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Padres Sign James Loney To Minors Deal

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1:12pm: ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that Loney secured an opt-out provision in his contract that allows him to take a Major League opportunity if it presents itself elsewhere (Twitter link). The Padres, though, do have right of first refusal, so they’ll have a chance to put him on their own big league roster first if another club does offer a 25-man roster spot.

APRIL 8, 8:00am: While there’s no official word from the team yet, Loney himself announced that he has signed in San Diego late last night (Twitter link).

APRIL 7: The Padres have agreed to a minor league pact with first baseman James Loney, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Loney had, of course, been released recently by the Rays, who remain on the hook for his $8MM salary for the coming season — less whatever he ends up earning in San Diego (or elsewhere), which almost certainly won’t exceed the league minimum rate of pay.

Loney, who’ll turn 32 in a month, was displaced by several offseason acquisitions by Tampa Bay. Coming off of a strong platform year, he inked a three-year pact with the Rays before 2014. Things didn’t go as hoped, however, as Loney took a step back in the first campaign and ended last year with a subpar .280/.322/.357 slash over just 388 plate appearances.

Despite showing some potential early in his career, power has never been Loney’s calling card. But at his best, he delivers a high average with solid on-base numbers while carrying a quality glove at first. Of course, advanced metrics soured on his work in the infield over the last two seasons. It’s worth noting, too, that Loney carries fairly drastic platoon splits, and is best off avoiding opposing southpaws.

For San Diego, Loney adds another piece to an organization that has struggled offensively out of the gates. Wil Myers figures to play every day at first, but could move to the outfield at times if the new addition becomes an option against righties. Of course, Brett Wallace occupies a similar role on the current roster, so Loney will have to earn an opportunity just to crack the majors.

Jeremy Guthrie Would Earn $1.25MM In Majors With Padres

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  • If and when he is called up to the Padres, veteran righty Jeremy Guthrie will pitch at a $1.25MM rate. Guthrie, who’ll turn 37 on Friday, joined on with San Diego after he failed to make the Rangers and opted out of his deal. Despite a rough 2015, Guthrie has a solid track record of delivering innings at the back of the rotation, and figures to have a shot at making some more MLB starts if and when a need arises.

Padres Hope To Keep All Three Rule 5 Picks

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  • The Padres are hoping that Rule 5 picks Jabari Blash and Luis Perdomo can justify their roster spots not only with their long-term upside, but also their immediate contributions, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com writes. Blash looks to be the more MLB-ready of the two, notes Cassavell, with the 22-year-old Perdomo showing plenty of talent but also a lack of polish. It looks like it’ll be an uphill battle for the young righty to stick all year after a tough spring and rough handling by the Dodgers late in today’s blowout loss.
  • Padres GM A.J. Preller says he’s hoping to find a way to keep Rule 5 righty Josh Martin even after designating him for assignment yesterday, Cassavell tweets. By waiting to put him in DFA limbo, rather than utilizing outright waivers, San Diego has ten days to work out a deal with the Indians to retain Martin’s rights — assuming he isn’t ultimately claimed by another organization.

Padres Designate Josh Martin For Assignment

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The Padres announced that they have designated right-handed pitcher Josh Martin for assignment.  In a related move, San Diego has selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Adam Rosales.  The Padres now have 39 players on the 40-man roster.

Martin, 26, first entered the league as a tenth-round pick of the Indians in the 2012 draft.  Last year, Martin ascended to Double-A Akron and pitched to a 3.07 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9.  This year, he found his way to the Padres but could not stick on their Opening Day roster.

Rosales, 33 in May, inked a minor league deal with the Padres in January.  He’ll make $800K in the majors, Dennis Lin of U-T San Diego tweets.

To keep up with Martin and many more players in DFA limbo, keep an eye on MLBTR’s handy DFA Tracker.

