San Diego Padres: A Quiet First Day Of Winter Meetings

The first day of the 2018 winter meetings went by fairly quietly for San Diego Padres fans.

The first full day of winter meetings are in the books, unfortunately, there isn’t a lot to report on the San Diego Padres front. San Diego continues to be connected to Miami Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, but as Ken Rosenthal reported Monday ($) morning, the asking price is enormous. The price will come down eventually but for right now, the asking price is “Koufax, DiMaggio, and Ted Williams.”

For fans who would prefer the Padres continue to trust the process and not trade numerous big pieces for yet another catcher (albeit an elite catcher), Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune pointed out that,

"“Padres sources insist they will not hesitate to move when the timing and available deal align. Clearly, however, General Manager A.J. Preller and his staff are firm on the value of their portfolio. And they have signaled they won’t rush a process that arguably just passed its midpoint.”"

The above quote comes from an article discussing a potential trade with the New York Yankees for Sonny Gray, however, that quote affirms that San Diego is high on their prospects (deservedly) and won’t move them unless they firmly believe the return makes the team even more primed for a 2020 and beyond run.

Speaking of Sonny Gray, the Yankees are asking for enormous price, initially.

Trammell is the second-ranked prospect of the Reds, 17th overall in baseball. Gray is still a good pitcher with the ability to get hitters out and become a stable force in a starting rotation for the next few years, however, he isn’t that good. Of course, initial asking prices are going to be high, but you have to imagine that no one is going to come close to thinking about offers like this, considering the Yankees could not express their desire to rid themselves of Gray any more quickly than they did.

As of right now, these appear to be the two rumors with the most steam behind them, so it’s worth keeping an eye on how the market for Realmuto and Gray shake out as the week goes on.

More from Friars on Base

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Former San Diego Padres find new homes.

A few former Padres found homes elsewhere on Monday, including Carlos Asuaje, who was recently designated for assignment to make room for starting pitcher Garrett Richards. Asuaje was claimed by the Texas Rangers, an odd move considering the team already has Rougned Odor, Jurickson Profar, and Elvis Andrus in the infield, with the versatile Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the bench. Regardless, the former top-20 San Diego prospect now gets a fresh start with a new team.

Also returning to the American League is starting pitcher Tyson Ross. Per Ken Rosenthal, Ross signed a one-year/$5.75 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Ross went 6-9 with a 4.45 ERA in 22 starts with the Padres before he was placed on waivers and claimed by the St. Louis Cardinals.

In other Padres news, Manuel Margot‘s winter ball season is likely done after fouling a ball off his foot. The former top prospect cannot seem to catch a break with injuries over the past year. On the other hand, pitcher Jacob Nix is prepared to begin throwing again after undergoing sports hernia surgery on November 8th.

From Kevin Acee’s latest piece, “It is that tightness, as well as pain, that Nix believes contributed to a drop in velocity, from an average of 95 mph down to 93 on his fastball. He also spoke at the end of the season about the discomfort affecting his mechanics as he attempted to compensate for the affected area. He has battled the issue much of the past two seasons.”