Nick Hundley Extended by San Diego Padres
By Editorial Staff
The San Diego Padres have announced a two-year extension with catcher Nick Hundley. The 28-year-old is guaranteed to receive $9 million from this season through 2014, and the contract includes a $5 million club option for the ’15 season.
Hundley is still set to receive his initial 2012 salary of $2 million. The backstop will receive one million dollar raises in ’13 and ’14, while his club option for ’15 doesn’t include a buyout. The total value of the deal could range from $9 million to $14 million depending on whether or not San Diego exercises its option.
Hundley made his debut with the Padres in 2008, but hasn’t appeared in more than 85 games since then. Last season Hundley did manage to post solid offensive totals (.824 OPS) while impressing the Padres defensively. Through his four seasons in San Diego, Hundley sports a career line of .255/.314/.420.
Call to the Pen’s Justin Hunter, who’s also the editor of FanSided’s Padres site, Chicken Friars, broke down Hundley’s extension. While Justin and others agree that Hundley’s deal is team friendly, many question what the new contract means for top prospect and offseason acquisition Yasmani Grandal.
Grandal came over from the Cincinnati Reds as a piece of the Mat Latos package. The 23-year-old was a key player in the deal and enters the 2012 season rated as Baseball America’s 53rd best prospect.
While Grandal was slated to start the season at the Triple-A level, many had him pegged as the Padres everyday catcher well before the 2015 or even ’14 season.
At this point, Padres general manager Josh Byrnes doesn’t view his catcher position as an overcrowded situation. While he admits that that may be the case one day, the GM doesn’t currently view it that way.
For more on the Padres, be sure to check out Chicken Friars.
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