista his backup.
Gonna be hard for him to be the everyday starter for the remainder of the season since he isn’t on the big league roster.
Yeah, they added that after my comment posted. I like the move to option him. There’s something in the water in El Paso. Hopefully he’ll make like Dickerson, Schimpf, Renfroe, Blash, and others to find an adjustment and turn a corner with the bat.
Not a terrible pickup for a bad team. They’ve been wasting at-bats on Adam Rosales and Brett Wallace all year. At least Sardinas is still young enough to have some upside.
“The Mariners announced that they’ve traded infielder Luis Sardinas to the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.”
That needs to be fixed.
Maybe it’s like when John McDonald got traded to the Tigers for himself.
Ultimately, move probably doesn’t mean much, but the padres were rumored to be in pursuit of him both when he originally departed Texas and when he was in Milwaukee, so a guy the team has generally liked for a long time. That said, he hasn’t exactly panned out so far, but the bar is pretty low at SS in San Diego, so simply being ‘not terrible’ might be enough to crack the 25 man. It’s doubtful that guys like Brett Wallace, Adam Rosales or Nick Noonan are going stick around, so an upside play makes sense, even if it’s a relatively low percentage play.
My god, the Padres have been so bad at shortstop for so long. It’s too bad they couldn’t have a guy like Trea Turner on the roster.
I think that fact has already need burned into Padres fans consciousnesses at this point, so bringing it up is just kind of redundant.
It might be redundant, but, man, watching that guy play baseball is a joy and, as a Padres fan, painful. He is the fastest man I’ve ever seen on a baseball field, and I’m including Billy Hamilton in that.
Good pick up by preller. He wasnt given much of a chance in milwakee or seattle.
36 games with the brewers and 32 w the mariner. Considering the mariners had seager marte and cano at 3rd ss 2nd he didnt have much of a chance.
I like what I see out of schimpf dudes got some power so using sardinas at ss rest of the season makes sense.
Well if he can play SS at all he’ll definitely get a chance. Shortstop for the Padres is perhaps the biggest black hole at any position for any team.
He is alright at SS needs some consistent plate time. Doesn’t have much pop but can surprise you once in awhile. He shared time with O’Malley when Marte was hurt or went down with mono but doesn’t have his versatility. With some patients I think he has the tools to be an avg SS but probably not great.
Start printing those playoff tickets.
El Paso was already pretty much a lock for the playoffs, but this probably does help their chances.
Oh wait. You were trying to be clever, and in the process demonstrated a lack of understanding of the basics of baseball transactions. Please, carry on.