Padres Winter Meetings Day 2: Whit Merrifield and David Price rumors

San Diego Padres Kansas City Royals Whit Merrifield Winter Meetings (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
San Diego Padres Kansas City Royals Whit Merrifield Winter Meetings (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

There were a lot of rumors and reports about the San Diego Padres from Day 2 at the MLB Winter Meetings, we break them down.

Even though A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres have yet to strike a deal at the 2019 MLB Winter Meetings, they are very active.

However, the biggest news from the meetings on Tuesday came late in the night when the New York Yankees made Gerrit Cole the richest starting pitcher in the history of the game with a nine-year, $324 million contract.

Just like with Stephen Strasburg, the Padres were never going to swim in those waters and were wise to move on.

And perhaps one of the pitchers they have shifted their attention towards is David Price.

The Boston Red Sox have made it known they would like to clear some payroll and Price is owed $32 million a year for the next three seasons ($96 million total).

Ken Rosenthal reported that the Padres have at least shown interest in the lefty.

I’ll get into more detail in a separate post on Wednesday on what a possible David Price trade could look like and if it makes sense.

What’s more interesting from the tweet by Rosenthal is that he says Preller has been “extremely active, involved in a large, almost dizzying, number of pursuits.”

That tells me Preller is working hard to make something happen this week with the Winter Meetings in San Diego.

Another rumor from Mark Feinsand on Tuesday linked the Padres with Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals.

Trading for Merrifield obviously makes a ton of sense as he’s inexpensive and can play second base and the outfield. It’s just hard to imagine the Royals giving him up unless Preller offers them a king’s ransom.

But if there is a deal to be done there, I would love for Merrifield to be a Padre.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (paywall) reported that the Padres are shopping both Austin Hedges and Francisco Mejia. I find that a little hard to believe, but it sounds like there is some motivation there to find an upgrade behind the plate.

And lastly, there was the report from Jon Morosi that the Padres are interested in bringing back Craig Stammen. That’s not a huge surprise, but it sounds like several other teams are interested as well and I’m guessing he winds up somewhere else.

There were a couple of announcements on Tuesday that involved the Padres.

First, it was announced that San Diego and Arizona will play two regular-season games in Mexico City this upcoming season.

And second, Kirby Yates was named to the first-ever All-MLB First Team for 2019.

Check back with us throughout the day on Wednesday as I feel like a Padres move is about to happen at the Winter Meetings.

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