GM for the Day: San Diego Padres
The hiring of Josh Byrnes as real GM and the theft of the front office by Theo Epstein in Chicago was just the beginning of the Padres offseason. The trade of Mat Latos to Cincinnati for four very good pieces was followed up by the trade of the team’s top prospect (2011) to Chicago, when they sent Anthony Rizzo to the Cubs for Andrew Cashner and slap hitting outfield prospect. The influx of talent in the deal with the Reds was the team acknowledging that they can get by without an ace in Petco Park, but they needed to find some guys who could rake there. That is where Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal come in. And, while Edinson Volquez has been awful the last couple of seasons when he wasn’t injured, he could become an ace in Petco. The Padres are loaded with some solid prospects throughout the system, but it will be interesting to see what they do with them and how those prospects adjust to the cavern of offensive death that San Diego calls a home ballpark. Building around Cameron Maybin and Yonder Alonso seems to be the best option at this point for the team, as far as the offense goes. This is their current 25-man roster:
2 Catchers: Nick Hundley and John Baker
1B: Yonder Alonso
2B: Orlando Hudson
3B: Chase Headley
SS: Jason Bartlett
LF: Carlos Quentin
CF: Cameron Maybin
RF: Will Venable
Bench: Jesus Guzman (1B/3B), James Darnell (3B/OF), Logan Forsythe (INF), Chris Denorfia (OF)
Starting Pitchers: Cory Luebke, Tim Stauffer, Clayton Richard, Dustin Mosely and Edinson Volquez
Relief Pitchers: Huston Street, Luke Gregorson, Andrew Cashner, Joe Thatcher, Ernesto Frieri, Josh Spence and Anthony Bass
The Padres have a lot of things that they could do. Signing Free Agents isn’t really one of them. They have a lot of talent on the way, some they probably won’t have room for. While they have James Darnell ready to take over at 3B or left field, they would need to wonder where he’s going to end up when Jedd Gyorko is ready in mid-2012. It’s a problem many teams would like to have. Darnell will be 25 this month and posted an OPS of .953 in Double-A and Triple-A in 2011, while Gyorko will be 23 for the entire 2012 season and he posted a .952 OPS between High-A and Double-A in 2011. Add in that current 3B Chase Headley is just 28 this season and while he only posted an OPS of .773, his .773 OPS was the highest of all Padres with at least 300 at bats. Sad. If Headley could play anywhere else but Petco, like all of the Padres, his 2011 Road OPS of .864 shows the kind of player he could actually be. The acquisition of Carlos Quentin was nice for fans who want to see some runs, but you have to wonder if Petco will destroy his value, as well.
Pitching seems like a crapshoot. Aaron Harang was able to post a 14-7 record with a 3.64 ERA in 2011 after posting an 18-38 record and 4.71 ERA for Cincinnati from 2008-2010. Cory Luebke moved from the bullpen to the rotation and became the Padres ace, posting a 5-9 record with a 3.48 ERA from July on when he was a starter full-time. If the Padres are able to have Tim Stauffer (3.73), Dustin Mosely (3.30) and Clayton Richard (3.88) continue to pitch effectively, and the offense gets a little bit of life from the influx of acquired talent, the Padres could be a lot better than the 71-91 that they were in 2011.
I would change a couple of things right now. I would put Carlos Quentin in right, move Chase Headley to left, and give James Darnell a shot to see what he can do before he is pushed off of third by Jedd Gyorko. If Darnell flops, he could become trade bait or a nice bench bat. This puts the best offense on the field. I would also go ahead and put Yasmani Grandal on the Opening Day roster. He’s only played 49 games at Double-A or higher, but he has a very advanced approach and John Baker isn’t going to make your team better now or any time in the future. Grandal might make Nick Hundley better by providing competition and keeping him fresher. The middle infield is aging quickly, as Orlando Hudson and Jason Bartlett become the players that no one wants to take on, as evidenced by Winter Meeting trade talks that went nowhere as the Padres hoped to shave payroll. They could get help at 2B with Cory Spangenberg in the next year, but SS is going to be an issue as their top SS prospect was just drafted last year, Jace Peterson. Rymer Liriano is the prospect to watch. He could obliterate pitching in the California League and become a monster propsect in 2012. He is a future star in the outfield, Petco or not.
Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland, stolen from the Rangers for Mike Adams, could make an appearance in San Diego in 2012. Erlin is a lefty with amazing Minor League stats whose control and repertoire will make him valuable to the Padres. The pitching staff is fine right now with who they have. I would love to see how Edinson Volquez does after another year to recover from Tommy John. I still feel that the deal with Cincinnati was a total robbery by San Diego, as the Padres got a potential star at first and catcher, as well as a solid bullpen arm to go along with the veteran, Volquez.
After pulling a few strings, this is the 25-man roster I would have heading to San Diego:
2 Catchers: Nick Hundley and Yasmani Grandal
1B: Yonder Alonso
2B: Orlando Hudson
3B: James Darnell
SS: Jason Bartlett
LF: Chase Headley
CF: Cameron Maybin
RF: Carlos Quentin
Bench: Will Venable (OF), Chris Denorfia (OF), Jesus Guzman (1B/3B) and Logan Forsythe (INF)
Starting Pitchers: Cory Luebke, Tim Stauffer, Clayton Richard, Dustin Mosely and Edinson Volquez
Relief Pitchers: Huston Street, Luke Gregorson, Andrew Cashner, Joe Thatcher, Ernesto Frieri, Josh Spence and Anthony Bass