Rule 5 Pick Jabari Blash Makes Padres

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  • Outfielder Jabari Blash, a Rule 5 pick from the Mariners, has made the Padres’ Opening Day roster, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. The 26-year-old Blash batted an impressive .271/.370/.576 and 32 homers in a 2015 season split between Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma, then followed that with a decent spring in which he hit .204 but with four homers and eight walks in 59 plate appearances. The Padres also announced that fellow outfielder Travis Jankowski has made the team.

Padres Sign Jeremy Guthrie To Minor-League Deal

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SATURDAY: The deal is complete, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.

FRIDAY: The Padres have agreed to terms with righty Jeremy Guthrie on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports report (via Twitter). The Rangers released Guthrie earlier this week after he exercised an opt-out clause in his contract with them. Guthrie is a client of Excel Sports Management.

Guthrie, who will be 37 next week, had a poor season for the Royals in 2015 (insofar as anyone on a World Series-winning team could have a poor season). He pitched 148 1/3 innings and posted a 5.95 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. He did not pitch in the postseason with the Royals, who paid him a $3.2MM buyout after the season ended rather than exercising their $10MM option on him. For his career, Guthrie has a 4.37 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 12 seasons with the Indians, Orioles and Rockies in addition to the Royals. The Padres’ plans for him are unclear, but the organization seems like a good fit, given the team’s unsettled rotation beyond Tyson Ross, James Shields and Andrew Cashner.

Padres Have Limited Interest In Pablo Sandoval; Name Drew Pomeranz To Rotation

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  • The idea that the Padres could try to land Pablo Sandoval from the Red Sox has been “overblown,” sources suggest to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links). Lin suggests that Sandoval wouldn’t be a good fit on the San Diego roster, which currently features Yangervis Solarte as the top option at third. Of course, if the Pads place any value on Sandoval’s upside in a bounceback scenario, they could presumably make it work — either by including Solarte in the deal or by moving him into a different role (possibly including some kind of timeshare with Sandoval). At this stage, though, Boston would without doubt have to eat a huge portion of the money left on Sandoval’s deal in any kind of trade.
  • While the Padres were widely criticized for failing to strike any deals at last year’s trade deadline, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests that the club may have been justified given the offers it was receiving. Ian Kennedy apparently drew extremely limited interest, with the best offer being then-Cubs outfielder Junior Lake — who has bounced around quite a bit and doesn’t appear to be that appealing an asset. Upton might have brought back Michael Fulmer from the Mets, which was at least a substantial return, but the Pads were said to have questions about his ability to stick in the rotation in the long run. Those two veterans ended up netting draft picks, of course, and that was inarguably the better outcome in Kennedy’s case, at least. And though San Diego could’ve had exciting infield prospect Jorge Mateo from the Yankees for closer Craig Kimbrel, per Sherman, the Friars were ultimately able to land a deeper package from the Red Sox at the outset of the offseason. It’s an interesting look back from Sherman, who also looks at the organization’s questionable future.
  • The idea that the Padres could try to land Pablo Sandoval from the Red Sox has been “overblown,” sources suggest to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links). Lin suggests that Sandoval wouldn’t be a good fit on the San Diego roster, which currently features Yangervis Solarte as the top option at third. Of course, if the Pads place any value on Sandoval’s upside in a bounceback scenario, they could presumably make it work — either by including Solarte in the deal or by moving him into a different role (possibly including some kind of timeshare with Sandoval). At this stage, though, Boston would without doubt have to eat a huge portion of the money left on Sandoval’s deal in any kind of trade.
  • While the Padres were widely criticized for failing to strike any deals at last year’s trade deadline, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests that the club may have been justified given the offers it was receiving. Ian Kennedy apparently drew extremely limited interest, with the best offer being then-Cubs outfielder Junior Lake — who has bounced around quite a bit and doesn’t appear to be that appealing an asset. Upton might have brought back Michael Fulmer from the Mets, which was at least a substantial return, but the Pads were said to have questions about his ability to stick in the rotation in the long run. Those two veterans ended up netting draft picks, of course, and that was inarguably the better outcome in Kennedy’s case, at least. And though San Diego could’ve had exciting infield prospect Jorge Mateo from the Yankees for closer Craig Kimbrel, per Sherman, the Friars were ultimately able to land a deeper package from the Red Sox at the outset of the offseason. It’s an interesting look back from Sherman, who also looks at the organization’s questionable future.
  • Drew Pomeranz has won a rotation job for the Padres, the club announced. The southpaw came over in a winter deal with the Athletics, who received one-time top prospect Yonder Alonso and lefty specialist Mark Rzepczynzki. Now 27, and once a top prospect with the division-rival Rockies, Pomeranz has turned in two nice seasons in a swingman role with Oakland. San Diego will certainly hope he can lock down a starting role, as he’d represent a nice value with a $1.35MM arb salary and two more years of control remaining.

