Ken Rosenthal’s morning column on the Padres is a very good read to prime you for a day during which San Diego could be the center of attention.
Or not.
The expectation for a long time now has been that the Padres would sell off dramatically, including a number of controlled players, not merely free-agents-to-be. Rumors flew as recently as last night that the Padres were working on something “big” with the Cubs or maybe the Astros. And that was just the latest example. It’s just that, here we are on Deadline Day, and it hasn’t happened. None of it. No trades at all.
Rosenthal’s piece indicates that the Padres aren’t yet 100% certain that they’re going to have a dramatic sell-off. Instead, they may simply be looking to reshuffle the deck a bit. Maybe that is six of one, half dozen of the other (especially if they’re looking for big-league-ready shortstops in any case), but it’s interesting. It still seems likely that the Padres will sell at least their impending free agents – Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy, and Will Venable among them.
As for Cubs-specific stuff, Rosenthal reiterates things we’ve heard before: the Cubs really like Tyson Ross, also like Venable, and could theoretically deal Starlin Castro and/or Javier Baez to get them as part of a large deal.
If you’re looking for a tea leaf on the Padres’ direction, though:
As @jaysonst and I keep hearing: Yankees and Padres keep hammering away at a possible Craig Kimbrel deal.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 31, 2015
It’s hard to imagine the Padres dealing Kimbrel and not dealing other players, too. Then again, it’ll be interesting to see what they target in these deals – it might not be just about prospects.