The San Diego Padres have made a lot of noise over the past week when they traded for outfielders Matt Kemp and Wil Myers. However, they already had a crowded outfield, so what are the team's next moves to clear up the logjam?
Taking a look at the Padres' depth chart, it's clear they have a surplus of outfielders. We questioned yesterday's three-team trade after taking a look at their roster and realizing it might not be entirely easy to clear the now even bigger logjam. San Diego has Carlos Quentin (owed $8 million in 2015), Cameron Maybin (owed $15 million over next two seasons), Seth Smith (owed $12.75 million over next two seasons) and Will Venable (owed $4.25 million in 2015). They also have youngster Rymer Liriano, who is under club control through 2020.
It's clear that Kemp and Myers will be starters once they arrive, but they'll need to get rid of at least two of the previously mentioned outfielders to avoid wasting money and tension in the clubhouse. Smith is believed to be the first one that will be on the move, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, and is reportedly garnering interest from the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners, among other clubs, as of a few days ago. However, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal notes the Padres assured Smith they wouldn't move him in the offseason, but that came before the hiring of new general manager A.J. Preller.
Now that Preller is GM and probably no other MLB club is interested in Quention and Maybin because of their salaries, Smith is the leading candidate to be traded. The 32-year-old slashed .266/.367/.440/.807 with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs in 136 games last season. Now that the Mariners traded for Cubs' outfielder Justin Ruggiano, the market could be narrowing for Smith and a deal may get done in the near future. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports says there's "no chance the Padres are done" making deals due to their logjam in the outfield.
"Even though the Padres' current payroll sits around $88 million - right around last year's $90 million figure - it's still in the bottom third of teams, and it could take a whack when San Diego deals one of its surplus outfielders," Passan writes. "Whether it's Smith, Quentin, Venable or Maybin, the Padres can dump two veterans and be fine. If they want to deal prospect Liriano, that's kosher, too."
The question is, who would be interested? We know the Orioles and Reds need an outfielder, but the Cubs, Rangers and Giants could use some depth and power out there as well. It will be no easy task for Preller, but he expected challenges ahead when he was hired in August.
"I want Padres fans to understand that it's not going to be smooth sailing from Day 1," Preller said in this MLB.com article. "But I can promise you we're going to have the hungriest, hard-working group of employees in the game. I feel pretty confident that once we get going in that direction, we're going to be doing some pretty special things here."
