Padres' Destruction Is Dodgers' Gain

Rany Jazayerli has a great article about how Padres GM A.J. Preller has quickly destroyed that franchise. As we Dodger fans know, we were part of Preller's grand reconstruction plan, dealing Matt Kemp and gaining Yasmani Grandal. Here's how Jazayerli broke down this trade: p>

The Padres are a mess. That alone should be enough to question Preller’s prowess. But the damage he has done to the organization is even worse than that, because so far we’ve discussed only the players he brought in — not the ones he traded away. If you’re a Padres fan, look away now.

To acquire Kemp, the Padres dealt three players to the Dodgers, but the main prize was catcher Yasmani Grandal. Grandal had been the Reds’ first-round pick in 2010 out of the University of Miami, and he was the prize prospect the Padres acquired when they traded Mat Latos to Cincinnati after the 2011 season. Although he hurt his reputation by getting busted for PED use after his rookie year in 2012, Grandal had quietly been a budding three-true-outcomes star during parts of his past three seasons. In 216 career games before the trade, Grandal hit .245/.350/.412 in one of the game’s best pitchers’ parks. He also became known as a catcher that pitchers didn’t want to throw to.

In Los Angeles, Grandal has blossomed into one of the game’s best catchers. He’s hitting .282/.401/.526, leading all major league catchers (minimum 200 plate appearances) in OPS. He was named to his first All-Star team. He was already considered an expert pitch-framer behind the plate — one of the main reasons the new sabermetric brain trust in L.A. wanted him — but he’s also shed his reputation as a poor pitch caller. He’s a star before he’s even arbitration eligible, and he won’t be a free agent until after the 2018 season.

Kemp's .250 batting average at the midpoint can't be helping this trade's assessment much. And though I miss the Bison, I think we came out on the top end on this one.