Junius Worth
David Kerr
Charlie Nehl
gawlowskib
Andrew Martin
Jonathan C. Mitchell
johnczech
Daniel Marino
Michael Schwartze
mlbdirtstaff
Spencer Schneier
William J. Tasker
Today, possibly the biggest trade of the offseason thus far has gone down. The Padres traded 24 year old, Mat Latos to the Reds for quite the haul of players. The Padres will be receiving Yonder Alonso, Edison Volquez, Yasmani Grandal, and Brad Broxberger. The Reds receive a potential ace in Latos and the Padres really cashed in. I like the deal for both sides.
For the Reds, Latos bolsters an already solid rotation. He joins Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Bronson Arroyo and Homer Bailey. That rotation along with the big bats of Votto and Bruce should be very competitive in the NL central this year. Latos is still very young and already has two full years under his belt. He has a career ERA of 3.37 and a K/9 of 8.7. He has looked great but what worries me is that he is moving from the canyon of Petco Park to the hitter friendly stadium of the Great American Ballpark. I don’t think it should have a huge effect but it is something to watch for. Another very attractable part of Latos is that he is not arbitration eligible until the end of 2012 so the Reds should have him under team control for quite a few years to come.
Now let’s take a look at the Padres haul. It seems that the Reds have long been looking for a fit for Yonder Alonso and that team has finally come in the Padres. He was blocked by Joey Votto at first and the whole left field thing wasn’t exactly working out too well. The Padres have promising youngster, Anthony Rizzo at first but we are already hearing talks that he might be traded. The Rays and Mariners could both be great fits and they have young pitching to offer in return. I’m glad that Alonso has finally found a home and we can finally see that bat that scouts have been raving about. The next key piece is Edison Volquez. Volquez is still relatively young at the age of 28 and he has about 7 seasons played in the majors already. He really dominated in 2008 when he had an ERA of 3.21 and a K/9 of 9.5 but after that season he has struggled with staying consistent and healthy. Petco Park should help him, just like every pitcher and it isn’t too late to count him out as a mid-rotation starting pitcher. He’ll fit nicely with the young starting pitchers that the Padres currently have.
I love the addition of catching prospect Yasmani Grandal for the Padres. The Reds have catcher Devin Mesoraco who looks ready for the bigs, making Grandal expendable. Grandal, now 23, finished the year at AAA last year. He projects to be a good offensive catcher with solid defense as well. Grandal has shown great plate discipline posting a .401 OBP over the course of his minor league career. He could spend some time at AAA this year and possibly be up in the bigs towards the middle or end of the year.
The last piece of the trade is 23 year old right-handed pitcher Brad Boxberger. Boxberger was very solid as a reliever last year in the minors. Between AA and AAA he had a 2.03 ERA with a very impressive 13.5 K/9. Boxberger needs to work on his control but he has the stuff to be a good late inning reliever if all goes well.
The Padres really got a nice haul for Latos and I love the deal for them. They picked up some good young players that fit nicely for their team. For the Reds, they are looking good to make a run at the NL Central.
Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis Tagged: | Brad Boxberger, Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati Reds, Devin Mesoraco, Edison Volquez, Homer Bailey, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos, Mike Leake, Prospects, San Diego Padres, Trades, Yasmani Grandal, Yonder Alonso
Great write up!
I love this deal for the Padres. This is the type of package the Reds would have had to give up for a James Shields and the Padres got it for Latos. No knock on Latos and a great addition to the Reds, who are obviously a serious contender in 2012, but kudos to the Reds for adding a ton of talent and having pieces to build around and/or trade.
Gotta love this deal for the Padres.
[...] Reds Unload for Mat Latos " MLB DirtThe Padres really got a nice haul for Latos and I love the deal for them. They picked up some good young players that fit nicely for their team. For the Reds, they are looking good to make a run at the NL Central. [...]
If Latos brings back this much in trade, I can only imagine what Gio Gonzalez or Felix Hernandez will command. Nice write up!
I agree. Like this deal for both teams. But I like it most for the Reds.
I am looking forward to watching Latos pitch for the Reds.
I would rank this as the 3rd or 4th trade best trade that the Padres haved made in its history, behind the trade in ’98 that brought Finley/Caminiti and a few others, from Houston to SD…the Adrian Gonzalez trade that became the cautionary tale for all teams, where getting fleeced is involved. Texas bit the bait in 2005 and got Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka and ‘Terd-mel” Sledge, in a trade that brought Adrian and Chris Young to SD..and now, Id have to rank the Latos trade, third…and definitely a trade that “looks” considerably better than the one that involved Adrian going to Boston.
For a, as yet, pretty unproven guy in Mat, we get 3 studs in Grandel, Alonso and Volquez (who I think will find a second and third wind, in Petco Park.)…and a potential closer or very late inning set up guy, at the least, in Boxberger.
Volquez is probably the happiest of the bunch, when you talk about which one of the guys coming here, will feel the best about his potential abilities.
He posted a 17-6 win/loss in a hitters’ paradise while he was in Cincy, a few yrs ago. If guys like Aaron Harang, Jon Garland, Boomer Wells and Jake Peavy, can succeed in Petco Park, then Volquez is my “shoo in” to be as successful or better than a cupla guys in the group that I just mentioned.
I like proactive GMs…Towers, had some good “moments”, and was usually hamstrung by a cheap owner in Moores….Hoyer, had potential and a very keen eye for when and how the Padres would be able to turn things around thru drafting/developing…now it looks like Byrnes has taken the baton and run with it.
I LOVE the fact that he wasnt afraid to deal a potential ace, albeit a move that was made from significant depth in the pitching catagory, here in SD.
I had hig hopes for Rizzo and thought that he would be the 1st bagger of the future for the Pads’…but I didnt see Alonsom, a high average and ‘high contact’ guy, coming. And I happen to think that Alonso is a much more mature hitter, RIGHT NOW, than Rizzo is.
People forget, that it took Kemp, and Chris Young (Diamondbacks), Upton and Holliday, a few yrs to figure out how to survive in the NL West, where the ballparks are bigger and generally pitcher friendly.
What makes anyone think that Rizzo’s learning curve would be faster than any of those guys??…heck, when Adrian Gonzalez came to the NL West in 2006, he was benched a bunch of times by Bruce Bochy, because there were a bunch of times in 2006, where Adrian was overmatched by the pitching, in the NL West.
So, if Rizzo is traded to another division, NO ONE should be all that surprised. In this division, its gonna take him a FULL two yrs AT THE LEAST, to feel very comfortable with the pitching. but if he were traded to the Central, that learning curve would probably be shortened.
And if his trade happens sooner than later, I, for one, am in favor of it…especially if it brings the Padres someone of substance. Id like to see a bonafide ace-type guy come this way, or an infielder, be it at 3rd base or SS.
Good job, Byrnes…
[...] Reds Unload for Mat Latos [...]