The Padres are shopping young outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Travis Jankowski in trade talks, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. San Diego also continues to discuss Tyson Ross, James Shields, and Andrew Cashner in trades, with Cashner being “particularly pushed” by the club.
It is not clear from the report what San Diego is looking to do with its two outfield prospects, both of whom rate among the better young assets in the system. Lin notes that the club could just be “gauging interest,” but the addition of Jon Jay did reduce the immediate need for outfield help and the club could look to continue the asset-shifting moves it’s made already this winter.
Jankowski reached the majors last year, struggling in limited exposure, but put up a strong .335/.413/.425 batting line in the upper minors. And the 23-year-old Renfroe exploded upon reaching Triple-A late in the year, ending the season with a .272/.321/.462 slash and twenty home runs.
Of course, we’ve long heard talk that the Padres could consider a move involving their starters, but Shields has drawn more recent attention. Of course, with A.J. Preller at the helm, it has proven nearly impossible to predict what direction the organization will take.
A'sfaninUK
I keep seeing how Oakland is looking for a #2 SP to slot behind Gray, seeing as these two teams have made tons of trades over the last few years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them match up yet again.
charles stevens
Probably trying package one of them with Shields or Kemp just to get rid of them.
Rally Weimaraner
Strange for a team to be actively shopping prospects. Why don’t they just try and trade them for a SS?
brandonmarin
I was thinking dbacks would offer up a package with dansby Swanson for Ross.
DW
He’s a madman…. A Maaaaaaadmaaaannn!
vpsd
Hmmm, why trade Renfroe unless they’re looking at picking up another corner OF (Heyward, Gordon, Soler). Don’t think anyone has a good read on what the padres are trying to do this year..
seamaholic 2
Just trading for the sake of trading. I really don’t think there’s anything else to it.
RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame
I’m starting to see the plan here..Preller knew past year that if things didn’t work out, at least with the big names, he’d be able to make moves in the future..Keep in mind that we just got 2 top 100 prospects back for Kimbrel at our two biggest positions of need. The same will probably happen with Ross if he gets dealt..save some money this year and next, then go for the FA’s to finish it out..I like what he’s doing..and btw..this team is nowhere near as mismatched as last year, so that rhetoric should stop pretty soon..
YourDaddy
CF is a position of need? Since when? Guerra is a good one, but Margot is really not going to be able to have any spot on the team until Upton is gone.
Out of place Met fan
If anyone says they have a good read on the Padres, they are either loony or prophetic. Either way you should get a good story.
cman
It would not surprise me one bit if the Twins attempted to trade for Shields. They wanted him in the past and have had talks as recently as last fall. I would expect a swapping of bad contracts, Shields for Nolasco plus two prospects (say Polanco & Kepler).
Niekro
would be awfully nice of the twins to take on the 40 some million difference in money + kick in two players one very highly regarded one at that.
cman
We’ll see. Shields still has a lot of gas left in his tank IMO at 34. Guy has pitched 200+ innings a season for 9 straight years and had 9.6K per 9 last year. That’s ace material. Despited having given up more homeruns and walks last season than he has since he left Tampa he still pitched very well. I could still see a Nolasco Shields swap plus one lower level prospect to sweeten the deal for the Padres.
Don’t be fooled by Kepler. He’s vastly overrated. It took him six years to get to AAA and before last season his stats were mediocre at best. The real prize I think is Polanco.
JT19
You want the Twins to take on most of his contract and throw in a highly rated prospect? Good luck.
cman
I don’t want them to throw in any prospects as I’m a Twins fan. I’m hypothesizing what the Padres might ask for.
Out of place Met fan
A bit to much for team to be taking on Shields salary.
seamaholic 2
Shields has an opt out after this year. He’d be a Twin for 2016, and that’s it. Unless he’s bad, in which case the Twins lose too.
So, no.
cman
I didn’t realize he had an opt out. If that’s the case then I wouldn’t trade them anything but Nolasco. To much risk involved for a potential one year rental even if he is lights out in 2016.
southbeachbully
I would assume the Twins could ask him to waive the opt out. Maybe tack on an additional year or something else to appease him.
TheMichigan
Is Travis Jankowski and Sebastian Jankowski related?
forum199
I believe they’re in a domestic partnership.
greatd
Seems like Preller wants to shed payroll.
