The Padres saw four members of their rotation mix department for free agency back in November, led by reigning NL Cy Young award winner Blake Snell. Along with their ace southpaw, San Diego parted ways with right-handers Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Nick Martinez, each of whom has found a new club. At least in the case of Lugo, however, it appears San Diego hoped to continue the relationship into 2024 and beyond. According to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, the Padres made a four-year offer to Lugo before he landed in Kansas City on a three-year, $45MM deal last month. Lin adds that while San Diego was willing to beat the Royals’ offer in terms of years, their offer came at a lower average annual value than that of Kansas City.
That the Padres would want to reunite with Lugo is hardly a surprise given his successful 2023 with the club. After spending his entire career with the Mets prior to hitting free agency last winter, Lugo signed on with San Diego on a two-year deal with an opt-out after the 2023 campaign. After spending most of his time in Queens as a reliever, Lugo stepped into the Padres’ rotation and made 26 starts for the club last year with a 3.57 ERA (115 ERA+) and 3.83 FIP in 146 1/3 innings of work. San Diego entered the winter with just Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish locked into the 2024 rotation, and the return of Lugo would have greatly improved the club’s rotation even after the Padres managed to add Michael King, Randy Vasquez, and Jhony Brito to their Opening Day rotation mix in the Juan Soto trade.
Ultimately, of course, Lugo chose to head to Kansas City. Still, that the Padres felt they had enough room in the budget to make an offer to Lugo could be a positive sign for the club’s ability to fill the remaining holes on their roster before Opening Day. Adding at least one more starter to slot into the middle of the club’s rotation alongside King figures to be a priority for the Padres, particularly after they’ve addressed the bullpen by landing Yuki Matsui and Woo Suk Go in recent weeks. Beyond the rotation, the club’s lineup is in dire need of an overhaul after the club parted ways with Soto, Trent Grisham, and Matt Carpenter in trade this offseason. A left-handed bat such as Joc Pederson or Eddie Rosario would make plenty of sense to occupy either left field or DH, and the club was also recently reported as being among the teams interested in center fielder Michael A. Taylor.
More from around the National League…
- As the Phillies look to augment their club with pitching and outfield depth this winter, Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that they’ve received interest in a package of shortstop prospect Bryan Rincon and catching prospect Eduardo Tait from at least three clubs, though Philadelphia has rebuffed the advances of rival clubs on the duo to this point. Rincon, in February, was a 14th-round pick by the Phillies in the 2022 draft and sports strong defense along with a switch-hitting bat and a 14.8% walk rate for his career in the minor leagues against a strikeout rate of just 17.8%. Tait, meanwhile, signed with the Phillies out of Panama last year and slashed an impressive .333/.400/.517 during his first taste of affiliated ball in the Dominican Summer League.
- Among the 22 arbitration-eligible players who did not agree to a contract with his club for the 2024 season by yesterday’s deadline was Reds second baseman Jonathan India, who filed at $4MM against the club’s $3.2MM counteroffer. Reds GM Nick Krall recently spoke regarding the dispute between player and club, as noted by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. As relayed by Wittenmyer, Krall emphasized that he doesn’t consider the impending arbitration hearing to be “adversarial” and explained the $800K gap in negotiations by saying that there was a “fundamental issue” between the sides that prevented the deal from getting done. Clubs often take strict stances in arbitration negotiations because both settlements and arbitration decisions can be used as precedent for salaries not for the player in question as he advances through the arbitration process but also by future players around the league. That at times leads to tension between players and their clubs, with right-hander Corbin Burnes’s spat with the Brewers last year standing as a recent example.
Good job Nick Krall piss a former ROY off for a measly $800,000. Last year’s rookies see this and they will remember it.
Why you gotta go makin sense and all
This arbitration hearing will swing millions in one direction. Not that the 800k this year is insignificant. Last years rookies probably won’t even hear about. They have agents to explain to them how it works if they do. Hope it does piss him off. Maybe he will work on hitting again or improve his defense.
Measly 800k?
Since when is $800K measly?
When it is a 100M or so payroll, 800k is measly compared to the alternative of unrest among the troops.
To begin with that’s just about the major league minimum, so yes that’s a small amount…. Yeah there salaries are so far out of control no question
Since the Dodgers paid a billion dollars on two players
Absolutely! Let’s concentrate on the one player that Krall didn’t get an arbitration settlement with as opposed to everyone else that did settle. BTW ,do you still consider India the starting 2nd baseman? Not. Starting 3rd baseman? Not. Starting 1st baseman or outfielder? Neither.; He could be the regular dh but most likely he’s a bench piece and $4MM is a little pricey for a probable sub. No matter what he did a coup[le years ago– it’s business, being handled in a business-like mannner.
