There are now even fewer options for GMs looking for outfield power as well as right-handed power in the trade market. The deal also puts a bigger target on Alfonso Soriano‘s and Josh Willingham‘s backs as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. Finally, the deal also marks something that Quentin has not had in awhile and that is some stability. Quentin has been traded twice and his longest stint with a team lasted four seasons when he was with the Chicago White Sox.

With the Padres not doing so well in the National League West this season, there is an enormous amount of potential coming from the team and with GM Josh Byrnes not trading Quentin for prospects, it looks like the Padres have the mindset of winning in the near future instead of the far future.

Byrnes will be criticized by smaller market teams for committing a big figure to Quentin but in the end, the deal could pay off for the Padres.

The team is currently 41-56 and fourth in the NL West. Quentin is batting .266/.380/.510 with nine home runs in 22 RBI in the pitchers’ park that is PETCO Park.

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A lot of teams need some bullpen help, and it just makes sense for that to happen. Street brings a long a TON of late game and post season experience, and that’s important to any bullpen as we get closer to the trade deadline. I think Street can bring back 3 prospects with 2 of them being close to big league ready. If they can get that kind of offer, it should be an easy trade.

With what the Padres are building, I think it could only be a matter of time until we see a Tampa Bay Rays run. We’re still a few years away but I think that time is getting closer and closer. There’s just no reason to keep Street at this moment of time, and I think it’s a matter of when- not if.

I think Cashner is going to get his shot at starting this year, and that the Padres are trying to figure out the most appropriate plan to stretch him out a bit.

Just because the Padres are planning such a move, doesn’t make a good one. I think Cashner is at his best when he can reach back and throw 100 mph in the late innings. I think his lack of third pitch makes him a tough sell as a starter. With that being said, San Diego is a pitchers heaven, so his fastball/slider combo might be effective enough to be an above average starter for the Padres.

Andrew Cashner reminds me so much like Daniel Bard. They both throw hard, and have an electric slider, but they’re both throwers, and throwers make for lousy starters. The way the game has evolved, you need a couple hard throwers at the back end and that virtually blow hitters away. That is what Cashner is.

It’ll be interesting to see when Cashner gets his shot, but I would suggest the Padres to trade Huston Street and immediately make Andrew Cashner the closer. That’s just me as a Cubs fan giving my take upon a talented former Cub.

Once a top prospect, Blanks has been through a lot of injury during his short career with the Padres. His season ended in 2009 due to plantar fasciitis. In 2010, Blanks missed the second of half of the season and much of the first half of the 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery, a surgery that you usually see get done by pitchers. As always, the Padres are expecting Blanks to be healthy for next season after he injured himself April 14.

The Padres have replaced him in the lineup with veteran outfielder Mark Kotsay. Kotsay has seen time basically everywhere in Major League Baseball. He has played in 16 seasons in a career that started with the Florida Marlins and last year finished up with the Milwaukee Brewers and now with the Padres.

He has a career batting average of .278 in almost 6800 at-bats.

As for Blanks, the one highly touted prospect needs to get his career back on track. He needs to get healthy again before he finds himself without a job when his contract with the team is up.

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Closers are a great thing, but isn’t it true even the best closers only save 85-90% of games? Meaning all closers blow at least 2 saves…unless your name is Mariano Rivera and even he blows saves. My point is- why dump 20% of your payroll into a closer? If the Padres are going to be going through this whole rebuilding thing- why not trade one of your most valuable assets? Heath Bell is one of the best closers in baseball- no doubt about it. He’s likely a fan favorite out there in San Diego and frankly- I can see why. He’s a guy that loves the organization and loves to play the game- that stuff is FUN to watch.

That doesn’t change the business of the game. Heath Bell would bring in quite a nice haul of youngsters and seeing how the Padres got OWNED by Boston for Adrian Gonzalez- I just think this is an important time for new GM Jed Hoyer. I just want to understand the theory behind the keeping of Bell. He’s closing and making money for a franchise that isn’t going to win anytime soon- so please…someone explain this to me.

It’s been several months since the San Diego Padres dealt super star Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox for Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo, and a few other names that really aren’t worth mentioning right now.

I believe it’s time to officially announce: The Padres got TAKEN. And I mean taken…really bad. Casey Kelly isn’t living up to his hype…yet. Anthony Rizzo has been pretty good in AAA, but what makes anyone think he’s going to be as good as Adrian Gonzalez? Gonzo is a monster (as seen in Boston this year), and I’ve always felt like Jed Hoyer wanted to trade with Boston because that’s where he came from- so there was some bias. After seeing some of the trades for like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee (3 times), recently Hunter Pence and Michael Bourne- I believe that the Padres could have gotten ALOT more from a different organization.

For a small market team, you can’t miss on trades for superstars. It just can’t happen. That trade likely set this organization back 3 years just on it’s own- throw in the fact that I don’t think Kelly will ever be an ace, and Rizzo ever be an MVP candidate, I think it’s even longer.

It’s going to be insanely tough for San Diego to crawl out of the hole they’ve dealt themselves, and it’s a deciding moment in Jed Hoyer’s career. What’s he going to do? How is he going to do it? We shall see. We shall see.