Following the San Diego Padres' 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, the team is already on the lookout for a new shortstop.
This news came yesterday from USA Today's Bob Nightengale. He tweeted, "The Padres and aggressive [general manager] A.J. Preller aren't done dealing. They are now scouring the shortstop market, teams say."
This isn't too surprising considering the Padres have spent the entire offseason upgrading their roster and the incumbent shortstop options aren't exactly adept on offense. Alexi Amarista owns a career stat line of .234/.278/.335 in 425 games while Clint Barmes has a .246/.295/.381 line in 1,090 career games.
San Diego released shortstop Everth Cabrera early on in the offseason due to his troubles off the field and they have been searching for a formidable replacement ever since.
Perhaps that replacement could be Chicago Cubs' shortstop Starlin Castro.
"The Cubs love Addison Russell and believe he's ready so if the Padres inquire on Starlin Castro, he likely would be available," adds Nightengale.
Chicago acquired Russell last season when they shipped starters Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Oakland Athletics. The 21-year-old enjoyed a solid spring training after batting .317/.349/.488/.837 with six runs scored, one home run, six RBIs and two stolen bases in 13 games. He's regarded as one of the top prospects in the game and should start the season at Triple-A Iowa with fellow youngsters Kris Bryant and Javier Baez.
The shortstop logged two successful campaigns in the minors as a 19-year-old in 2013 (.269/.369/.495 with 86 runs scored, 17 home runs, 60 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 110 games) and as a 20-year-old in 2014 (.295/.350/.508 with 39 runs scored, 13 home runs, 45 RBIs and six stolen bases in an injury-shortened 68-game season).
"...Addison Russell is the shortstop of the future," writes Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. "And that's not a slight on Castro even if it sounds like one. This will come to a head in the next 12 months provided Russell progresses."
However, while Nightengale says the Cubs feel Russell is ready, Rogers has more of an in-depth viewpoint of the situation.
"They've [the Cubs] been patient with all of their young guys and after an injury limited him last year I think they want to see a good half-season before thinking about bringing him up. If all goes well a late-season call-up is possible, but there are many variables starting with where the Cubs are in the standings to how he's doing. Like with other players there is no set plan. You see how it develops, but with his talent, he's not far off."
The Padres are looking for a shortstop right now and it doesn't seem too likely the Cubs would be willing to part ways with Castro this early in the season, especially since he has a financially-friendly contract (he's owed about $40 million over the next four seasons with a $16 million team option in 2020), unless they were to be presented with a deal that knocked their socks off.
Another favorable scenario would be if Javier Baez shows significant improvement early on in Triple-A, which would give the Cubs a replacement for Castro and also provide them the opportunity to keep Russell in the minors for a little more time. After all, the Cubs were open to offers on Castro this offseason.
"The shortstop position is an obvious area to watch for the Cubs, but [ESPN's Buster] Olney says that it may not all be positive," writes Jeff Todd of MLBTradeRumors.com. "Starlin Castro has proven he can hit, but Olney says there are real concerns about how committed he is to grinding things out on defense. Chicago informed other teams this winter that it was open to trade scenarios involving the 25-year-old."
We'll certainly be keeping an eye on what the Padres decide to do and if Castro is at all involved in the discussions.
