Padres Rumors

Jeff Moorad Steps Down As Padres CEO

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 22, 2012 at 4:07pm CDT

Jeff Moorad has stepped down as the Padres' CEO, the team announced. President and COO Tom Garfinkel will assume CEO duties on an interim basis, while Moorad will stay on as vice chairman and oversee the Padres' relationship with FOX Sports San Diego.

Moorad recently dropped his application to become the controlling partner of the Padres. He had two years remaining to complete his purchase of the team, but he appeared to be having trouble winning over MLB owners and obtaining their support. In the meantime, John Moores still owns the club.

One club source told Dan Hayes of the North County Times (via Twitter) that Garfinkel has been running club all along and the move doesn't hurt the club in terms of stability or strength.

Quick Hits: Forbes, Padres, Felix, Athletics

By Mark Polishuk | March 21, 2012 at 11:10pm CDT

Forbes Magazine calculates the Yankees (unsurprisingly) as the most valuable franchise in baseball, worth an estimated $1.85 billion. The second-place team on the list are (somewhat surprisingly) the Dodgers at $1.4 billion, up nearly 75% in value from last year as Forbes predicts the team's forthcoming sale and new TV contract will return it to top-tier status. The Forbes list also reveals which teams lost value from last year and which didn't turn a profit in 2011, as well as looking at how cable TV deals are changing the economics of the game.

Some other news from around the majors…

Yasmani Grandal is happy that Padres teammate and fellow catcher Nick Hundley received a contract extension but isn't worried that Hundley's deal impacts his own future with the club, reports Dan Hayes of the North County Times. "It doesn't matter if somebody got a deal or not. You never know what could happen," Grandal said. "They could get traded or you could get traded. I'm not only playing for one organization. I'm playing for the 29 others that are out there. That's one way I see it, and if it's not meant to be it's not meant to be. If I don't make it to the big leagues with this club I can make it with any other team."
Hundley's reasonable contract could make him a strong trade candidate, opines Dave Cameron of Fangraphs, who the Padres could deal this summer if Grandal has a strong first half at Triple-A.
Felix Hernandez says he is asked about his future with the Mariners in almost every interview, reports Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, and joked he might hang a banner reading "I'm not going anywhere" over his locker.
The Athletics are thus far very pleased with the four prospects (Tom Milone, Brad Peacock, A.J. Cole and Derek Norris) they received from the Nationals in the Gio Gonzalez trade, reports Jeff Fletcher for the Washington Times.
Matthew Eddy of Baseball America recaps the week's minor league transactions.
Vernon Wells thinks the Blue Jays could make "exceptions" to their policy of not offering contracts longer than five years, reports Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. Ironically, Wells' seven-year, $126MM deal with Toronto in 2006 is no doubt a major reason why the current Jays management team has adopted this policy.
Some newly-hired bench bosses make FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal's annual list of managers on the hot seat, including Ozzie Guillen and Bobby Valentine.

Padres Extend Nick Hundley

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 20, 2012 at 3:58pm CDT

The Padres and catcher Nick Hundley agreed to terms on a three-year extension, the team announced. The deal covers the 2012-14 seasons and includes a club option for 2015. Athletes First represents Hundley, who drew praise from his new GM.

“Nick has developed into one of our club’s core players,” Josh Byrnes said. “He impacts the game on both offense and defense and has evolved into a leader on the field and in the clubhouse.”

Hundley had agreed to a one-year, $2MM salary via arbitration this offseason and was on track for free agency following the 2014 season. This means San Diego extends its control of Hundley by up to one season with today's agreement. Hundley will earn $2MM in 2012, $3MM in 2013 and $4MM in 2014, MLB.com's Corey Brock reports (Twitter links). The club option is worth $5MM and doesn't include a buyout, so it's a three-year, $9MM deal.

Hundley has a .255/.314/.420 career line in four MLB seasons, including a .288/.347/.477 line last year. 72% of stolen base attempts against the 28-year-old have been successful to this point in his career.

