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SAN DIEGO PADRES
Traded Adrian Gonzalez to Boston for RHP Casey Kelly, 1B Anthony Rizzo, OF Raymond Fuentes, and INF/OF Eric Patterson.
Trading you best offensive player hurt, but it was the lesser of two evils when you're market doesn't allow for the type of deal Boston is going to hand him. They got two very, very good pieces in Kelly and Rizzo, who could be apart of the team as early as 2012.
Traded for and extended shortstop Jason Bartlett through the 2012 season with an option for 2013. Big time upgrade. Everth Cabrera showed he is still in dire need of developing, and Bartlett is a massive, steady upgrade over both an inexperienced Cabrera and Jerry Hairston, Jr., who saw a ton of time at short last year with injuries to Cabrera.
Signed 2nd baseman Orlando Hudson to a 2 year, $11mil. deal. Again, another strong upgrade over last year's opening day suitor, David Eckstein. Hudson is not only younger, but is head and shoulder a much better overall player than Eckstein.
Signed RHP Aaron Harang to a one year deal. Welcome home Aaron. He is a good candidate for a bounce back year considering he'll be pitching half his starts in the most pitcher-friendly park and division in baseball.
Signed RHP Dustin Mosley. Mosley will likely be the swingman for the Padres, pitching long relief for the most part but also being available for the spot start if necessary.
Signed 1B/OF Brad Hawpe to a one year, $3mil. deal. Hawpe is the likely the opening day first baseman, and prior to last year, was a very, very solid middle of the order hitter for Colorado. He's only 31, and if healthy, a return to form is not unlikely.
Traded for OF Cameron Maybin. Maybin is still only 24 years old, is projected as 5 tool prospect, and even if he puts together a year similar to CF Mike Cameron's 2 year run with the Padres, it's not only a huge upgrade, but a huge win in the trade seeing as they only dealt two relief pitchers who were not huge role players in last year's 90 win season.
They've also acquired a slew of backup catchers, but none are shoe-ins for the backup role just yet.
Grade: B-
They addressed the glaring holes they had up the middle in with Bartlett, Hudson, and Maybin. They stocked the farm system with 3 of the BoSox's top 10 prospects, 2 of which are going to be good to great players in the near future. They filled out the rotation with a reliable innings eater. And they signed a guy who is coming off one bad year, and is a solid segue into either Anthony Rizzo or Kyle Blanks taking over in 2013 with Brad Hawpe.
The only negative this year has been the loss of Adrian, but they did the best you could hope for, and I'm glad they traded for younger, high ceiling players who are a year or two away rather than risking two draft picks who may or may not pan out.
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