Nov 18th 2008 12:39PM by Tom Fornelli (author feed)
Remember a few weeks ago when a Jake Peavy trade was imminent? The Padres were supposedly very close to sending Peavy to either the Atlanta Braves or Chicago Cubs, and it wasn’t a matter of if the deal would be made as much as it was when. Well, Jake Peavy is still in San Diego, the Braves have said they’re out of the discussion, and it would look like the Cubs are the only team still willing to talk.

That may explain why former Cubs and Padres pitcher Rick Sutcliffe has been telling Jake how wonderful playing for the Cubs is.Continue Reading

Nov 18th 2008 4:00PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Young third-baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff underwent a shoulder scope this past weekend and will likely be ready to return full-strength for spring training. The procedure was done to clean up some damage in the shoulder which had caused Kouzmanoff a great deal of pain in the later months of the 2008 season. It could have been much worse, according to Padres’ general manager Kevin Towers: “The rotator cuff and labrum looked fine,” Towers said. “If they would have found damage to the rotator cuff, he could have been out four or five months and missed the first two or three months of the season. But he should be able to go full bore in spring training.” The real fallout of this situation is the affect on Kouzmanoff’s trade value. It’s no secret the Padres are pretty willing to blow up and start over with just a few remaining holdovers (Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez, Brian Giles), and Kouzmanoff is one of the few Padres who holds trade value across the league.Continue Reading

Nov 17th 2008 12:00PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Jake Peavy has a no-trade clause, and it could cripple the Padres hopes of landing a large return for him. Why? Because he really wants to play for the Chicago Cubs, according to several sources. Most recently, a report in had Peavy kicking it in Puerto Rico with Derek Jeter, Ryan Braun, and others. Someone brought up the possibility of Peavy being traded to the Braves. Well, let’s just say, it’s bad news for Braves fans counting on landing Peavy. Peavy’s response left one person present to conclude that Peavy, whose consent is needed for a trade, will not be going to Atlanta anytime soon, even if the Padres and Braves were to agree to a trade. “I think he wants to go to Chicago,” the friend said. This is a very tricky situation for the Padres. I remember how much Ken Griffey handcuffed Seattle because he only wanted to play in Cincinnati. They didn’t get near as much in return as they should have — of course, since Jim Bowden was in love with Pokey Reese they were spared his busthood.

Either way, Peavy’s reported friendships with Mark Grace and Rick Sutcliff seem to have placed his heart in Wrigley. We’ll see how far he takes things, but the situation could really hamper the Padres’ hopes of a prospect coup.

Nov 16th 2008 10:48PM by B (author feed)
Great, now we’re getting to that point in the offseason where every news update is about how the Yankees are “interested in” the big free agents and how some guy from some network interviewed them and they totally said they’d love to play for the Yankees, and on and on and blah blah blah. We’ve been doing this comic long enough to know the two great truths about the Yankees, and they are presented to you in chatroom form below.

Have the Yankees considered getting new uniforms? It works for everybody else. Maybe they can get a mascot. Make him a vague, shaggy grey thing named “OPS the Dog!”

Tonight’s giant-sized Dugout is after the jump.Continue Reading

Nov 14th 2008 3:00PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
When the Padres kicked off the Jake Peavy sweepstakes last month, they knew his no-trade clause would make things more difficult than your standard salary dump. He was only interested in going to a handful of teams, and all of them were in the NL.

And then, after the Padres kicked off talks with the Cubs and Braves, Peavy threw another wrench into the mix, saying he’d block a trade to teams on his original list if he felt they were gutting their roster to acquire him. (In other words, sure, he’d like to play for the Braves … but not if Yunel Escobar isn’t there.)

With so many hoops to jump through, it’s not a surprise the Padres have talked for a month without getting a deal done. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“We’ve had advanced discussions with the Cubs and Braves, which are Jake’s priority teams,” General Manager Kevin Towers said last night, “but at this point in time, I do not see a potential deal with either club.”
Towers admitted to having discussions with the Dodgers, but it doesn’t take a front office mole to figure out that his preference is probably to avoid handing him over to a division rival where he can haunt his former team several times a year for the length of his contract. So what are his options?Continue Reading

Nov 13th 2008 2:00PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)

After clinging to contender-ship for the past few years, it seems as though last season was a wake-up call to San Diego Padres GM Kevin Towers. Trevor Hoffman will not be the closer this year, Khalil Greene is likely to be traded, and Jake Peavy is definitely going to be traded. Let’s examine what triggered this.

