The Padres, an aggressive early seller, have slowed down and might merely make a small deal sending away outfielder Chris Denorfia and holding onto starter Ian Kennedy.
Kennedy had been scheduled to start Monday against the Braves, but was scratched due to what the team described as a not-serious oblique strain. However, he will not start again before the weekend and the trade deadline is Thursday. With the Padres having requested a significant return for Kennedy, interested teams (and the Yankees had at least mild interest) will be hesitant now to obtain a player who couldn’t make his last start before the deadline.
But San Diego already was leaning toward keeping Kennedy and re-assessing in the offseason what to do moving forward.
By trading closer Huston Street to the Angels and third baseman Chase Headley to the Yankees — plus having Cameron Maybin incur a 25-game suspension for amphetamine use — San Diego already has gained about $7 million in salary relief. In addition, the one-year-$8-million-gamble-gone-bad deal with Josh Johnson expires after the season.
Thus, the Padres are feeling no pressure to remove money from the payroll. Also, Kennedy is not a free agent until after the 2015 campaign, so San Diego always can consider making him available again in the offseason.
Or the Padres could decide Kennedy combined with Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross, Odrisamer Despaigne and Jesse Hahn provides a strong rotation for 2015, and to concentrate their efforts and dollars elsewhere to find bats to upgrade what has been one of the worst offenses in major league history.
Denorfia hasn’t helped much with a .244 average and one homer, but some clubs could be looking for a righty hitter off the bench who can play all three outfield spots. The Yankees had been linked to him, but I have been told they are not engaged with the Padres about Denorfia. Seattle and Atlanta are the clubs that have pursued Denorfia most.