San Diego Padre Mat Latos almost single handedly carried my fantasy team to the 2010 
title and I love the guy for his moxie, attitude, and general nastiness, but the Reds gave up way too much for him. Latos will be under club control for four more years and provides the Reds with a legitimate game 1 starter if they ever make the playoffs. I’m cautious to call him an ace at this point and I’m even more cautious of his elbow and shoulder given the velocity issues he’s had over the past two calendar years. The real value of the trade comes in the quality and quantity of players the Padres received. Let me outline how the trade shows exactly how little Red’s GM Walt Jocketty knows about baseball.
Latos had some poor velocity early in 2011 and suffered greatly for it. In his first 45 innings (8 starts), Latos gave up 29 runs and walked 18. Again, I like his stuff and I know he was able to turn things around to post a 2.50 ERA over the last two months. In that span however, he faced the Pirates, Dodgers (twice), Mets, Giants (twice), and Cubs. Keep in mind all of them have bad offenses. I don’t want to make the case that the guy is a bad pitcher because I think he’s quite the talented young man, but the numbers are there that suggest he’s not an ace and that he could very well regress with any loss in velocity or sharpness to his stuff.
In exchange for the big pitcher, the Padres got Edinson Volquez, Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal and Brad Boxberger. All four of these will help the Padres win for years to come. Alonso projects as a very legitimate first baseman and hit .330/.398/.545 with 5 homers in 88 at bats in 2011 for the Reds. Alonso gives the Padres two very good first base prospects. I like that idea for the Padres; there’s never any guarantee that a given prospect will work out and having two as an insurance has to be a nice luxury. Yasmani Grandal should be ready to play by June and has a career .303 average and .401 OBP in the minors. Apparently, he has a great arm but struggles with the actual catching of the ball at the catcher position.
With Edinson Volquez, the Padres got a very good 4th starter in the Major Leagues. He’s not great, but deserves to be in a major league rotation and can contribute. Interesting note: the guy has never had a season with a positive WAR. The throw in of the deal appears to be Brad Boxberger who has the stuff to at the very least be a middle reliever this summer for the Padres.
I love the quantity the Padres got back in the trade and set themselves up to create a good, young nucleus to build around in the short term. Having a potential ace is neat, but not if there’s nobody around him. Ask the Seattle Mariners and King Felix about this. The Padres aren’t a great franchise yet but give them two more years and I think they will be a very exciting team to watch. Now, they just have to find a few starters because now Tim Stauffer is their best pitcher. They will probably trade Anthony Rizzo for a young pitcher… Maybe to the Rays for Matt Moore (joking, Wade Davis makes more sense).
I texted my good friend Kyle about the trade and he sent me back this text: “We ripped them off… Latos blows.” He’s a diehard Padres fan and picked Willie Mays first overall in the All-Time Draft so I give him some credence.
Question of the Day: What always goes to bed with shoes on?
-Sean Morash
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