Padres acquire Carlos Quentin, OF

[astrosfanatic]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...ox-padrestrade

SAN DIEGO (AP)—The San Diego Padres have acquired two-time All-Star outfielder Carlos Quentin from the Chicago White Sox in an attempt to bolster their anemic offense.

Quentin grew up in the San Diego area and was a two-time All-Star with the White Sox. He has four consecutive 20-homer seasons, including 36 in 2008.

The White Sox will receive minor league pitchers Simon Castro, a right-hander, and Pedro Hernandez, a left-hander.

This move really has me scratching my head. Quentin is entering his last season of team control and most likely wont be in San Diego past this season. The Padres arent likely to compete for the division title this year and so this move does little to get them closer to that. I guess they are getting him hoping that he has a great first-half of the season so they can trade him at the deadline for better prospects....That's the best outcome they will get out of this deal

[astrosfanatic]

Castro, a 23-year-old right-hander, was ranked as the Padres third best prospect at this time last year by Baseball America but was left off of this year's top ten list. In 2009, Castro was tabbed as the best pitcher in the Padres system after turning in a 3.33 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 for the club's Single-A affiliate. The 6-foot-5 hurler started off 2011 with Double-A San Antonio before being promoted to Triple-A Tucson. Combined, Castro posted a 5.63 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 2011.

Hernandez, 22, was also left off of Baseball America's top ten list of Padres prospects in 2011. The left-hander worked his way up from Class-A+ Lake Elsinore to San Antonio and finished the year in Tuscon. In total, Hernandez turned in 116 innings of work with a 3.49 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9.

It looks like the Padres didnt give up much of anything to get Quentin, so this looks like a buy low/sell high kind of move. Quentin does give the Padres more power (if he can stay healthy) and if he performs well could be traded at the deadline for better prospects possibly. With neither prospect being near the top 10 prospects for the Padres, it looks like they did a fine job here.

[Old Sweater]

Going to be interesting to see if Quentin can put up some decent power numbers at PETCO.

[Cubs Fan]

Good move for Padres. He is most likely one of the more underated players in the game. Todd Helton is most likely first. And like astrosfanfactic said they didn't give up much to get him. I say White Sox kind of made a bad trade...

[astrosfanatic]

Good move for Padres. He is most likely one of the more underated players in the game. Todd Helton is most likely first. And like astrosfanfactic said they didn't give up much to get him. I say White Sox kind of made a bad trade...

the White Sox were trying to dump salary with this move. They are in full rebuild mode...i guess there really wasnt much of a market for Quentin based on what they got in return from the Padres.

[OutfieldGrass]

At first I didn't understand this move from either side but now I get the salary dump aspect for the White Sox. Still doesn't make sense for the Padres even if they didn't give up much in the way of prospects. Quentin is a guy who would be the final piece of the puzzle, not a cornerstone offensive player. Good move for the White Sox dumping the salary though.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

At first I didn't understand this move from either side but now I get the salary dump aspect for the White Sox. Still doesn't make sense for the Padres even if they didn't give up much in the way of prospects. Quentin is a guy who would be the final piece of the puzzle, not a cornerstone offensive player. Good move for the White Sox dumping the salary though.

Well, now even the Yankees try to trim the pay roll to escape the luxury tax, nothing surprises me anymore.

[Mudge]

I don't know much about Quentin as a potential role model, but it could be that the Padres are looking for some veteran presence as well to impress on to a fairly young group of everyday players (Maybin and Venable in particular).

I agree that the Padres are not likely to contend -- the starting pitching is for the most part untested -- but just about anything can happen in the NL West, as seen in the last two years.