Well we'd heard earlier speculation that both Tony Gwynn Jr. and Scott Hairston would not be offered sweet delicious moist tender contracts by the deadline. Now it has become official. The Padres tendered contracts to 33 of its players. Club non-tenders Scott Hairston, Tony Gwynn, Matt Antonelli and Luis Perdomo are all now free agents. The team now carries 35 players on their 40 man roster.
UPDATE: Padres sign Luis Perdomo to a minor league contract.
When the year comes to an end, and like the Academy Awards, we revisit those bloggers in the Padres community that we've lost, we'll have to pay tribute to both Paul DePodesta and Matt Antonelli. And while I'm sure they'll both continue to blog they won't be blogging about our team any longer, which is rather sad.
As fans I can say that we really appreciate Antonelli being so available to the Padres fan base. He was good to us Gaslamp Ballers giving us a real good interview. Not to mention he blogged just about every weekday giving us insight into a player's daily routine. He also was very active on Twitter and unlike other players he actually used his social media to interact with fans. It didn't go unnoticed. Thanks Matt and we wish you the best of luck in the future.
Hey guys...to all asking if it is true that I'm no longer a Padre it is true I am now a free agent...thank you for the good luck wishes!
Matt Antonelli
MattAntonelli9
UPDATE: Antonelli blogs about being a free agent:
Over the next few days I will be talking to teams around the league and will have to decide where I want to spend next year playing. This is the first time in my career that I haven't belonged to a team, so it does feel kind of weird, but I know I will catch on with someone and do well this coming year. I am really looking forward to it. Thanks again to everyone that has wished me well and cheered for me over the past few years, I really appreciate that.
In a weird way I'll probably remember Antonelli more as a blogger than a baseball player, but in an attempt to remind myself that he can swing the bat I offer this blurry video of him that I took in the Spring: