The San Diego Padres and general manager A.J. Preller are continuing to be active on the trade market after executing a transaction with the New York Yankees. In other news, former manager Ozzie Guillen is making headlines on Monday.
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Yankees have sent reliever Shawn Kelley to the Padres in exchange for prospect John Barbato. The 30-year-old Kelley spent the last two seasons with New York and compiled a 7-8 record with a 4.46 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 116 games. It was the most action he's seen in his professional career, as he only appeared in 120 games in four seasons with the Seattle Mariners from 2009 to 2012.
As for the Yankees, they'll welcome the 22-year-old Barbato. Although he began his career in the minors as a starter, he's since transitioned to a reliever where he's seen much more success. Last season at Double-A San Antonio, the right-hander went 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 16 saves and 33 strikeouts in 27 games (31 1/3 innings). All in all, he owns a 12-13 record with a 3.79 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 33 saves in 139 games (20 starts) between Class Short Season A Eugene, Class-A Fort Wayne, Advanced Class-A Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio.
The Padres are looking to bolster their roster as best they can for 2015 while the Yankees look to take a different approach for the future and build their farm system.
The 2015 season is approaching and every team now has a manager after the Twins and Rays were the last teams to fill their vacancies. In an interesting development, former mananger Ozzie Guillen told Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he hopes to manager again. The controversial 50-year-old managed the Chicago White Sox for eight seasons from 2004 to 2011 and helped them to a World Series title in 2005. He also took over for the Marlins when the franchise was moved to Miami in 2012, but was let go after a 69-93 campaign.
Guillen told Merkin in a recent interview:
"I hope so. I want to [manage], yes. I mean, that's my life. That's what I like to do. Am I waiting, sitting by the phone, waiting for a phone call? No. I will be lying to you [if I say], 'Oh, my god. My phone is not ringing.' If somebody [thinks] I can help, of course I want to do it. If that comes, that would be awesome. But if not, my life right now is pretty healthy."
Guillen's name surfaced earlier in the offseason when a number of teams were looking to fill managerial vacancies, but he was obviously passed up for other candidates. Guillen, a former player and manager, owns a career record of 678-617 and won AL Manager of the Year in 2005.
