Offseason moves and Winter Meetings Info here

[padrefanforever]

Figured it might be a good idea to have it all in one place. Might make it easier to find for everyone.....So care of MLBtraderumors.com here are a few things that have gone on....

Padres Will Tender Ryan Ludwick A Contract
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [November 17, 2010 at 12:34pm CST]

The Padres will offer Ryan Ludwick a contract through arbitration, GM Jed Hoyer told MLBTR. The Padres have limited payroll and a surplus of outfielders that includes Cameron Maybin, Kyle Blanks, Will Venable, Scott Hairston, Chris Denorfia, Aaron Cunningham and Tony Gwynn, so MLBTR had identified Ludwick as a non-tender candidate. But Hoyer says he's comfortable having outfield depth, so the Padres will offer Ludwick arbitraiton.

The 32-year-old is heading into his final season before free agency. He earned 5.45MM in 2010 and has hit 76 home runs over the course of the past three seasons, so he'll surpass the $6MM mark in 2011 and could earn close to $7MM. Hoyer says it's a fair price for an outfielder as powerful as Ludwick.

Torrealba Cutting Ties With Padres
By Nick Collias [November 16, 2010 at 10:15pm CST]

The Padres view Nick Hundley as their starting catcher of the future, and Yorvit Torrealba isn't looking to take a diminshed role or salary. While the 32-year-old had already declined his side of a $3.5MM mutual option, he further confirmed his bachelorhood in a phone interview with Carlos Alberto Gonzalez of Lider en Deportes (link in Spanish) yesterday, saying:

"It's not very likely that I'll continue with the Padres, because they want to reduce payroll and they're offering me much less than I had hoped; in fact, they want to give me less than I made this year."

And it's not just his own case that soured Torrealba on the Padres. He also questioned the team's approach to its star players, saying, "It seems like they want to get rid of Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell." In the short term, Torrealba said his agent will be at the winter meetings this week trying to wrangle a two-year deal, preferably from a National League team. His former team the Rockies are the only NL team he noted as having called him thus far, while from the American League he has received queries from the Mariners, Rangers, and Red Sox.

In platoon duty with the Rockies and Padres over the last two years, Torrealba has shown he can still get on base at around a .350 clip and respectably control the running game. He threw out 37% of would-be base stealers last season in just under 800 innings, his best marks in both categories since 2007 and 2006, respectively. Torrealba generally shows more power against right-handed pitching, but his OBP has actually been higher against left-handers in three of the last four seasons, and his .698 OPS against lefties this season was higher than a number of higher-profile regulars, including fellow free agent A.J. Pierzynski.

MLBTR's Tim Dierkes sees Torrealba taking over first-string catching duties from Russell Martin in Los Angeles, though a reuinion of the Torrealba/Chris Iannetta platoon that put the Rockies near the top in catcher OPS leaguewide in 2008 and 2009 could also be interesting. However, if the catcher has his eyes on something closer to a full-time role than he had in San Diego, one of the AL squads he mentioned could be his best bet. On the Padres' side, they have one more week to offer Torrealba arbitration and potentially earn another draft pick if the catcher—who is a type B free agent—follows through and signs elsewhere.

Padres Acquire Cameron Maybin From Marlins
By Zach Links [November 13, 2010 at 3:09pm CST]

The Padres have acquired Cameron Maybin from the Marlins, according to Tom Krasovic of Fanhouse (via Twitter). Florida will receive relievers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica in exchange for the center fielder, Krasovic tweets. The Marlins have announced that the deal is now official.

The deal will provide Maybin with a much needed change of scenery, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports writes (via Twitter). The 23-year-old has yet to realize his potential after coming over to the Marlins in the 2007 Miguel Cabrera-Dontrelle Willis trade. Maybin's performance at the plate was particularly disappointing this season as he hit .234/.302/.361 with eight homers in 322 plate appearances. His arrival presumably bumps Tony Gwynn from the Padres' starting lineup and makes him an even more likely non-tender candidate.

The 6'6" Webb appears to be the key to the trade, Krasovic tweets. The right-hander could be a set-up man for the Fish and is not yet arbitration-eligible. Heading into the 2010 season, Baseball America rated Webb as the 24th best prospect in San Diego's system. The 24-year-old has a 94-96 mph fastball with a strong mid-80s curveball, according to the publication. In 54 big league games this year, Webb registered a 2.90 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9.

Meanwhile, Mujica is arbitration eligible for the first time this winter. The 26-year-old hurler turned in a 3.62 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 0.8 BB/9 across 59 games this year.

[padrefanforever]

c/o mlbtraderumors.com as usual

Orioles To Bid On Nishioka
By Ben Nicholson-Smith [November 19, 2010 at 9:22am CST]

The Orioles' search for a shortstop has led them to Japan and to the trade market. They are going to bid on Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka according to a Sports Hochi report relayed by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The Mariners and Padres also seem likely to bid, but the Giants will not bid and the D'Backs probably won't either.

[love_that_reefer]

I just don't see the Padres spending that much on a second baseman.

