The San Diego Padres recently traded their top young pitcher for Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal, the latter of whom is one of the better catching prospects in baseball. This was a sign that Grandal was the likely catcher of the future, and that Nick Hundley would be on the trading block at some point in the next couple of years.
Padres, Nick Hundley Agree To Three-Year Deal
Nick Hundley signed a three-year extension with the San Diego Padres with a team option.
Not so fast. The Padres aren’t worried about a logjam just yet. From MLB.com:
Padres deal with Nick Hundley is through the 2014 season with a club option for 2015.Hundley was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2014 season, so the club option buys out his first year of free agency. The 28-year-old catcher hit .288/.347/.477 in 281 at-bats last season, and considering that he played most of his games at Petco Park, that’s fairly amazing. A .477 slugging percentage in Petco is roughly equivalent to a .984 slugging percentage in Coors Field. We’ll just assume he was using an aluminum bat.
Hundley was signed to a one year, $2 million deal this season before the extension, and it’s doubtful that he had enough leverage to get a no-trade clause included. But considering how taxing the position is, there’s no reason that Hundley and Grandal can’t co-exist, so there’s no reason to trade Hundley for Joe Carter just yet.
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