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Season-Ending Surgery For Prior

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MLB.com’s Corey Brock reports that San Diego Padres pitcher Mark Prior will have season-ending surgery to repair a torn muscle in his shoulder. The Padres signed the injury-plagued starter to a $1MM contract this offseason.

While the news of Prior having to miss a season due to surgery doesn’t come as much of a surprise, a healthy rebound would have been a bright spot in what has otherwise been a tough season for the Padres. The team saw Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and Josh Bard all hit the DL in May.

It’s unfortunate, but it seems like this will make teams even more hesitant to look at Prior this offseason. The right-hander undoubtedly has great talent, but has pitched just 43.2 innings since the beginning of the 2006 season.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Sabathia, Bay, Wolf

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Hot stove guru Ken Rosenthal has a new column up.

  • Rosenthal tosses around some fun ideas in case the Indians want to trade C.C. Sabathia for another free-agent-to-be.  Presumably they’d target a slugger in return.
  • Rosenthal applauds the Pirates’ decision not to sell low on Jason Bay this winter.  Signed cheaply through ’09, Bay may have more trade value than Adam Dunn (in my opinion).
  • Randy Wolf is expected to be "among the most available Padres."  The 31 year-old southpaw sports an 8.2 K/9.  A strong, healthy June would give Wolf’s trade value a boost.

Gammons On Available Pitchers

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ESPN’s Peter Gammons names ten starting pitchers who could be available in the coming months.  We’ll try to devise a comprehensive list when we get to the position in our Trade Market series.

Gammons’ trade possibilities: Paul Byrd, Jeremy Sowers, Derek Lowe, Rich Harden, Odalis Perez, Brett Tomko, Jarrod Washburn, Zach Duke, Vicente Padilla, and Kevin Millwood.  Byrd, Lowe, Perez, and Tomko will be free agents after the season.  Sowers and Duke are the kids.  Harden is the oft-injured ace.  Washburn, Padilla, and Millwood bring burdensome contracts.

Gammons also five "unlikely, but not impossible" scenarios.  He suggests A.J. Burnett, Bartolo Colon, Joe Blanton, Greg Maddux, and Ben Sheets could be moved under the right circumstances.

Padres Acquire Baek

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The Padres and Mariners worked out a minor trade, as they have many times in the past.  The Padres acquired Cha Seung Baek for Jared Wells.  Baek was in the 10-day limbo period after being designated for assignment.  Paul DePodesta explains that the Padres have been eyeing Baek for some time.

Baek, 28, has a 4.96 ERA in 168.2 career innings for the Mariners.  His best asset has been respectable control.  The Ms signed Baek out of Korea for $1.3MM in ’98.  Baseball America said back in ’05 that Baek succeeds by locating a full five-pitch repertoire.  He had Tommy John surgery back in ’01.

Wells, 26, was shifted to relief at Triple A last year and picked up nine saves.  His numbers have been ugly – tons of hits, poor control, mediocre strikeout rate.  Baseball America notes his average slider and decent two-seam fastball.

Odds and Ends: Pokey, Lowe, Boss

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Before you fire up the grill, check out these links.

Stark’s Latest: Young Players, Giles, DeJesus

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Jayson Stark’s latest Rumblings and Grumblings column is chock full of information.

  • Stark rattles off Dan Uggla, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, B.J. Upton, Justin Upton, Russell Martin, Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Felix Hernandez, Jeff Francoeur, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia as youngsters who do not have long-term deals in the works.  With Uggla and Greinke, the opposition seems more on the team’s side.  With Hamels and Howard neither side wants a long-term deal.  With the rest, the player is resisting.
  • The Padres’ top trading chip is probably Brian Giles, though a deal would further deplete a weak offense.
  • The A’s are willing to deal, with pitching considered the surplus.  Billy Beane might be able to snag one good prospect for Rich Harden.
  • There’s some doubt as to whether the Rockies will make Matt Holliday this year’s Mark Teixeira as we approach the deadline.
  • Teams other than the Royals are speculating that center fielder David DeJesus might be available.
  • The Marlins and Hanley Ramirez battled over a no-trade clause…and the Fish won.  He has none.

Towers Angry, May Make Changes

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Padres GM Kevin Towers got angry last night, pointing out his team’s many flaws.  He suggested that wholesale changes may be on the way.  Minor leaguers would be called up as a group; he doesn’t want Chase Headley to feel too much pressure.  The Jake Peavy injury might be the nail in the coffin, though at least Peavy’s ulnar collateral ligament is said to be intact. 

Which players would be part of a veteran purge?