Which is why they need to deal him at some point. Probably wanting to get more than a ham sammich before doing so by seeing if he can actually play decently.
India will have a better year than Candelario
He hasn’t the last 2
He was also playing injured a lot the last two. People who just look at numbers miss details.
Bobcat, I hope and believe you are right.
@cguy who do you think is a better bargain, India at $4 Million or Candelario at $16 M?
It’s actually Candelario at 3 years and $45MM which I believe will be better than India at $4MM for arb1 (plus two more arb years). I think the switchhitting XBH machine Candelario will have more trade value than India by late August of this year (but hope I’m wrong). I admit the idea takes a little getting used to, but in a post-Votto Reds lineup, Candelario will be an upgrade.
solid performer, and perhaps team leader. We’ll see.
Candelario has had one good year, a cintract year, and has been in the league with two different teams a whole lot longer than any of the Reds young players. Dude has a brick glove on defense too, you saw it with the Cubs when the two teams played, so he is a DH waiting to happen.
I think a lot of you, along with the Reds front office, are buying into the FA hype.
The “FA hype” as I see it in 2023 was that the Reds were 17th overall in WAR with -2.4 (as per baseball reference). They were 19th overall in non-pitching at -3.8 WAR. They chose not to exercise a team option on their starting 1st baseman Joey Votto at $20MM- but exercised the buyout at $7MM. For fans who think the Reds didn’t need to address the offense (and in particular their outside infield positions). I can only state they ranked 17th at 1st base (0.9 WAR), 17th at 3rd base (1.5 WAR), & 22nd at DH with (0.7WAR). So they go out and sign the 5th highest ranked position player (of the 50 top FA list), including Ohtani. The highest ranked switchhitter available, who plays 1st, 3rd, and DH; accumulating over 3 WAR offensively last year on a very team value contract (3year/$45MM as apposed to the estimated 4/$70MM) and people act like Krall shot the Reds in the foot. Lots of teams with beter offenses than the Reds would be glad to have added Candelario and probably a couple in our division as well. Some just leave me scratching my head. Even if Candelario doesn’t work out- the idea and Krall’s execution were impressive.
If you only look to go to WAR, you miss a lot.
If you believe the Reds front office is buying into FA hype- you’re missing the whole picture.
This One says:
“Candelario has had one good year”.
Baseball Reference says his OPS+ over the last 4 years has been:
2020: 137
2021: 121
2022: 81
2023: 119
Baseball Reference says he’s had 3 very good years out of the last 4 (his age 26-29 seasons).
This One says:
“Dude has a brick glove”
MLBTR says:
“Candelario can play either corner infield spot. He’s a roughly league average defender at third base and should be able to stick there for a few years”.
Don’t quit your day job This One.
Honestly India has only had 1 good year too & it hasn’t been recently
Can you go to my boss and tell him to give me a 25% raise?
And suppose instead of $800k, it was $1.6M? Would you still give it to him because you don’t want to piss off a guy that was good 3 years ago?
No but I am not a Major League Baseball player either. If you haven’t notice there have been a lot of players getting a 25% pay increase this off season.
No one should be “pissed off” over the way arbitration happens. You submit what you believe is fair and the other side does the same. The system encourages you to not submit an outrageous price to better your chances of winning. It’s business not personal.
I think they also saw the 5 others avoided arbitration. S only one player is asking for more than they want to pay, and the Reds the unreasonable ones?
To Padre fans feeling impatient. I happen to know a few moves will go down this next week. Plus they land De Vries.
Trades? FA pickups? Please give us a lil meat, bruh.
How do you know these moves? what’s your source? Curious to know how you would know and not a known reporter like Dennis Lin. Anyways… We are impatient so if you know then just say what you know… This is MLB rumors…
Diamond Source and Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Preller has been in Ft. Myers for the PG East MLK Championships since Friday. Maybe he is taking a 2-hour detour to visit with Miami or Tampa?
My fam (not so much me) has connections to some in FO, I usually don’t hear anything but it sure seems a trade is very likely sometime this week ( not sure I like it but we’ll see) and a FA piece or two. I normally wouldn’t tip like this but I know we’re all going crazy waiting for something to happen.
