Carlos Quentin traded to Padres

[GreatScott82]

Power dropoff from Quentin to Viciedo shouldn't be too drastic, but yea, this OF is rather weak power-wise.

Yeah. I also don't think the drop off will be too significant. Rios and Viciedo are capable of hitting at least 25 HRs. De Aza is an upgrade defensively and offensively over Pierre. I'm not too worried about power coming from our OF. I just want to see Viciedo get better as a hitter playing every day at the MLB level. I should be interesting seeing De Aza every day too. Hell, if Rios hits .250 with 25 HR and 65-75 RBIs that would be a huge upgrade from his terrible performance of last season. IMO the key to our offense is Adam Dunn. Ugh

[greg775]

Yeah. I also don't think the drop off will be too significant. Rios and Viciedo are capable of hitting at least 25 HRs. De Aza is an upgrade defensively and offensively over Pierre. I'm not too worried about power coming from our OF. I just want to see Viciedo get better as a hitter playing every day at the MLB level. I should be interesting seeing De Aza every day too. Hell, if Rios hits .250 with 25 HR and 65-75 RBIs that would be a huge upgrade from his terrible performance of last season. IMO the key to our offense is Adam Dunn. Ugh

 

Rios banged 13 home runs last year. His career norms do not suggest him hitting anywhere close to 25 bombs next season. I'd expect about 15 hrs if he has a bounceback year.

[greg775]

As I said, the rebuilders should be thrilled with this trade. Just thrilled. Of course in a couple of years they will be pissed off.

 

One thing is for sure, KW just f***ed Quentin out of at least a few million. Going to SD isn't going to help him cash in on a contract.

 

Great post.

The rebuilders IMO pretty much will accept any trade as long as it's dealing a name player who makes a bit of money for no names. I don't know why some people are so interested in saving Jerry money. Pay that parking fee; pay for your 10 dollar beers next season. What does a fan get when the Sox save payroll money? Discounts? Yeah right.

Edited December 31, 2011 by greg775

[Balta1701]

Rios banged 13 home runs last year. His career norms do not suggest him hitting anywhere close to 25 bombs next season. I'd expect about 15 hrs if he has a bounceback year.

Greg, you finally said something people should agree with.

 

Rios is a doubles-power hitter who occasionally hits a HR, when he's going well.

 

When he's not...well, he's the worst hitter in MLB.

[Balta1701]

Great post.

The rebuilders IMO pretty much will accept any trade as long as it's dealing a name player who makes a bit of money for no names. I don't know why some people are so interested in saving Jerry money. Pay that parking fee; pay for your 10 dollar beers next season. What does a fan get when the Sox save payroll money? Discounts? Yeah right.

They get to see more of Viciedo, who some of us have been dying to see more of for 2 years.

[LittleHurt05]

The manager is not happy:

 

Robin Ventura@RobinVentura23

 

Wait....now I don't have CQ next year either? What the crap, Kenny? I am NOT calling up your talentless son.

[danman31]

I like this trade. Castro has a good arm from the sound of it. I was never a big fan of Quentin to be honest though.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

The manager is not happy:

 

Lol, could you imagine if that was real?

[Baines3]

If only we could trade KW.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

If only we could trade KW.

 

Red Sox did it.

[southsider2k5]

If I was from Cuba, which is a pretty isolated place, especially from the US obviously, and I was going to play baseball in the US, the fact that two dudes I knew were going to be on my team would be pretty big deal to me. These guys are accustomed to hardly knowing where their next meal is going to come from ...now they're going to be getting paid millions and millions of dollars. Now obviously any offer the Sox or Marlins make has to be in the same stratosphere as the top offer, but if they are anywhere close, I have to think those two choices have a huge advantage over the others. Especially if he calls up Mr Contreras and asks him his thoughts.

 

Not to mention how can the difference between something like say $40 or $50 million even make sense to someone who has lived their life on rations?

 

[southsider2k5]

People need to wake up and stop talking about possibly signing the Cubans. Cespedes/Soler are a pipe dream. Sox are trying to reduce salary not add.

