Now I understand how the Padres and the GM market work.

by Zen Blade on Dec 17, 2011 12:03 PM PST

Sell high, buy low.... leverage your future potential for a high-priced gig somewhere else with a golden parachute.

So, I now understand our position in baseball. The Padres truly are a minor league team. Last year we dominated the minor leagues and recent moves have sent clear signs that we intend to keep dominating the minor leagues AT ALL LEVELS. We will have the best affiliates anywhere. We will break all minor league records, and our business model will focus on signing longterm TV deals to watch the Padres--deals that bring in big money, while building up our minor league affiliates. These affiliates, flush with cash from the major league team, will start a year after year after year winning streak never before seen. And indeed, as soon as a player gets good enough to play a year or two in the majors... BAM! traded for more minor league talent.

This, quite frankly, is brilliant. This model, pioneered by Hoyer and now being perfected by Byrnes is absolute genius. By focusing on your minor league teams, and always building the better product for tomorrow, you cannot lose or fail today. Therefore, when you go forward (looking for your next job) you will point to the brilliant future that you have crafted for your current employer. And when you leave that employer for a bigger contract, any deficiencies or lack of progress towards that brilliant tomorrow will clearly be the fault of your successor, who will likewise blame the lack of tangible product on his predecessor... and so, he will stockpile talent for the future and paint an even brighter picture... looking for that ever larger and better contract on the horizon.

Anyways, I'll give Byrnes the benefit of the doubt for a little longer... but I really don't like this "rebuild 2.0 because we have a new GM". So, he better either throw Jed Hoyer under the bus or he better explain what his plan is. I wish I had some way to hold the man accountable.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

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i don't see this necessarily as rebuilding

but rather re-allocating existing resources. volquez and alonso are ready to contribute to the team right now. you’re just cashing in on some of latos’ value in order to make the padres a more well-rounded team.

its the same idea as trading away a bunch of bullpen talent to bring in maybin.

by iheartyourfart on Dec 17, 2011 2:17 PM PST reply actions

We already had two 1B mashers competing for the position

by Zen Blade on Dec 17, 2011 3:17 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

Apparently, Burns does not believe in either of them.

by field39 on Dec 17, 2011 3:40 PM PST up reply actions

i can almost guarantee you

that of rizzo, blanks, guzman, and alonso, at least one of them won’t be a padre next season. by the end of the year, two may be gone.

i’m hoping we hold on to rizz and blanks, just because i think they fit our team best and guzman and alonso could probably fetch more on the market.

by iheartyourfart on Dec 17, 2011 3:41 PM PST up reply actions

So you'd hold the two guys who've proven bad at the MLB level

And trade the two guys who’ve proven good… ok

by athletics68 on Dec 17, 2011 6:17 PM PST up reply actions

all four of those guys together

have like 1 season’s worth of MLB ABs, and none of them has done their thing for more than a month or two.

alonso and rizz are similar, but alonso is closer to a finished product even though rizzo has a higher ceiling. with guzman i get the feeling he just needs to DH. he might be passable as a 1b and he’s a good hitter, but not as good as he looked for 2 months last season. blanks i think you keep just because he’s the only one who could play the outfield for a full season and not kill you with his defense.

by iheartyourfart on Dec 17, 2011 8:51 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs

It looks to me like there's another deal, maybe two, set up after this.

But it makes sense to put Alonzo at first and let Rizzo spend another year shortening his swing. After all, Hoyer didn’t want to bring him up last year, but Hawpe/Cantu blew up on him. Alonzo has an average glove Guzman has no glove, and it makes a difference to the infielders.

Still, there’s another trade out there, maybe with one of the guys just received getting packaged with Hudson. If Moorad wouldn’t include cash to make a trade work, maybe another player with Hudson in a package deal will open up a job for Forsythe.

As for what are the Padres doing, they’re shaking up the team that lost 91 games and would be the worst hitting team in the majors if it weren’t for the Giants. Something had to change, and Byrnes wasn’t afraid to do that something.

As for Latos, he’s a possible future ace, but hasn’t excelled at being a team player. He might not be a “headcase” as some speculate, but he’s got a huge ego, and I read not long ago, right here in GLB, that some of his teammates referred to him as an asshole. When you talk about addition by subtraction, it apparently wasn’t all Hudson last year.

by wegotballsley on Dec 17, 2011 6:28 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

off the top of my head

i can tell you that the cubs are likely targeting rizzo and/or guzman. they need a 1b and jed obviously covets rizz, who profiles perfectly for the NL central. have no idea if they can put together a good enough package though.

tampa might also be a landing spot for rizz, guzman, blanks, or alonso. they need a 1b/dh type with punch really badly and all four guys are cheap and controllable. they also have the assets to make something happen. maybe wade davis is involved. just hope they don’t pull another bartlett on us.

by iheartyourfart on Dec 17, 2011 8:59 PM PST up reply actions