Faux Winter Meeting Trade: Cashner for Cespedes

*Note: Today the so-called Faux Fansided Winter GM Meetings started. The Friars On Base representatives for their co-GM’s were yours truly as well as Devin Sparks. This is NOT a real trade. The views expressed are strictly decisions made by myself and Devin and often influenced by a mad hysteria to win in 2015 with a fake team and financial and future implications that are not our own.~DD

The Padres made a big, early splash Monday morning, announcing a trade for Yoenis Cespedes, cash, and a haul of top prospects in exchange for ace Andrew Cashner and lefty Alex Torres. You know, the Alex Torres with the big hat. With this trade, the Padres have finally shown their fan base that they mean business and are listening to the critics who say they spend all their money on pitching projects without any meaningful offensive contributions. We DO NOT count signing a balky knees-even-then Carlos Quentin. Though Cespedes will be a free agent at the end of the season, the prospects acquired in this deal will hopefully outlast the other end of this trade in Cashner and Torres.

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The prospects included are Garin Cecchini, Sean Coyle, and Travis Shaw. Cecchini is a sweet-swinging third baseman with not a ton of pop and debuted at the big league level this season and hit a home run in 11 games. Goyle however appears to be the crown jewel of this team – and also could show that the Padres are quickly souring on Jedd Gyorko after his dreadful 2014 campaign. He projects to be a future Dustin Pedroia–type and has 55 homers in just 4 minor league seasons.

From the Padres side, it is tough to give up Alex Torres, but rumors have it that these co-GM’s aren’t done after just one day into the meetings and might already have a deal in place for a left-handed bullpen arm. Cashner is the tough one of course, but it shows the Padres’ faith in Tyson Ross to anchor this rotation down the road – not the injury-prone Andrew Cashner.

Cespedes, who has won the last two home run derbies, hopefully will still be a Padre if they win their hopeful bid for the All Star Game as President Mike Dee has been talking about for a few years now. Last year, after the A’s traded him for Jon Lester, the A’s sunk into a massive tailspin that saw them barely make the playoffs, then lost the one game playoff to the eventual American League Champion Kansas City Royals. If Cespedes can have the same impact on the Padres we would be very happy. The starting outfield for the Padres is taking more clear shape now – with Cespedes in left, Seth Smith in right, and Cameron Maybin or Will Venable in center field. Quentin is looking to be traded to an AL team so he can DH. Credit the GM’s as well for getting the BoSox to eat $3.5M of his $10.5 2015 salary. That puts him less than Josh Johnson last year after all.

Stay tuned to Friars On Base for more updates throughout the next two weeks. Sound off if you think this was a good (fake) trade.