Huston Street Traded to the Padres

As these things often do, rumors about a possible deal for Huston Street were heating up last night. Then this morning it became a reality.

The Padres agree to send cash and a player to be named later to the Rockies for Street. Here are the facts that were facing both clubs:

-The Padres needed a closer
-Huston Street is a proven closer
-The Rockies need a second baseman
–Orlando Hudson is a veteran second baseman
-The Rockies needed to dump some payroll
-The Padres had some money to spend on trades

It is highly unlikely that Orlando Hudson becomes that player to be named later because the Rockies won’t want his contract. So it looks like the Padres will be stuck with Hudson’s contract and just picked up about $7.5 million for Street. It doesn’t make much sense for a team so determined to avoid paying their closer a hefty sum. Heath Bell would have taken less than what the Marlins offered him to stay in San Diego, so did the Padres really save any money at the closer position?

We’ll dive deeper into what the trade means for 2012 in the final installment of the Position Analysis series, but from the looks of things, the Padres just spent $7.5 million of the $20 million they had to spend this off-season.

Josh Byrnes is making a splash. Let’s hope it’s a cannon ball not a belly-flop.