Padres a Match for Marcell Ozuna

While the Padres have center field under control with Jon Jay and right field in Matt Kemp, left field still remains a pretty open competition between Travis Jankowski, Melvin Upton Jr., and perhaps Rymer Liriano. David Schoenfield writes that Marcell Ozuna could be a nice fit for the Padres to pursue, not to mention he is under team control through 2020.

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In some ways, a play for Ozuna might help pave the way for a trade of Matt Kemp to a team that just wants some star power and more of a proven consistent commodity. Of course, Kemp’s contract is a pretty big albatross (thanks Dodgers) which also points to Ozuna’s lack of a big contract helping the situation.

Schoenfield writes that “the Marlins have obviously soured on Ozuna, thus all the offseason rumors that he’s on the block.” Ozuna is still just 24 years old and hit 23 home runs in 2014, though last year saw his home runs fall to just 10 and his OPS drop from .772 to .691.

If his profile sounds familiar, I do wonder if Ozuna might turn into another Cameron Maybin? High on talent, shows flashes of it but not enough to maintain it? At least until he is traded away from the Padres…

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The biggest problem the Padres find themselves in is realizing they need to rebuild – but two of the biggest offseason moves a year ago – James Shields and Matt Kemp – are completely ill suited for a rebuilding team. While Ozuna (young, athletic, team controlled) is a perfect candidate for a team that is rebuilding, the kind of veterans the Padres have currently are not. Large contracts and mediocre performance is not what you want. Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross both are on the border – but it seems both would be better used as trade fodder than actually building your team around.

I’m more inclined to give left field over to youngsters like mentioned above than plug a hole for the sake of plugging a hole. Also…don’t the Padres still need a shortstop?