[love_that_reefer]

Padres signed RHP Aaron Harang.
The details of the contract aren't known at this point, and he still has to pass a physical to make it official. A San Diego native, Harang posted a 5.32 ERA and 1.59 WHIP over 111 2/3 innings for the Reds in 2010. Although he's struggled to produce bottom line results the last few seasons, Harang's peripherals have been steady. He stands a good chance of bouncing back while pitching his home games at PETCO Park.

If its anything more than a minor league deal, the Pads got hosed.

[padrefanforever]

Harang does have an injury history, but given the state of things here with regards to payroll, I like this signing.....Had they more money to spend I'm not sure I'd say the same though

[HollywoodLeo]

I'm not mad about the move but I don't love it either.

[padrefanforever]

I like adding Maybin
I like adding Barlett a lot.....
I like that they are talking about moving Ludwick and his contract.....and I'm hoping it's to a team that has a young 2bag they'd be willing to possibly move (Tigers)
I think they need to look at resigning CY for the rumored $2m taking a chance on him to rebound and throw a full season

What's really pretty interesting is that this team is already better on paper than it was at the beginning of last year, and depending on who they fill in at 1b, could be better overall....

[HollywoodLeo]

losing Adrian makes them better on paper?

[Kingdom]

It's recyclable paper.

[padrefanforever]

HWood...........Of course losing AGon doesn't help, but he was only one piece.....go compare the team that started the year last year, and the team they already have in place now....Yes it's already better on paper, and could end up substantially better overall....

Why would you even bother saying something like that ?

[love_that_reefer]

I fail to see how this team is already better on paper after losing AGon and Garland.

[padrefanforever]

They will be better in ...
LF - Blanks never got going....and if nothing else they got far more consistent and athletic at this spot
CF - Upgrading Gwynn isn't exactly tough folks......dude sucks and rode his fathers name as long as he could
RF - Ludwick should be a monster upgrade....again shouldn't be a tough one
SS - If Bartlett is traded here (keep in mind the post was made when this was thought to have been a done deal)
2b - anything is an upgrade over Eck....There needs to be actual production from 2nd other than hustle and grit
Bullpen - Mujica was addition by subraction, and the emergence of guys like Freiri and many others available make this an easy call IMO

The same at...
3b - Headley IMO is what he is, and if he shows a bit more consistency will improve on his own season...which shouldn't be hard for him
C - Hundley sure played well so I think this is a "same or take a hit" area....I do wish they had tried to keep Torrealba though
....both positions have young players who could easily put it all together finally, but nobody is counting on it....

Likely take a hit at...
1b (and how big a hit remains to be seen especially if they are actually players for Derek Lee)

Remains to be seen could go either way...
Bench - Don't like losing Jerry Hairston's ability to play so many spots, but Dan H. said just today that the Padres are still interested in resigning him....... To me guys like Stairs, or Salazar were completely worthless for most of the year....Not tough to replace those types and Hoyer has plenty of time to do just that by FA, trade or from within with guys like Baxter etc...

[realmofotalk]

Oh hi PFF, I've got a bridge to the promised land called "more depth on paper" to sell you:

[HollywoodLeo]

HWood...........Of course losing AGon doesn't help, but he was only one piece.....go compare the team that started the year last year, and the team they already have in place now....Yes it's already better on paper, and could end up substantially better overall....

Why would you even bother saying something like that ?

Adrian was practically the entire offense.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions and call it a bad trade (even if I do disagree with the timing) but it's a pretty big stretch to say losing our only consistently good offensive player makes the team better on paper.

If you want to say you have faith that the team will come through without him that's one thing, but they're hardly better on paper right now.

They even lost Garland.

[HollywoodLeo]

They will be better in ...
LF - Blanks never got going....and if nothing else they got far more consistent and athletic at this spot
CF - Upgrading Gwynn isn't exactly tough folks......dude sucks and rode his fathers name as long as he could
RF - Ludwick should be a monster upgrade....again shouldn't be a tough one
SS - If Bartlett is traded here (keep in mind the post was made when this was thought to have been a done deal)
2b - anything is an upgrade over Eck....There needs to be actual production from 2nd other than hustle and grit
Bullpen - Mujica was addition by subraction, and the emergence of guys like Freiri and many others available make this an easy call IMO

The same at...
3b - Headley IMO is what he is, and if he shows a bit more consistency will improve on his own season...which shouldn't be hard for him
C - Hundley sure played well so I think this is a "same or take a hit" area....I do wish they had tried to keep Torrealba though
....both positions have young players who could easily put it all together finally, but nobody is counting on it....

Likely take a hit at...
1b (and how big a hit remains to be seen especially if they are actually players for Derek Lee)

Remains to be seen could go either way...
Bench - Don't like losing Jerry Hairston's ability to play so many spots, but Dan H. said just today that the Padres are still interested in resigning him....... To me guys like Stairs, or Salazar were completely worthless for most of the year....Not tough to replace those types and Hoyer has plenty of time to do just that by FA, trade or from within with guys like Baxter etc...

The problem is, you're only looking at the quantity of "upgrades" and ignoring the degree to which these positions were upgraded.

The huge downgrade at 1st base vastly overshaddows these minor upgrades.