Before the season started, the general belief was that the Padres would be among the top sellers this season, with Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell representing the prime pieces of trade bait. The team's surprisingly good start has changed that belief, and ESPN's Buster Olney hears that they will have some flexibility to add talent at the trade deadline if they continue to play well (Twitter links). It's the ripple down effect from last summer's Jake Peavy deal, since the team wouldn't be able to add payroll this year had they not made that trade last year.
San Diego started the day two games up in the NL West thanks to a 29-20 record, and their +41 run differential suggests it's no fluke. Their success stems largely from pitching and defense; they boast MLB's best team ERA at 2.98 and the second best team UZR at +19.2. Offensively, the Padres have hit just .242/.319/.359 as a team, though their lack of power is somewhat mitigated by 54 stolen bases, just one behind the Rays for the league lead.
Padres' left fielders are hitting just .186/.286/.299 on the year while their shortstops have chipped in just .219/.278/.313 worth of offense, so those are two obvious areas that could be upgraded. Corner outfielders are always in ample supply at mid-season, but quality shortstops are typically harder to come by.
Hey Padres fans on behalf of the Cubs we will give you Mike Fontenot-2B,SS,3B, Ryan Theriot-SS,2B, Tom Gorzallany-LHP, and Koskue Fukudome-OF, along with 10 million dollars for………….Donavan Tate-of ,Simon Castro-rhp,James Darnell-3b, Jaff Decker-of, Logan Forsythe-3b, Cory Luebke-lhp, Wynn Pel,er-rhp, Everett Williams-of, Edinson Rincon-3b, Aaron Poreda-lhp .
rofl
Ha. I love the sarcasm!
Wow, way to cut copy paste BA top 10 prospects in the padres org. I dont even think your offer would justify a response other than this one.
It was a joke and that is why I copy and pasted the top 10 prospects…………..
Thanks for my comedy of the week. I just fell out of my chair.
ha aarom poreda? he only got traded because he had a few good games as the whitesox starter”top prospect” and last year bombed in their minors and so far only has two pitches, dont get me wrong i like him but that deal was about richard not poreda as many think
That was awesome. Cubs fans are insanely dumb on this site (not generally speaking though)
I would love to see the Padres get Jeff Keppinger. They could probably pull it off for a PTBNL, the Astros are obviously selling and it would be a pretty nice upgrade.
You can have him for a couple high upside grade C prospects in the lower minors.
I would like to see either Michael Bourn or Shin-Soo Choo if the price was right. You need a regular CF to play left in Petco and I think Bourn especially would thrive there. Plus he would probably come cheaper than Choo. SS is another question. Hopefully Cabrera gets healthier.
The Astros love Bourn and he’s under team control for several more years, so it would take a mammoth offer to get him. What would you be willing to give up?
That’s a good question, and I am not sure who we would give up. With the Astros’ lacking in pitching depth and their depleted farm system, I think an MLB ready arm (probably a starter or two) and a low-level prospect may get the ‘Stros interested. The Daddies do have more than enough pitching, but it just depends on how much the Astros request for Bourn because he is so valuable to their club as well.
They could spare one of Correia or Stauffer; one of Adams or Bell. Maybe the Brewers’ Hart for one of those pitchers? Too bad Colorado is in the same division. They have about eleven outfielders in their system that would be upgrades. Josh Willingham would be a good fit there too.
Anyone know how Luke Scott is defensively? His name has been out there, and he represents a nice offensive upgrade for LF that shouldn’t be that hard to acquire.
I think the shortstop position will work itself out. When Cabrera gets healthy, I hope they bat him 8th in the order. Batting him in the leadoff spot was to much for him to handle. He’ll be fine with less pressure on him. As for the outfield, I would love to see them get Bourn. Throw him in center and in the leadoff spot and start running. I wish they would give Durango more of a shot as well. The knock on him is he can’t hit the ball all that deep. Well neither could Brett Butler and he made a career out of bunting his way on and then wrecking havoc on the basepaths. The Padres don’t need to add a power hitting corner outfielder they need to add more speed guys and build a team like the Cardinals of the 80’s.
It seems to me if Houston does decide to start over, that Bourn and Pence would be players you would keep around. They aren’t that old and they still have several years of team control, and they’re decent players.
I think you are right on that they are two of the players the Astros could keep to build around. But it depends on how they see their own system. If they feel they can quickly rebuild it would make sense to keep them. But right now from the outside looking in its hard to see that happening (of course as a Padres fan, I know that can be misleading). If they decide it time for a rebuild it would also be time for a system overhaul, given that Lee/Berkman/Oswalt have limited trade value due to their contracts they may have to part with more valuable pieces to get the prospects for the system as well.
We all know that Lane has compete control of the Astros, and it will be up to him to rebuild or not. Given his past history I doubt it will happen. But moving Bourn or Pence is going to more then likely net more then any other player on the Houston roster at this point.
And Bourn would be the Padres kind of player to target; solid defense, solid OPB, plus speed, 2 more seasons of team control. Scott/Hart/Pence are more power hitters, with defense a second though. But realistically its hard to see the Astros moving him or if they did it would require more then the Padres would want to give up. I dont know the Astros system well enough to say what they need with certainty, so coming up with any realistic trade idea is not possible. If Bourn was made available the Padres would be wise to make that move, its a perfect fit.
Luke Scott and/or Jeff Keppinger seem like good fits, aye?
Forget about it, Padres fans. In order to win in the playoffs, a team needs to be able to hit. Have fun while it lasts because all the UZR in the world cannot drive runs across the plate.
thats why people are throwing out names to acquire! Did you read the article? It talks about upgrading LACK OF HITTING
I can see Ty Wiggington on SD by years end.
Nice piece Mike.
This Padres team needs to add a bat now if they want to stay in the race. July 31st is a long ways away and these offense needs a boost in a bad way.