As Mike Axisa pointed out when talks heated up over the weekend, catchers such as Kurt Suzuki (four years, $16.25MM), Yadier Molina (four years, $15.5MM), Carlos Ruiz (three years, $8.85MM) and Chris Iannetta (three years, $8.3MM) signed extensions when they had between three and four years of service time. Iannetta and Ruiz were likely comparables for Hundley's deal.

Corey Brock of MLB.com first reported the deal. Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

Quick Hits: Padres, Nishioka, Giants, DeWitt

By Mark Polishuk | March 19, 2012 at 11:29pm CDT

Here's a wrap-up of news from around baseball as we head into Tuesday….

A number of teams have asked the Padres about their bench players, but the Friars are "inclined" to keep them, reports Dan Hayes of the North County Times (Twitter link). Everth Cabrera is one of the players who has been asked about, and Hayes presumes Jesus Guzman is another.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka's demotion to Triple-A has Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities radio pointing the finger at both Nishioka and at Twins management for signing the Japanese shortstop and letting J.J. Hardy leave.
The Giants' rise to prominence has been fueled by their homegrown stars, writes Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle, and the team could be a couple of years away from having almost an entire roster comprised of players drafted and developed internally.
Gregor Blanco is a virtual "stone-cold lock" to make the Giants' Opening Day roster, writes Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Signed to a minor league deal in November, Blanco has had a huge Spring Training and seemingly has a backup outfield spot sewn up.
Cubs utilityman Blake DeWitt's name "has come up in recent trade rumors," according to Doug Padilla of ESPN Chicago. DeWitt has played mostly second and third in his career, though he appeared in 23 games in left field for the Cubs last season. DeWitt could be a possibility for teams looing for infield depth like the Phillies, Athletics or Twins.
With the Madoff trustee lawsuit now settled, Andrew Keh of the New York Times wonders if the Mets might now be able to explore keeping David Wright with the team long-term and notes that such a move would help sooth the team's disillusioned fanbase.

Quick Hits: Mariners, Beras, Rockies, Padres, Peavy

By Mike Axisa | March 17, 2012 at 10:08pm CDT

Here are some links from the around the league as Saturday turns into Sunday…

The Mariners could probably afford to trade one of their third base prospects, muses Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter links). Seattle has Kyle Seager, Alex Liddi, Francisco Martinez, and Vinnie Catricala at the hot corner.
MLB is still investigating the signing of Dominican outfielder Jairo Beras by the Rangers, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. Beras agreed to a $4.5MM deal last month, but there are questions about his age and eligibility to sign.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote about the unique construction of the Rockies' roster. The team added high-character positions players to a largely unproven group of young starters this offseason.
Dan Hayes of The North County Times reports (on Twitter) that the Padres still expect to have their new television deal with FOX Sports San Diego finalized within the "next few weeks or sooner."
"If I can't stay healthy for 200 innings, if somebody says something about closing or being a reliever, I can do that, I can be a reliever," said White Sox starter Jake Peavy to MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom. "If it comes down to that, I'll do it because I love this game."
“I know that I want to make the right decision,” said Yankees closer Mariano Rivera to reporters (including Chad Jennings of The Journal News) today following Andy Pettitte's return. “That’s what I want to do. When I make the right decision, I don’t want to come back or say, ‘I should have done it’ or ‘I should have stayed.’ I want to be 1000% sure that it’s the right decision."Rivera hinted at retirement last month.

Poll: Best Trade Package For A Young Pitcher

By Mike Axisa | March 17, 2012 at 8:37pm CDT

When the offseason started, we figured it would be headlined by a pair of MVP caliber bats (Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder) and a Japanese import (Yu Darvish). While those three certainly garnered their fair share of attention, the winter was mostly dominated by trades involving young, high-upside pitchers with multiple years of team control remaining.

The Doug Fister trade seemed to get it all started. The Mariners sent him and David Pauley to the Tigers for Francisco Martinez, Casper Wells, Charlie Furbush, and Chance Ruffin at the trade deadline. Four similar young, high-upside starters with multiple years of contractual control remaining were traded this offseason. Here are those deals, presented chronologically…

Athletics trade Trevor Cahill (and Craig Breslow) to the Diamondbacks for Jarrod Parker, Collin Cowgill, and Ryan Cook.
Padres trade Mat Latos to the Reds for Edinson Volquez, Yasmani Grandal, Yonder Alonso, and Brad Boxberger.
Athletics trade Gio Gonzalez to the Nationals for Brad Peacock, A.J. Cole, Tom Milone, and Derek Norris.
Mariners trade Michael Pineda (and Jose Campos) to the Yankees for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi.

