San Diego Padres: Summary of Team's Arbitration Related Decisions
Recapping the flurry of moves made by the San Diego Padres in response to Friday night’s deadline to secure arbitration-eligible players.
The San Diego Padres were faced with more decisions than any other team in baseball on Friday, as they had ten players to either secure for 2017 or allow to hit free agency.
At the end of what was a very active day, the team kept control of six contracts, non-tendered five, and traded one. However, the trade and just one of these non-tenders is what made headlines.
While trading Derek Norris to the Washington Nationals and deciding not to secure Tyson Ross dominated the news, other important moves happened. Everything the Padres did on Friday will have an impact on the club both for 2017 and beyond.
For fans who may have missed the rest of the news, we will get you caught up here. This, in a nutshell, is everything the team did before the arbitration deadline.
Players secured:
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Players non-tendered:
The Norris factor
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Trading Norris was less about Norris himself than it was about roster depth. While many fans were excited about getting rid of a struggling player with a $6 million+ contract, the real reasoning for this was beyond clearing out roster space.
Getting Pedro Avila was is exciting for fans, as he is just 19 years old with plenty of upside. This was certainly a better deal for San Diego than merely allowing Norris to go through the arbitration process.
However, it was somewhat strange that the Padres non-tendered Sanchez, given that he was the only other catcher on the roster other than Austin Hedges. Now, the Padres will be checking out free agent catchers.
Hopefully, this organized recap of each move that was made Friday helps close the book on what was somewhat of a chaotic day for the Padres. Now, the team can look forward to the Winter Meetings, Rule 5 Draft, and free agency. These are the next critical periods for the organization as they look to continue to build on their young core.