Don’t know if they’ll find a suitor for Cashner but
they should be able to get a good package of prospects for Tyson and Shields.
They might want to get rid of Kemp and Upton’s as well but
probably will be ultra hard to do so without eating some of the money on the contract.
seamaholic 2
Shields is worth nothing because of his opt-out.
cman
I wouldn’t say nothing. That’s a bit of an exaggeration.
YourDaddy
It’s a huge exaggeration. Shields can opt out IF the team is not winning. He can also choose to stay. He can also choose to waive that clause to make the deal go through if it’s to a good team. His salary is certainly not an impediment since 2 teams offered a larger AAV than what is left on his contract before the Padres signed him. .His 2015 was as much a product of the catcher as it was him. Take a look at pitch placement and pitch type. Increased use of the two-seam high in the zone, nearly doubling of the use of the knuckle curve and a decrease of the use of the cutter low in the zone. That game calling did result in higher strikeout totals than at any point in his career, but it also resulted in the highest home run totals of his career.
YourDaddy
Let’s see what the Dumas at GM does. With the team full of old men and ill-fitting pieces, and the farm system devastated, can the Padres even reach the lofty win totals or 2013-2014? At this point I would be loathed to commit to a prediction of over 70 wins in 2016. .
rockstargm
If Wil Myers is healthy this year and Kemp produces like he did in the second half of last season NOT ONE of Preller’s deals will look bad.
YourDaddy
Actually, the trade for Kemp looks horrendously bad. One of the worst trades in recent history before the asisnine trade the Diamondbacks just made. His WAR was just above replacement level at 0.6 and his offense declined 8% just as expected for a 30+ year old player. His defense was the absolute worst in the league in RF. Preller took on $73 million in salary from 2016-2018 for a declining player. The 26 year old catcher the Padres sent to the Dodgers produced a 1.4 WAR, helped improve the Dodgers pitching performance by nearly 10% year over year. He was just part of the trade going the Dodgers way. Eflin is a nice piece that could be a mainstay in the middle of the Dodgers rotation by 2017 or 2018.
Wil Myers has not played a full season in the majors yet..Nothing about him screams superstar yet. His wrist injury typically takes 2+ years to recover from and his surgery was just a few months ago. EVEN if Myers recovers fully, that trade looks REALLY bad as Ross is an Ace and Turner is a top 10 prospect in the game and they were not the only players Preller sent to Washington and the Rays to get him. Bauers may be the best player the Padres sent out in the deal. 19 years old and already in AA.
At this point I can’t find a trade that Preller has made that is anything other than completely stupid.
cxcx
Wasn’t the trade jettisoning Kimbrel supposed to be really good?
beyou02215
Unless they are very low on him, it makes absolutely no sense to trade Renfroe.
bbatardo
Pretty much Wil Myers is the only players name I haven’t heard in a Padres trade rumor. Preller has shown he is open to trading anyone if the price is right. I do think he has been more cautious this year than last.
beyou02215
As he should be. Last year was a disaster.
Backatitagain
How about Nick Markakis and Max Fried for James Shields and Hunter Renfro?
seamaholic 2
That’s random. Why would that interest the Padres?
Backatitagain
Save 10 million dollars, gain a high OBP outfielder (rumors that they are going to trade from roster) and pick up a highly rated pitching prospect who used to be one of their top guys.
Cd360
The Padres already gave up on Fried.
Backatitagain
Fried was injured, now getting ready to go at the Braves expense. Shields only one year left unless he explodes. I see a trend here on thinking small.
del4rel
If the Padres are thinking about trading Renfroe then I bet they are in on one of the FA corner outfielders (Gordon, Cespedes, or Upton)
Sonny 3
I really believe Cashner is going to have a very good year.
YourDaddy
As long as Norris is his catcher that won’t happen. If he gets Hedges as his catcher like Ross does then you are undoubtedly right.
Injediwetrust
If their going to trade Tyson, why not ask the Brewers for Arcia and a pitching prospect close to ML ready?
YourDaddy
Going to take a lot more than that for them to get Ross. .
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Don’t do it Preller. You better keep our top 5 prospects (Margot, Renfroe, Rea, Guerra and Rondon).