Headley could hit trade market in coming months
Consider the batting splits for San Diego third baseman Chase Headley this year.
Home: .243/.348/.326 with one home run in 59 games. (Yes, his on-base percentage was actually higher than his slugging percentage. That doesn’t happen very often.)
Road: .330/.399/.465 with three home runs in 54 games.
This would be a good time to point out three important details: 1) Headley plays his home games at spacious Petco Park; 2) he will earn more than $3 million in salary arbitration next year; and 3) the Padres keep a modest payroll.
Add up those factors, and Headley is a trade candidate – if not this offseason, then leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline or at this time next year.
For now, sources say the Padres will be reluctant to move Headley. But the team is coming off a 91-loss season and has a new general manager. So stay tuned.
Despite Headley’s modest home run total, he’s intriguing for a number of reasons. He can play third base or left field. He’s a switch hitter. He will be 27 on Opening Day. And his power would play up if he left Petco.
More than half the teams in baseball are looking for upgrades in left field or at third base. And a number of them – the Orioles, Reds, Rockies, and Brewers – play in ballparks where the ball travels particularly well.
One reason a trade could be more likely in July than December: Headley’s potential replacement at third base, the 24-year-old Logan Forsythe, may need additional time at Class AAA before he’s ready for the everyday job. Forsythe posted a .568 OPS in 150 major-league at-bats this year.
-- Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal
- TAGS:
- Chase Headley
- MLB
- San Diego Padres
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The padres need to keep our star players. We recently gave up Adrian and M Adams. Thank God Heath stayed. They are constantly trading away our stars for what they call prospects. I am tired of waiting for a championship from our Padres. At the rate they are trading the good players away its no wonder we can't win one. Motto should be: Do well and we will trade you. I think its time we start keeping some of our stars here were they belong. It's not always about the money. If a club is really good to their players some stick around and they would give up higher offers to stay with a good club. I have seen it done before with baseball and football. IF Padres management keep trading off the stars eventually they aren't going to have any fans left. I hate spending the money on player merchandise because you never know how long they are going to be around for us. Come on Padre owners need to wake up before its too late. Headley needs to stay in san diego where he belongs. The fans love him.
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I have to disagree with you Munkyluvr , The Giants are only going to get stronger with Buster Posey coming back and possibly Carlos Beltran, The young Diamondbacks are going to be more experianced, who ever takes over the Dodgers is going to look make that team a contender as soon as they take over ( especially if someone like Mark Cuban takes over) and the Rockies are 2 solid starting pitchers away from being back to there 2007 form. Then you have the Padres who i believe is in the same position the Tampa Bay Rays were in Padres will never have the payroll that teams like the Giants or Dodgers have , like the Rays with the Yankees and Redsox. The biggest reason the Rays are now contenders year after year was due to all there losing seasons and High draft picks. The Padres need to ship out anyone other than Maybin and Latos, and hopefully get some decent prospects. Chase Headley is one of those players, just look at the numbers Petco Park is obviously playing with his head the same way it did to Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesco. The time to trade him is now get as much as we can for him and rebuild this team from single A to the Majors. That is the only possible way the padres will get back to the playoffs
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One of the obvious answers to the team's offensive woes is to move in the fences. Make it a more neutral park. But a decent team needs to get double-digit HR power from 3B, 1B, LF, and RF at the very least. Headley's away splits show that although he can hit, it is not for power. Such a player is of limited value unless they 1)are a defensive ace, 2)are a terror on the basepathes, 3)play for a team that already has ample power. Think Bret Gardner with the Yankees. Headley is not that kind of player. He should be traded, and replaced with someone who has some power potential.
