Tagged: Cla Meredith

What will the Padres do?

Repeat after me: First baseman Adrian Gonzalez and closer Heath Bell, the Padres two All-Star Game representatives, aren’t going anywhere.

Not this month, anyway.

If the Padres are going to make a deal before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline it will likely mean sending pitcher Kevin Correia, third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff or possibly their second baseman, David Eckstein, elsewhere.

Here’s a link to a story I did on Correia. Still not a whole lot of interest from other teams about Correia, which is a little surprising. He’s had 11 quality starts and has generally been pitching better the last two months than he did in April and May.

I’ve been told the Padres haven’t gotten a whole lot of hits from other teams on Kouzmanoff or Eckstein, who has been on the DL with a hamstring injury. He will come off the DL later in the week, which might hamper his chances of getting moved.

The Padres, to date, have traded reliever Cla Meredith to the Orioles for infielder Oscar Salazar and outfielder Scott Hairston to the A’s for three pitchers. Are they done? I have a sneaking suspicion they aren’t. Stay tuned.

— Corey Brock

Salazar deal ignites trade season

The Orioles got the trade season rolling on Sunday with a minor deal that sent utility infielder Oscar Salazar to San Diego in exchange for right-handed reliever Cla Meredith, and Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said it could be the start of a hectic two weeks.

Baltimore may look to move veterans like Aubrey Huff, George Sherrill and Danys Baez before July 31, and Trembley said he wouldn’t be surprised if his team dramatically changed.

“I think we’ll all have to stay tuned to see what happens,” said Trembley of the non-waiver trade deadline. “I think it’s the time of the year right now when we’re not the only team that’s doing their due diligence. This is basically the second Hot Stove season. You’ve got the offseason leading up to Spring Training, when there’s all kinds of talk about movement of players. And now, obviously, there’s talk about moving players before the trade deadline.”

Trembley said he’d continue to talk to Andy MacPhail, the Orioles’ president of baseball operations, about the team’s prospective moves. And he also said that Salazar’s teammates were thrilled to see him get an opportunity elsewhere in the Majors.

“It would’ve been harder to lose him or send him back to the Minor Leagues,” Trembley said. “I thought Andy MacPhail did the right thing. Oscar Salazar deserved the opportunity to go play for somebody in the big leagues. We didn’t have a roster spot for him here.”

— Spencer Fordin