The Padres signed hometown boy Mark Prior to a one year deal in another pickup of an injury plagued pitcher. Earlier in the month, they picked up Randy Wolf to a one year deal and you wonder if the logic is, if they pay Prior and Wolf to the equivalent of a decent starter, one of them will pan out making the production of the other gravy. Still, if Prior can come back and with the pitcher friendly ballpark, I think his signing is a risk worth taking.
I haven’t had much time to post but the Padres have been pretty busy this December. They traded for Jim Edmonds to fill the spot vacated by Mike Cameron and they also signed Michael Barrett and Tad Iguchi. Tad will most likely get the nod as the starting second baseman while Barrett will get the backup catchers job and he’ll make $3.5 million after he accepted the Padres’ offer of arbitration.
I like a lot of these moves. Having a veteran backup catcher in Barrett is a solid move and gives us depth at that position. And while Iguchi probably doesn’t have the pedigree of Marcus Giles, he’s a solid workhorse you can bank on playing the position day in and day out.