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Padres News: Yasmani Grandal Speaks Out About Trade

By Tim Richer

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Much has been made about the trade the Padres made to acquire Matt Kemp, but what about the big leaguer they had to give to the Dodgers? Yasmani Grandal finally got to tell his side of the story at Dodgers’ FanFest. He sounded very understanding of the move.

"“I think both teams got what they wanted. The Dodgers were looking for a catcher. The Padres were looking for a big-time bat. That’s what Kemp brought to the table, and that’s what I brought to the table.”"

Such is the buisness of baseball. Grandal knows first hand how bad the Padre offense was, and he had to know moves needed to be made to turn the offense around. Unfortunately he had to be part of the moves to help transform the offense.

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Some were critical of the trade originally, believing that losing one of the few promising bats the Padres had in exchange for a  much more risky upgrade. Grandal hit .225/.327/.401 in his first full season in the majors last year. While it isn’t the prettiest slash line he did walk 13.1% of the time, good for fourth best among catchers and hit 15 home runs. For a 26 year old former top prospect with a long list of injuries there was a lot of promise there, but to get talent one must give up talent.

Of course those critics were unaware that All Star catcher Derek Norris would be coming to San Diego as Grandal’s replacement. With that knowledge now it’s a lot easier to see why the Padres would be willing to part with one of their top young players, especially sending him to one of their biggest rivals. All in all, it sounds like Grandal agrees with the trade and so does almost everyone else.

Next: Quentin Headed to Detroit?

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