2014 FanSided Faux-Winter Meetings: Padres Day 3 Recap

After making a blockbuster trade on Day 1, and a solid move to dump payroll on Day 2, Day 3 of the 2014 FanSided Faux-Winter Meeting had no shortage of excitement. Follow as fellow Friars on Base staff writer, Daryll Dorman, and myself work within the real life constrictions of the Padres budget to build a contender in 2015.

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Day 3 Goals: 

1. Acquire a left-handed relief pitcher to replace Alex Torres in the bullpen. *Torres and Andrew Cashner were traded to the Boston Red Sox on Day 1 in exchange for Yoenis Cespedes and three top prospects. We acquired Triple-A LHP prospect, John Lamb, from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Carlos Quentin on Day 2, but we aren’t comfortable naming him the replacement just yet.

2. Acquire a bat to continue our offensive overhaul.

3. Be a player in Free Agency.

4. Reduce the guaranteed team payroll for 2015. By acquiring Yoenis Cespedes from the Red Sox, we actually increased our payroll as opposed to decreasing it, which was one of our main goals on Day One. It is now a top priority to unload heavy contracts in order create payroll flexibility to negotiate a contract extension with Cespedes before the season starts and use some of the cleared salaries towards another bat. This will mean aggressively trying to move Joaquin Benoit, Ian Kennedy or Cameron Maybin to an American League team.

Team Needs:

Needs that we feel still need to be addressed via trade or free agency include: 1B, 3B, SS, OF, LHRP

Trading Block:

Players that we listed on the trading block include: Tyson Ross, Ian Kennedy, Joaquin Benoit, and Cameron Maybin.

Rumors

Most of our efforts were in targeting free agents so there isn’t too much to report on the trade front

The Atlanta Braves (Tomahawk Take) once again checked in on Ian Kennedy, Jesse Hahn, and Cory Spangenberg.  They also inquired on Joe Ross and Abraham Alomonte

*No teams checked in on Ross, Benoit, or Maybin on Day 3

Teams we maintained contact with to gauge interest in Benoit: New York Yankees (Yanks Go Yard), Chicago White Sox (Southside Showdown), Minnesota Twins (Puckett’s Pond),

MLB players we inquired about: N/A

Rumblings

The Padres have submitted an offers for the following free agents:

Josh Johnson: 1 year, $2MM, club option for 2015 at $5MM

Kwang-Hyun Kim: 3 years, $6MM, club option for 2018

Yasmany Tomas:

7 years, $88MM

7 years, $105MM

* On Day 2 we were told by Yasmany’s agent that our first offer was considerably lower than other offers on the table and that we would have to submit a new offer if we wanted to gain consideration as a possible destination

Action

San Diego acquire Yasmany Tomas and Kwang-Hyun Kim via free agency.

Instant Reaction

The signing of Yasmany Tomas marks a historic period for the San Diego Padres. Tomas’ contract is now the largest contract in franchise history. When making the decision to target Tomas, we consulted all of the rumors and contract projections that are publicly available for him. His contract expectations were in the realm of 7 years for $100MM. After we won the bid for Tomas, we discovered that we barely edged out the Seattle Mariners (Sodo Mojo) for his services. Part of the reason we signed Cespedes was in fact to lure Tomas to San Diego. Tomas (24), who was considered the crown jewel of the offseason, will now play the entire prime of his career as a member of the San Diego Padres.

Kwang-Hyun Kim was a good and affordable signing for the Padres and he can now be used as a back of the rotation pitcher – or – he could very well be the left-handed pitcher that we desperately needed to replace Torres in the bullpen. For his salary demands I consulted with none other than Mark Grant as to what his contract projections would be in the MLB. Grant speculated that it could be in the realm for what San Diego paid for Odrisamer Despaigne. The Padres gave Despaigne a 1 year contract worth $1MM with a $1MM signing bonus.

Our target on Day 4 will be to dump more payroll and find a way to extend Cespedes.