As far as FA signings, I hope that the Padres are looking at LHP Paxson, Ryu, or Lauer; Aaron Hicks at CF or LF; Belt or Votto at 1B for 1-2 years with team option for 2nd year. Also, if Cronenworth is not going to play 2B, then have him start at LF or CF. Machado at DH until his arm is healed and let’s see what Eguy Rosario can do at 3B with regular playing time. Also, I would hope the Padres look at a six-man rotation due to Darvish and Musgrove recovering from injuries and lack of IP (King, Brito, Vasquez, Avila, Paxson, Ryu, Lauer) last year. By summer, some of their top prospects should be ready in case of injury/performance.
Thx for update and for as much as you can tip us. Hopefully if it’s a trade or two…it really makes us more of a complete team. We’ve got plenty of IF depth but not many OFers…plus we need to add more depth to Niebla’s major league cupboard (don’t really want to rush the kids…let them build themselves up for next year when they should be cooked enough.)
AJ has shown he can get creative if he needs to…we’ll have to see how it plays out. Our farm is strong enough (again) to deal from if needed. The other part he and his crew really excels at is building us up through IFA market…can’t wait to see Devries stack up our farm even more.
Pads just signed De Vries 20 minutes ago. Here comes another SS phenom with a power bat!
De Vries to the Brews for Tommy Pam not Pham but Pam SS
I have a different take, I’m just glad they did not sell low on India. Looking for a bounce back from India in 2024.
Thought they should have used Jeimer’s money for pitching.
Every time that there is an IF injury, a Sunday, a get away day, or a guy getting a day off we will be thankful that they have Candelario. He’s a huge improvement from Newman, Vosler, Myers, Senzel, etc. A legit middle of the order bat.
The Reds ‘24 lineup does not feature multiple black holes like it did in recent years. Would not be surprised if the are a top 3 NL offense this year.
And they have spent plenty on pitching this offseason as well.
As it stands, there will be two infielders sitting with Candelario around. Young guys that need the ABs.
What about the slew of infielders in the minors like Arroyo who want to break through the next three years? Apparently this front office is not dealing those extra “assests” for what they need as stated when criticized for so many at one position. They are already keeping Barrero around for some unknown reason.
You have to look at the whole picture.
I am looking at the whole picture. I just have a different view than yours.
There is only one legit infielder who won’t be playing every day and IMO it should be India. All of the other infielders have position flex while India can only play 2B (his arm doesn’t allow him to play 3B in MLB). And India’s bat is not strong enough for the DH spot (or LF for that matter). Candelario can play 3B, 1B, and DH.
And as you admit, Barrero is more suspect than prospect at this point. If Candelario’s addition forces him off the roster, so be it.
Why would the Reds trade Arroyo right now? He is only 20 yrs old, and has had only 17 ABs in AA. EDLC should play every day at SS this year. If he falters this year and next, Arroyo is a very good replacement. Yeah, there will always be the naysayers who for instance complain that the Reds acquired too many SS prospects. There’s a reason that there are more SSs drafted than any other positional player: they are typically the best athletes on their teams and routinely are moved to 3B, 2B, and the OF. And that is exactly what happened with the Reds. Marte is manning 3B and McLain is manning 2B. It’s a very young and very high ceiling IF. Kudos to the FO.
If all of the young infielders flourish than someone will be traded for a valued return. If not, Arroyo at age 20 is a really nice middle infield prospect to plug into your lineup a couple of years from now. Likewise, Collier and Stewart, both age 19, are really nice corner infield prospects for the future.
The Reds infield is looking great for years to come.
Exactly right, would you rather have India at 4M or Candelrio at $16 M?
Candelario, every day and twice on Sundays.
And it’s Candelario at $15MM (which is a nice discount from the $17.5MM he was projected to get).
Why would the Pobres losing out on Lugo signify that there is hope they’ll have money to fill out the roster with? To me, their failure to sign Lugo signifies that they don’t have the finances to compete for anyone with a somewhat active market.
Exactly, what does getting outbid by the Royals say about your finances.
That they try to fix everything by adding in years shows the front office has learned nothing from the awful contracts like Pomeranz, Hosmer, Cronenworth, Darvish etc.
They’ll be financially constrained for 5-10 years. And they aren’t even good.
It says the Padres did not value Lugo as much as the Royals. I for one am very glad they did not give a 34-year-old pitcher who just threw a career high in innings that much money.
Did you READ the article? They said why.
“Still, that the Padres felt they had enough room in the budget to make an offer to Lugo could be a positive sign for the club’s ability to fill the remaining holes on their roster before Opening Day”
The Padres have a lot of holes to fill. There are a lot of players left out there but Lugo and his 15 million salary probably didn’t make a lot of sense. Padres need 2 more starters, 2 more outfielders, a bench and probably a couple relievers too.
