Grandal, 23, played in 60 games for the Padres in 2012 as the team’s catcher of the future, but he must sit out the first 50 games of the 2013 season as punishment for testing positive for testosterone use under the Major League drug policy. The hits keep on coming. Bartolo Colon of the A’s got nabbed at the height of the pennant race. Melky Cabrera lost out on being part of a World Series champion San Francisco Giants team and perhaps winning the National League batting title. (more…)

Grandal turned plenty of heads in 2012, but will miss the first third of the season due to PEDs. Image: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Grandal was part of the package acquired by San Diego from Cincinnati when the Padres sent Mat Latos to the Queen City. Grandal made his big league debut in 2012 and wasted little time in showing why he was rated as the 53rd best prospect in the game by Baseball America. In 60 games for the Padres, Grandal compiled a .297/.394/.469 line that included eight homers and 36 RBI. He also displayed great balance at the plate, walking nearly as often as he struck out; a rarity for a young hitter.

Cynics will look at the above slash line and assume Grandal doped his way to big league success, but this young player has had no trouble at the dish since being selected out of the University of Miami in the first round of the 2010 draft. In three minor league seasons, Grandal has a combined .904 OPS.

While Grandal issued a statement accepting responsibility and apologizing to the fans and his team, he offered no explanation for the positive test. I suppose you can take that for what it is. Had he gone the same route as so many before and claimed it was a tainted supplement that caused the positive test, no one would have believed him anyway. At least he didn’t build a phony website to sell a fake supplement that would have been tainted in order to skirt the punishment like Melky Cabrera did.

Grandal was slated to be the Padres’ number one catcher headed into 2013, but with him suspended, the team will turn to Nick Hundley and John Baker in tandem behind the plate. Many had considered Baker a non-tender candidate before the Grandal news came out.

2012 was a season of change in San Diego. Manager Bud Black began the season with a smattering of veterans in an otherwise young roster. It didn’t take long for some of the veterans to get pushed out of the way. Shortstop Jason Bartlett and second baseman Orlando Hudson may have been above average defenders, but an already offensively-challenged club couldn’t afford to carry a pair of weak bats in their lineup. By mid-season, both Bartlett and Hudson had been released and replaced by exciting youngsters like Alexi Amarista, Logan Forsythe, and Everth Cabrera.

The Padres dipped into their prospect pool and plucked out catcher Yasmani Grandal mid-season after Nick Hundley performed so poorly they had almost no choice. Grandal, who came over with Yonder Alonso, Brad Boxberger, and Edinson Volquez in the Mat Latos deal, wasted little time in showing why he’s been ranked among the top prospects in baseball over the past couple of seasons. Hundley and platoon-mate John Baker combined to see just under 400 at bats behind the plate for the Padres in 2012. In that time, they totaled just three home runs, 36 RBI, and 104 total bases. Grandal clubbed eight home runs, matched their RBI total with 36, and walked nearly as often as he struckout in just 192 at bats.

Headley and Grandal should be the cornerstones of the Padres offensive attack for years to come. Image: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

As much as the young and talented hitters like Grandal made an impact, the breakout season belonged to third baseman Chase Headley. The subject of seemingly eternal trade rumors, Headley became an offensive force in 2012. In parts of five seasons, Headley had amassed a total of 35 home runs and 204 RBI coming into 2012. This season, Headley exploded with 31 homers and a league-leading 115 RBI. While Headley could have fetched a king’s ransom in trade before the season, his value has now never been higher to the Padres.

Headley lead the offensive charge along with slugging left fielder Carlos Quentin. Acquired via trade prior to the season, Quentin was supposed to play well enough that the Padres could land a couple of prospects in a mid-season trade. What ended up happening, however, is that Quentin hit so well at Petco Park that the San Diego native would up signing an extension to stay with the Padres.

Pitching is seemingly never a problem for the Padres given the extremes of Petco Park and 2012 was no exception. Heading into the off-season, however, only Volquez and Clayton Richard have assured themselves of rotation spots. If there is money to be spent during the Winter, one can expect it to be focused on a pitching market that always figures to offer a handful of inexpensive veterans who could benefit from spending a season in a pitcher’s haven. While the club may have to overpay to land a top-tier hitter, they typically have free agent pitchers knocking on their door begging to pitch for the Padres.

For the first time in a long time, the San Diego Padres have the feel of a club that can build not only through the development of minor leaguers, but that can compete in the free agent market as well. John Moores had been trying to sell the club to former Diamondbacks COO Jeff Moorad and all appeared set until the rest of the baseball owners decided not to approve the sale. Moorad’s financing was flimsy, they decided, and after the Frank McCourt situation with the Dodgers, baseball didn’t want another owner who couldn’t foot the bill when needed.

It may have been the best thing that could have happened for Padres fans.

Ironically, it was a former Dodger owner, Peter O’Malley, who joined a group in a successful bid to buy the Padres for a sum of $800 million later in the season. With backing of the O’Malley group, San Diego immediately began extending some core players. Players that, without the sale, would have surely been traded away. There is now money available to augment a surprisingly good roster.

San Diego enters the off-season with just one impending free agent in starter Jason Marquis. There are, however, a dozen players who will see raises through arbitration, including Headley, Volquez, and Richard. Those commitments mean the modest Padres payroll will go up even without looking outside the organization, but all indications are that the Padres ownership group will spend to keep Headley, just as they did with Quentin and closer Huston Street.

For more on the Padres, visit Chicken Friars.

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However, I don’t believe this trade effectively fit the needs of either team. Other pitchers on the market could be better matches for the Reds, while the key prospects in this deal directly block other talented youngsters who otherwise could have been a huge part of the team’s future. (more…)

Surrendering sometimes slugger Yonder Alonso, catcher Yasmani Grandal, and pitchers Brad Boxberger and Edinson Volquez is a major price to pay for Latos, who at 24 is still being evaluated mostly on potential rather than his performance, even if he did go 9-14 with a 3.47 earned run average in 194 1/3 innings last season. Latos could be hot stuff for Cincinnati, the magic man to propel the Reds back into the playoffs, or he might go 9-14 all over again.

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