Each trade involved multiple young players going the other way, including at least one top 100 prospect according to Baseball America. Which team got the best return for their young hurler?

Trade Candidates: Tim Stauffer & Dustin Moseley

By Mike Axisa | March 17, 2012 at 6:56pm CDT

The Padres won 90 games in 2010, but they fell back into the NL West cellar in 2011. They changed GMs this offseason and traded ace Mat Latos to the Reds for a package of three young players and Edinson Volquez. New GM Josh Byrnes also bought low on Carlos Quentin and Huston Street, but a lot will have to go right for San Diego to return to contention this season.

ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus agree that the Padres have the best farm system in baseball, and they're going to have a prospect-heavy Triple-A rotation led by three of their ten best minor leaguers: Casey Kelly, Robbie Erlin, and Joe Wieland. Kelly came over in the Adrian Gonzalez trade while both Erlin and Wieland came from the Rangers in the Mike Adams deal. With that kind of talent waiting in Triple-A, Byrnes figures to be able to shop a starter or two for more young players at midseason.

The 29-year-old Tim Stauffer (pictured) was San Diego's Opening Day starter last season. He finally made it through his first full season as a big league starter in 2011, eight years after being the fourth overall pick in the draft. He pitched to a 3.73 ERA in 185 2/3 innings spread across 31 starts, relying on ground balls (51.8%) and control (2.57 BB/9) rather than strikeouts (6.20 K/9). Stauffer did appear to hit a bit of wall in mid-August and finished the season on the shelf with arm stiffness, but he's healthy now and ready to go.

Dustin Moseley, 30, was enjoying a bit of a breakout year in 2011 before dislocating his left (non-throwing) shoulder swinging a bat in late-July, which ended his season. Before the injury he'd pitched to a 3.30 ERA in 20 starts (120 IP). Like Stauffer, he's a ground ball (49.5%) and control (2.70 BB/9) guy, not a strikeout guy (4.80 K/9). Also like Stauffer, Moseley is healthy now and will begin the season on time and in the rotation.

Stauffer and Moseley aren't the biggest of names, but they'll have plenty of trade value if they carry their 2011 performance over into 2012. The former will earn $3.2MM this year and the latter just $2.0125MM, plus both guys will remain under team control as an arbitration-eligible players in 2013. With expensive hurlers like Joe Blanton ($8.5MM) and John Lannan ($5MM) highlighting the current pitching trade market, Stauffer and Moseley could look very attractive at their salaries come June and July.

The Padres have plenty of young pitching on the way, so they should be able to replace a starter if they make any trades this year. They can always count on Petco Park to help their pitchers perform a little better than they probably should as well. Both Stauffer and Moseley are unspectacular but effective when healthy, and we've seen similar pitchers like Jake Westbrook and Ted Lilly fetch nice returns at the deadline in recent years. The San Diego duo is both younger and cheaper, and new ten-team playoff system could mean more clubs will be in contention and looking for rotation help this summer.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Extension Talks Heating Up Between Padres, Hundley

By Mike Axisa | March 16, 2012 at 7:00pm CDT

The Padres locked up Cameron Maybin to a five-year deal earlier this month, and now they're working on another core player. MLB.com's Corey Brock reports (on Twitter) that talks between the team and catcher Nick Hundley have heated up this week, and an agreement could be close. He's an Athletes First client.

Hundley, 28, will earn $2MM this season, his first as an arbitration-eligible player. A .255/.314/.420 career hitter, Hundley broke out with a .288/.347/.477 batting line in 308 plate appearances last season. He did miss more than two months with an oblique strain and an elbow issue, however. Since breaking into the league in 2008, Hundley ranks 13th among all catchers with 6.5 wins above replacement (min. 1,000 PA).