  • Greg Maddux.  The Padres’ highest paid player at $10MM, Mad Dog is calling his own shots at this point.  I imagine he’d prefer to stay put, but fans have speculated on returns to Atlanta or Chicago.
  • Brian Giles.  The team’s leadoff hitter still knows how to draw a walk.  He doesn’t hit lefties much but his overall numbers would look a lot better away from Petco.  He earns $9MM this year and has a $3MM buyout for ’09.  He can block trades to eight teams and gets a $2MM increase if dealt.  Does Seattle make sense?
  • Trevor Hoffman.  Even if Hoffman loses the closer gig a trade seems unlikely.
  • Randy Wolf.  He might be one of the Padres’ more tradeable commodities.  He’s signed reasonably and just needs to remain healthy.  Everyone needs pitching.
  • Khalil Greene.  Greene gets $4.5MM this year and $6.5MM in ’09.  A trade only makes sense if a good young shortstop comes back for Greene or in anothe deal.  Ken Rosenthal doesn’t expect him to be moved; same goes for Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez, and Kevin Kouzmanoff.
  • Others: Tadahito Iguchi, Tony Clark, Shawn Estes, Michael Barrett (if healthy).

    • Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braun, Holliday, Kouzmanoff, Greene, Sabean

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    Let’s take a look at what is being said about some recent rumors, trades and signings in the Blogosphere…

    • Right Field Bleachers sees the signing of Ryan Braun and Corey Hart to long-term deals as a "must" for the Brewers.
    • Brewers Nation sees the Braun deal as evidence that Prince Fielder will not sign an extension even if the two situations are very different.
    • Oleanders and Morning Glories thinks that if Nats’ management was hoping to sign Ryan Zimmerman to a Troy Tulowitzki-type deal, Braun’s deal may have raised the bar.
    • Squawking Baseball sees the recent trend in giving long-term deals to young stars and wonders if the absence of top-level free agents in a few years will drive up free agency prices. If that happens, players may stop signing these extensions and the market will correct itself…The point is valid, but these players will still become free agents eventually. The difference is only that they will be free agents in their age 30 season (approximately) instead of their age 28 season. If there is a correction, it will only be minimal and would only last a year or two.
    • The Tribe Time Report explains why Matt Holliday would be a perfect fit for the Indians even if it is only for a season and a half.
    • Friar Forum does not seem surprised about the notion of the Padres selling off pieces sooner, rather than later. However, they would be surprised to see Kevin Kouzmanoff moved, noting that it is much more likely that the slew of free agents-to-be will be shipped to other clubs.
    • The Southpaw would love to see the Jays make a push for Khalil Greene, but their scenario is contingent on the Padres also dealing Kouzmanoff.
    • Sorry we missed this before, but in light of Brian Sabean’s recent comments, I felt it was worth noting that Bucs Dugout has been running a series of polls to determine the worst GM in baseball. The finals featured Sabean easily out-distancing his opponent, Ed Wade of the Astros.

    Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

    Khalil Greene A Possibility For Jays?

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    Call it informed speculation, but Jeff Blair wonders if the Jays will make a run at Padres shortstop Khalil Greene.  Blair points out that J.P. Ricciardi just missed drafting Greene in 2002.

    Greene, 28, is off to a slow start this year (.208/.253/.318 in 170 plate appearances).  He won’t get on base, but the power is legit.  Greene makes $6.5MM in ’09 before free agent eligibility.

    The problem is that the Padres likely hope to be competitive next year, and they don’t have any kind of replacement for Greene waiting in the wings.  There are decent young shortstops without starting jobs, guys like Chin-lung Hu and Ronny Cedeno.  But why would a team swap a cheap near big-league ready shortstop for Greene?  Maybe the Padres will seek such a player in a separate deal and then move Greene.  Or, Kevin Towers could sign one of the many free agent shortstops this winter.

    Cubs Sign Edmonds

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    The Chicago Cubs have signed Jim Edmonds to a contract for the remainder of the ’08 season. Edmonds, who was released by the Padres last Friday, will make about $284K, the prorated league minimum.

    To make room on the roster, the Cubs demoted Felix Pie to AAA. Pie was hitting .222/.286/.286.

    This is a move that costs the Cubs nothing and could end up with big rewards. Since Pie had minor league options, the Cubs did not have to give up a player in the hopes that Edmonds can turn his season around. Edmonds was hitting .178/.265/.233 at the time of his release, but posted .252/.325/.403 last season for the Cardinals. That marked his first season with an OBP below .350 since he was a member of the Angels in ’99.

    Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

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