 

Which is funny, because the whispers are sure the opposite of that.

[southsider2k5]

The manager is not happy:

 

THat is a fake.

[klaus kinski]

If only we could trade KW.

We would just get these 2 pitchers again

[southsider2k5]

We would just get these 2 pitchers again

 

Not to mention he would morph into the worlds greatest GM.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Damn, this is old-school Kalapse. Are you going to post more in 2012, you wuss?

[SOXOBAMA]

[hi8is]

From the Washington Post:

 

“San Diego came back and obviously put something on the table that attracted us,” White Sox GM Ken Williams said. “Both of these guys are guys that we can ultimately see, and we can see them very quickly here.”

 

Castro went 7-8 with a 5.63 ERA in 22 starts between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A Tucson last season.

 

“He will be the first to admit that last year he did not distinguish himself amongst some of his peers that were also considered top prospects at the time,” Williams said. “We’ve got to get him back there. Just one year ago you wouldn’t have been able to get this type of guy.”

 

Williams said Dayan Viciedo goes into spring training as Chicago’s starting right fielder.

 

About Carlos and his SD roots:

Quentin attended grade school in suburban Chula Vista and was a three-sport standout at University of San Diego High. He was chosen San Diego’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2000.

Edited December 31, 2011 by hi8is

[Balta1701]

Bring it, DV.

[Cali]

I'll say this again when we get closer to the season, but BANK on Dayan having an awful April. It's been a theme for both him and Alexei. Cuban players that are too damn cold to hit the ball in April. So lay off him.... I fully expect him to heat up in the summer time.

 

That being said, I'm excited to see the Tank in a full season.

[hi8is]

Williams on the salary relief aspect of dealing Q:

 

"What I will say is that there are some doors now open for us that were not open just yesterday because of savings of dollars," Williams said. "But which direction we are heading with that, it would be counterproductive in getting something done to say we are deciding to go down that road.

 

"So we can take some of that little bit of payroll we cleared and invest it in something that helps the Major League club now, or something that helps on the horizon with another prospect. We could end up making this a 3-for-1 deal instead of a 2-for-1, albeit with two guys we really like."

[hi8is]

Williams and Byrnes on the prospects:

Williams pointed to a back issue felt by Castro, which has since been corrected, that affected his delivery, stamina and stuff during last year's struggles. In looking at video of Castro, Williams also sees mechanics flaws similar to what the White Sox saw and then corrected with Jose Contreras when he first joined the team.

 

"Hopefully we can get the most out of him," said Williams of the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Castro.

 

"It's hard to give up pitching prospects, but it's an area of strength," Padres general manager Josh Byrnes said. "We liked both of those guys quite a bit."

 

Hernandez, 22, has developed nicely over the last two years. Williams called him a "strike-throwing machine," and while he presently throws a few too many fly balls for a hitter-friendly ballpark like U.S. Cellular Field, Williams believes that the left-hander has the sink and cutter to develop as another rotation guy.

Edited December 31, 2011 by hi8is

[Balta1701]

I'll say this again when we get closer to the season, but BANK on Dayan having an awful April. It's been a theme for both him and Alexei. Cuban players that are too damn cold to hit the ball in April. So lay off him.... I fully expect him to heat up in the summer time.

 

That being said, I'm excited to see the Tank in a full season.

Viciedo had an injured hand last year.

[hi8is]

Viciedo had an injured hand last year.

I broke my right hand 2 weeks ago - gives me a new found respect for the implications player injuries of the like have on the field.

[Balta1701]

Link

With the Carlos Quentin trade, it was fairly clear what one of the teams wanted. The Chicago White Sox were looking to clear salary, even before they got power lefty John Danks nailed down with a multi-year extension. You can add in the motivating factor of wanting to create an opportunity for hefty former third baseman Dayan Viciedo in the outfield -- not unlike their replacing Albert Belle with hefty former third-base prospect Carlos Lee in 1999.