And they got outbid by the Royals. So really, how much room do they have? Don’t act condescending because you’re too ignroant to understand what the comment was saying.
The Royals have spent more money on FA so far this offseason than all but a handful of teams, so getting outbid by them isn’t a particularly shameful result.
I thought that would’ve been obvious. 29 teams got outbid by the Royals. So are all 29 teams poor?
They don’t they spent all of their money on Hosmer
Department for free agency? LOL.
Trade Rumors is in dire need of an editor.
I offered more than once, but they declined.
Also, I wonder what Bryan Rincon did in February.
It’s not always about getting the last dollar; and as Dennis Lin has pointed out in the past, a Machado clubhouse is not for everyone…
What’s a Machado Clubhouse?
Sounds like a Miami style torta.
A Machado Clubhouse as everyone knows is simply a rebrand of the Cleveland Steamer.
The Padres offered Lugo 4/40. Both the number of years and the total dollar amount was lower than the Royals offer. That has already been well reported locally.
Happy for him that he got so much money and you can’t fault him for taking their offer. Also glad the Padres did not give it to him.
Right on. I think the Friars caught a little lightning in the bottle last year. And did they really get “outbid” as the story suggests or were they just throwing an offer out there? I think the remainder of the spots on this roster should come up from the farm. Let’s get some homegrown players in there.
I agree that we need to see more homegrown talent on the the roster but I do not think they are ready coming out of spring training. Sign some FAs/trade for players with 1-2 years of control (rebuild their value) and start calling up those prospects due to injury/performance before the trade deadline.
After Lynn signed for $12MM, A new base was set for starting pitchers.
After Lynn signed for $12 million, a new base was set for worst deal for a team of the off-season.
Yes, the Cards stated that they needed to sign 3 starters this offseason. They signed 1 starter (a very good one in Gray) and 2 big question marks.
Absolutely, the Sonny Gray signing was good. Not an overpay in my book, a sloid signing.
And respectfully, even I can identify Liberatore’s curveball by the time it leaves his hand. Liberatore is not going to start and Lynn will definitely crash and burn. Lynn has had a good career, made lots of money, been a difference maker, but not anymore. Gibson is less certain for me, I did not like the signing, but it is not like Lynn where I would readily bet money against him. I think Gibson will be a bad signing, but not an utter disaster like Lynn.
I agree with everything you said, and had a good laugh at the Liberatore comment. I gotta believe that Cards fans are not satisfied with the state of the rotation and are hoping for another move.
And Lin reports it NOW, as somehow being news, bah
Padres, just call the Giants. Stripling and Hjelle to SD; Kim to SF. Problem solved.
Candlestoked
Padres would roll on the ground laughing.
Stripling 2023 WAR – 0.1, $15 million in 2024
Hjelle 2023 WAR – 0.5, Pre-arb eligible
Kim 2023 WAR – 5,8, $8 million in 2024
Try Wilmer Flores, Will Bednar and Joey Bart, in return for Kim, to even start a conversation, and still get politely declined
They need pitching tho, player.
Try Whisenhunt and Meckler.
Another gaffe Nick. First sentence – department vs depart. Proofread!
Comma after gaffe, turdsmith.
“Rincon, in February, was a 14th round pick…in the 2022 draft…” What?
The Phillies have at least discussed the perimeters of a trade with the Angels for Mike Trout. It’s a fact, just hasn’t really been reported. If the Phils were to take on the entire contact without money changing hands, they should be able to get it done without including any top 5 prospects. Castellanos goes back to the Angels to offset some the salary. Don’t think this is a pipe dream, it could still happen with MLB ready players like D. Hall, S. Muzziotti, R. Castro and 2nd & 3rd tier pitching prospects.
IMHO Angeles messed up big time by not trading Ohtani when they had a chance to get something for him. They were and are a team going nowhere. Why keep Trout? He’s injured a lot these days and he is getting up there in years. Their current roster screams rebuild. Shed his immense salary and get back Castellanos who would be a good match at this point in time. Then you have some $ to go out and do some rebuilding.
Yeah Trout deserves a chance to play in the post season and the fans here in the Philly/South Jersey area would love it. Dave Dombrowski might be a bigger legend than Pat Gillick if it happened and they won a WS. I’d try to squeeze Griffin Canning, Brandon Drury or even Jo Addel out of them too. Those two teams have matched up several times in the last few years on trades, so there’s familiarity.
“Meanwhile” can’t come in the middle of a sentence, set off by commas. It has to START the sentence. Mr. Deeds continues to stink at writing.