Get Excited Padres Fans! They Had To Start Somewhere

Well Friar Faithful! They did it!! The Padres pulled off one of the biggest trades in team history yesterday, and I personally could not be happier. The Padres have acquired Matt Kemp and Tim Federowicz and $32 million dollars that is left on Kemp’s $107 million dollar contract from the Dodgers for catcher Yasmani Grandal, and pitchers Joe Wieland and Zach Elfin. So what does this trade do for the Padres? It gives them that power bat that they have so desperately needed, they haven’t had a threat like this in the lineup since Adrian Gonzalez left after the 2010 season. It also gives them a building block they could build the franchise around for the next 5 years.

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So what do the Padres do from here? If I have learned anything from watching A.J. Preller work, he means business and has the win-now mentality, which means that he is not done this off-season. This GM is going to put the Padres on the map I can feel it. The team has been in on several big bats this off-season, but were unable to land anybody before this deal went down. The fact that the team was in talks to possibly acquire those guys was a great sign, and now they finally got their guy, it just took some time.

I definitely could see the Padres adding another power bat like possibly Justin Upton in the lineup before Opening Day. Let’s get fired up for the upcoming season!! Our baseball team has got one of the best hitters in the game, for a really good deal, and we are finally going upwards. I don’t know about the rest of my fellow Friar fans, but I can’t wait for Opening Day in San Diego, and I’m going to make sure I’m there to greet the newest Padres star MATT KEMP! Welcome to San Diego Matt from all of us here at Friars on Base!