The Padres can’t hit, and they are not in position to develop an offense any time soon. They had been able to survive with little offense the previous three seasons because their pitching and defense — teamed with their home-field advantage in spacious Petco Park — was able to churn out those 3-2 and 2-1 victories enough times to stay competitive. That all went by the wayside in 2008, as significant time was missed by Peavy and Chris Young atop the rotation (they made only 45 combined starts after making 64 in 2007) and the rest of the starters were shaky all season. In turn, the team ERA ballooned from 3.70 to 4.41.Continue Reading

Nov 11th 2008 1:12PM by Tom Fornelli (author feed)
The news yesterday that the San Diego Padres had withdrawn their offer to closer and all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman wasn’t exactly a huge surprise.

With San Diego having what basically equates to a fire sale in hopes of cutting costs for next season, anybody who makes over $5 million a season should probably start packing their bags. Especially when you’re a 41-year-old pitcher who’s losing his effectiveness.

Still, Trevor wasn’t very happy with the way the Padres handled the whole situation. When they offered Hoffman a one-year deal for only $4 million — Trevor made $8 million in 2008 — he basically knew then that it was the organization’s way of saying it was time to move on, but that doesn’t mean they had to toy with him.Continue Reading

Nov 10th 2008 1:15PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
It’s pretty obvious to any Braves fan that Frank Wren has to do some major retooling this offseason. Atlanta has never been a win-now-at-any-cost type of team, and they shouldn’t suddenly become one; but the Braves have a loaded farm system and no major league pitching.

And frankly, there’s only so long that you can allow prospects to develop without actually using them to make your team at the big league level better (that’s not to say that trading blue chipper Tommy Hanson is acceptable; it’s not). But the Braves, by virtue of the Peavy rumor train that’s rolled through MLB gossip circles over the past few weeks, are one of the biggest teams to watch over the next few weeks: a new GM gets his chance to make a mark on a team with the chance to return to glory by pulling off a trade with his West Coast counterpart and fitting the pieces to make the Braves stop stinking up the NL East in embarrassingly anti-historical fashion.Continue Reading

Nov 11th 2008 12:00AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
When Tony Gwynn retired after the 2001 season, he handed the dean of the Padres torch to closer Trevor Hoffman. Together they cover more than a quarter-century of baseball in San Diego, but that legacy will end in 2009. The Padres withdrew their contract offer to Hoffman today, meaning baseball’s all-time saves leader will be pitching elsewhere next summer.

Padres GM Kevin Towers faxed word of the team’s decision to Hoffman’s agent, an unceremonious end to a 16-year relationship between player and team. All but two of Hoffman’s 554 career saves came after the Friars acquired him for Gary Sheffield in 1993, and his spectacular 1998 season is a big reason why the team advanced to the World Series.

The move fits in with the general cost-cutting strategy employed by San Diego this offseason. Jake Peavy’s departure will come any day now and Brian Giles is being shopped aggressively as the team tries to pare down its payroll and rebuild after a dismal 2008 season. Heath Bell will likely take over as closer.

Hoffman, who turned 41 in October, had 30 saves and a 3.77 ERA last season. His age and those so-so stats will probably limit his suitors, but look for Cleveland to show some interest. GM Mark Shapiro indicated he’d talk to Hoffman if he became a free agent and the Tribe wanted Hoffman in 2004 before he re-signed with the Padres.

Nov 7th 2008 11:55AM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Some reports have surfaced that the Braves have pried the “front-runner” label from the Cubs in the Jake Peavy sweepstakes, because of organizational depth when it comes to minor league progress. Peavy has a full no-trade clause, and the Braves are among the teams he said he’d be open to joining.

Late last night, however, details emerged that there could be a potential snag in those talks. You see, Peavy wishes to play for a winning team. One of the players who is being discussed as part of the deal is the Braves young shortstop, Yunel Escobar. Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, has stated Peavy would likely invoke his no-trade clause if Escobar is included in the deal. “Escobar’s a pretty good player,” Axelrod said. “To be honest, Jake and I have said, ‘If that kind of trade gets made, who plays short for them?’” Another interesting layer is that the Padres are looking to move Khalil Greene. What if Greene is included? He’s a serious downgrade from Escobar, but he’s been Peavy’s teammate for a while … maybe that would help push the deal through? Then the question would become, do the Braves even want Greene?

Stay tuned.