Padres Have Had Internal Talks About Trading For Pablo Sandoval

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The Padres have had internal discussions about the possibility of dealing for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, Jon Heyman tweets. (Via WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Padres deny that there have been any substantive talks.) The Padres are not among the three teams to whom Sandoval can block a trade, Heyman adds. Sandoval is still owed $75MM through 2019, including a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option, so as Heyman notes, a deal to send Sandoval from the Padres to the Red Sox would likely include money to offset his contract.

The Red Sox recently named rookie Travis Shaw their starter at third base ahead of Sandoval, even though they’re only one year into Sandoval’s contract. The Padres, meanwhile, reportedly had a scout watching Sandoval, although it wasn’t clear how much interest they had in him or whether that scout might be watching someone else. The Padres had interest in Sandoval during their splashy 2014-15 offseason, reportedly offering Sandoval a nine-figure deal that exceeded the Red Sox’ offer in total value.

The Padres might now see Sandoval as presenting an opportunity to buy low, although it’s not clear whether Sandoval is an upgrade over current Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte. Solarte hit .270/.320/.428 last season and projects to produce 1.6 fWAR, via ZiPS. Sandoval, meanwhile, batted .245/.292/.366 and projects to produce 0.9 fWAR (although another projection system, Steamer, rates him as being likely to produce half a win better than that). Sandoval would seem to be a curious addition for a Padres team that was badly burned by veteran additions two winters ago and now seems more focused on trading high-profile veterans rather than on adding them.

There’s been some speculative conversation about a trade that could send Sandoval to San Diego and James Shields to Boston, and a Sandoval/Shields framework might make some sense, at least on a purely financial level — the Padres still owe Shields $65MM on the deal he signed with them last offseason. While Shields’ home-run-heavy first year with the Padres was merely a relatively small disappointment, though, Sandoval’s first year with Boston was a disaster, so the two players’ current values seem somewhat different.

Reds Claim Dan Straily From Padres

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The Reds have claimed righty Dan Straily from the Padres, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. It was reported earlier today that the Padres had placed Straily on waivers.

Straily spent most of last season pitching for the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate in Fresno, where he produced a 4.77 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 122 2/3 innings. He previously spent about a season and a half in the Athletics’ rotation, though, and his combination of relative youth (27), controllability (he’s still not yet eligible for arbitration) and experience make him an understandable target for a rebuilding team like the Reds. Straily can also start or relieve, and he can be optioned. The Reds’ current role for him is unclear, but it’s easy to see how they might find him useful in a variety of contexts, particularly given their injury-ravaged rotation and unsettled bullpen.

Padres Place Dan Straily On Waivers

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The Padres have placed righty Dan Straily on waivers, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. Straily was out of options.

The Padres, of course, acquired Straily for catcher Erik Kratz in a minor deal with the Astros earlier this week. It appears their interest in Straily wasn’t particularly strong, or at least that they didn’t have an immediate use for him. They could be hoping to use him as minor-league depth if they anticipate he’ll go through the waiver process unclaimed.

Straily was once a regular in the Astros’ rotation, but he appeared in only four big-league games last season. He spent most of the year at Triple-A Fresno, posting a 4.77 ERA but with 9.1 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 122 2/3 innings. For his big-league career, the 27-year-old has a 4.60 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9.

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