 

But for the Padres, things might not seem quite so clear-cut. Adding a player with Quentin’s track record as a power hitter might seem like exactly what they needed after finishing last in the major leagues in power with a .112 isolated power. However, the deal might seem a bit incongruous with some of their other actions this winter. They did just deal their nominal ace, Mat Latos, to the Reds for a package of goodies that, besides wild man Edinson Volquez, was prospect-heavy. That wasn’t a move made to win the NL West right away, but it did provide an already deep Padres organization with blue-chip prospects like Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal.

 

That same organizational depth provided Josh Byrnes with the excess talent to trade for Quentin, but why go get Quentin in particular? He’s only going to be under club control for a single season -- and he's due a raise via arbitration -- before he reaches free agency. So this is a one-year rental, even less control than they have over their other major trade pickup this winter, Rockies closer Huston Street, who at least came over from Colorado already inked to a club option for 2013.

 

So where's the pattern, or is there one? The Pads’ other big-ticket veterans, second baseman Orlando Hudson and shortstop Jason Bartlett, are similarly locked up for 2012 with club options for 2013. Put that collection of veterans together, and that might sound like a club more geared towards trying to win now. After the Diamondacks’ Lazarus act last season, four different teams have won the NL West in four years. With Quentin in the middle of the order, you might hope for another Padres run at relevance, like 2010. Using their Pythagorean projected record, they should have been much better last year; with a stronger lineup they might be better equipped to make up ground after they finished 71-91, eight wins below their expected 79 last year.

 

After Quentin slugged .505 over four seasons for the White Sox, he would certainly appear to have the power to contribute to a contender. However, Quentin is an extreme fly-ball hitter, having just tied for 10th in the majors in 2011 for batted balls hit into the air. And now he’s moving from the Cell and its inviting short porch in left, to the most punishing environment for fly-ball hitters in baseball.

 

The Padres have been here before with extreme right-handed fly-ball hitters. Can Quentin power a Padres bid any better than Ryan Ludwick did? Ludwick had slugged .507 for the Cardinals over four seasons when he was traded to San Diego at the end of 2010. Upon introduction to Petco Park, Ludwick promptly stopped slugging.

 

You might hope that Quentin’s poor season in the Cell in 2011 suggested he was overcompensating -- he hit 17 of his 24 homers on the road with a .616 SLG to his .381 clip in Chicago -- but skepticism of what Quentin will do in San Diego is warranted, even with his two-year advantage of relative youth over Ludwick.

 

Dan Szymborski of ESPN Insider Insider projects Quentin to hit .254/.344/.458 in Petco, good for a park-adjusted 123 OPS+. That would have led all Padres outfielders in 2011, but that’s setting the bar low; it would have also ranked third among Pads regulars behind journeyman Jesus Guzman and catcher Nick Hundley. That’s a fairly modest season to project for an All-Star outfielder in his age-29 season, or what’s supposed to be the tail end of a normal career peak.

 

Keeping that kind of projection in mind, if you can set aside any expectations of a 36-homer season, getting Quentin puts the Padres in a nice position for the time being. They’ve added better power than they had on hand -- or were likely to find on the market -- for prospects they might never really miss. That’s a nice deal for them in the near term, just as it’s nice for Quentin to get a shot to return to his SoCal roots in San Diego.

 

But if Quentin's a one-year rental, it's hard to see what this does for them in the big picture. If the Pads aren’t knocking around .500 three or four months into the season, Byrnes might just end up dealing Quentin at the deadline. After all, that was Ludwick’s ultimate fate last summer -- after Petco had sapped him of any real value. However, by virtue of the new CBA, free agents-to-be no longer generate picks for the teams acquiring them in-season, diminishing any value they’d get back in a trade. So the Padres might get 2013 draft-pick compensation, but that’s if they keep Quentin all year and then offer him arbitration -- which he might accept, after getting his arbitration-generated raise past $6 million this winter, and after a season in Petco that’s likely to hurt his prospects for better offers on the open market.

 

Not every trade turns into some spectacular feat of genius, or needs to be. In the end, credit Byrnes with making a worthwhile deal for the time being. Ultimately, it might just give them better power in just this one season, and make them a slightly better team -- for now.