As our Extension Tracker shows, catchers like Kurt Suzuki (four years, $16.25MM), Carlos Ruiz (three years, $8.85MM), Chris Iannetta (three years, $8.3MM), and Yadier Molina (four years, $15.5MM) have signed extensions when they had between three and four years of service time. Hundley's three arbitration years figure to cost San Diego $8-10MM.

Olney On Blue Jays, Epstein, Dodgers, Padres

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | March 16, 2012 at 9:14am CDT

The Blue Jays have J.P. Arencibia catching at the Major League level and top prospect Travis d'Arnaud could be MLB-ready within the year. It seems like a good problem to have for Toronto, but other teams view the Blue Jays’ depth as a possible opportunity, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports…

Teams have asked about Arencibia and d’Arnaud in trade talks, Olney writes. However, it’s very possible that the Blue Jays will keep both unless they’re completely overwhelmed by an offer. D’Arnaud is slated for more minor league seasoning while Jeff Mathis backs Arencibia up, so the Blue Jays don’t have to make a decision any time soon.
Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has a bonus in his contract that resembles the conclusion bonus he had with the Red Sox, Olney writes. Epstein also has standard bonuses for team success.
Steve Cohen made an impressive presentation in his bid for the Dodgers, Olney hears.
The Padres love what they see in outfield prospect Rymer Liriano.

Quick Hits: Cain, Hamels, Aybar, K-Rod, Escobar

By Mark Polishuk | March 15, 2012 at 10:58pm CDT

Happy birthday to Kevin Youkilis (33), Jon Jay (27) and Leo Nun…er, make that Juan Oviedo (30). This is the first time Oviedo has been able to publicly celebrate his actual birthday in several years, as he kept a listed birthday of August 14, 1983 while living under the Leo Nunez identity.

Here's some news from around the major leagues as we head into Friday…

Matt Cain's agent Rick Landrum tells John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle that "we'll never give up hope" that Cain and the Giants can work out a contract extension before Opening Day. There hasn't been much progress in recent negotiations but the two sides "remain open for business," as Shea writes.
In addition to Cain, there have been no new developments over the last week in Cole Hamels' extension talks with the Phillies, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.
Also from Olney (via Twitter), he hears from evaluators that there isn't much trade talk overall around the majors. Olney predicts things will probably pick up in 10 days or so, once teams start to sort out their needs for their Opening Day rosters.
Angels GM Jerry Dipoto has had at least two face-to-face meetings since Monday with Erick Aybar's representatives, reports Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. Aybar is believed to be looking for an extension of at least five years. Dipoto recently said that he thought an extension with Aybar was possible, if not necessarily by Opening Day.
The Padres were discussing a one-year, $9MM contract with Francisco Rodriguez over the winter before the club saw an opportunity to acquire Huston Street, reports Scott Miller of CBS Sports. San Diego also talked to free agent Frank Francisco and asked the Athletics about Andrew Bailey.
The Royals' extension with Alcides Escobar is the team's latest step in locking up its young talent, reports MLB.com's Dick Kaegel. "[Owners] Dan and David Glass are determined to keep as many of these young players together as we can, knowing full well that it has to fit within our salary structure and our payroll going forward," Moore said. "It's going to get a little sticky for us, it's going to get a little hairy as we get into 2014-15-16." Moore declined to comment on the progress of contract talks with another of Kansas City's young stars, Alex Gordon.
The well-traveled Octavio Dotel shares some of his road stories with ESPN's Jayson Stark. Dotel will set a new Major League record once he plays his first game for the Tigers this season by becoming the first player to suit up for 13 different teams.
"I feel comfortable we finally got to a level [where we] can be competitive every single year," Tigers owner Mike Ilitch told media (including MLB.com's Jason Beck) during a visit to Spring Training today. "That's always been my goal. I feel good about that. It would be hard to screw that up once you get there. You tell yourself you want to stay there now."
The Orioles could be looking for backup catching help if Taylor Teagarden's back injury lingers into the season, reports CSN Baltimore's Rich Dubroff. Veteran Ronny Paulino is Matt Wieters' backup for now, but Paulino only just arrived in camp due to a visa issue.

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