The Padres have been shopping Matt Kemp and asking about shortstops, sources from rival teams tell Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The Padres “may be reluctant to eat a lot of money” in such a deal, which could make things tricky given Kemp’s poor 2015 season and the $72MM owed to him through 2019. It isn’t clear if San Diego would be willing to attach highly sought-after righty Tyson Ross to Kemp, which FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal speculated about last month as a way to entice a club into taking Kemp off the Padres’ hands. Here’s some more from around the NL West…
- The Diamondbacks’ surprising signing of Zack Greinke was conceived and concluded in under 12 hours, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes. GM Dave Stewart tells Nightengale that the club had only discussing Greinke “in passing” before owner Ken Kendrick and president Derrick Hall gave Stewart the go-ahead on Friday morning.
- With so much committed to Greinke, however, the Diamondbacks are already pushing the limits of their payroll, a source tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The team is thus looking at trades to further bolster its pitching, rather than free agent signings. As such, Piecoro reports in a tweet that D’Backs people aren’t too optimistic about their chances of signing Mike Leake.
- One rival executive thinks the Diamondbacks will be busy at the Winter Meetings, telling Piecoro that “If they’re going to sign Greinke, I would expect them to try to go get more.”
- The Dodgers are expected to meet with Yovani Gallardo’s agents during the Winter Meetings, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets, and the free agent righty could be a plan-B option for L.A. after missing out on other pitching targets. The Dodgers are on the verge of landing one new arm, as they’re close to an agreement with Hisashi Iwakuma.
- The Rockies are “open-minded” about trading outfielders like Carlos Gonzalez or Charlie Blackmon, sources tell FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link).
ledezma_23
did I really just read that kemp had a poor performance because I think that’s wrong he had 100 rbis 23 home runs 265 ba 12 sb .755 ops 80 runs team leading 158 hits 31 doubles 3 triples 39 bbs .312 obp 443 slugging percentage and 155 games and including the padres first cylce that to me seems like a good year especially for kemp because everyone said he was injury prone and he has had to many injuries like his offensive side is great just because his defense isnt that shouldnt mean get rid of the padres best offensive player
Ray Ray
Some people believe that since his WAR was only 0.6 that any random minor leaguer could have put up the same numbers as him, therefore he wasn’t very good. It doesn’t matter what you do, it only matters whether or not you impress the computer. It’s the new way of thinking. Some of us have just learned to live with it.
mike156
Kemp isn’t a horrible player who should be dumped at any cost, but he’s not worth anywhere near what he’s being paid, and chances are he’s going to decline somewhat over the balance of his contract. You wouldn’t sign him for his contract if he were a free agent. So, if you want to trade him, and get something of significant value in return, you have to buy it down. Padres don’t want to do that yet, which is understandable. Maybe an injury somewhere will create an opening for them later on. Kemp has always been a little erratic. His 2015 year resembles his 2010 year. Maybe he will raise his game this year just a bit to make him more enticing.
ledezma_23
the only way the padres will be able to trade him for some good pieces is if they keep him for next year and year after that when his contract is worth less and if he puts up great numbers throughout the whole season like the 2nd half of these past 2 years but if i was preller i would keep kemp because his offense was to good last year his offense was better than uptons like both of them were good and productive but kemp was a little more productive
seamaholic 2
They have to attach him to a significant asset. That’s the only way.
ledezma_23
if they attached him to say ross they would get less than what they would get for just ross
onlyringsmatter
Nice to see that Padres are realistic about their trades.They don’t want to eat any money almost but want a young SS.Good luck
billyheywood
Maybe they should trade for Trea Turner?
Kevin 23
What do you think it takes to get CarGo? Would a package of Jackie Bradley Jr., Henry Owens, and Raphael Devers get it done?
bobo678
for me id take that deal …you figure the mets were gong to get a similar impact player in Gomez from the brewers for wheeler and lagares……seems fair for both sides
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
It was Wheeler and Flores.