Padres News: Will Venable Traded
The San Diego Padres have traded their longest tenured player. Will Venable had been with the team for eight years and he is now a Texas Ranger.
The left-handed hitting outfielder is due for free agency after the season and the Padres team is currently stocked in the outfield position. He will be missed by the team but Travis Jankowski is in Triple-A tearing it up and he is ready to be in San Diego.
Venable was traded to the Texas Rangers for Minor League catcher and outfielder Marcus Greene and a player to be named later. The 20-year-old Greene is a right handed hitter and has shown decent skills handling the bat. A career .390 on base percentage shows that, but he has failed to hit for much of an average consistently. A .250 career batting average in the Minor Leagues means that improvement is needed.
Clearly A.J. Preller is aware of who Greene is. Preller worked for many years in the Ranger organization and knows Greene first hand. Greene recently underwent Tommy John surgery but is expected to be fine for next season. The catcher has shown a decent arm behind the plate. He has spent time in the outfield as well so his future position is pretty much up in the air.
Greene is not listed on the Rangers top 30 prospects list so his acquisition is a bit of a reach. The team had no intention of signing Venable so the deal makes good sense for both teams. Venable will platoon in the outfield for the Rangers who are still contending for one of the final playoff spots in the American League. The Rangers play at Petco Park in a couple of weeks so Padres fans will get an opportunity to say goodbye first hand.
The player to be named later is supposedly the best part of the deal. Speculation is the player could not pass through waivers and will not be announced until the end of the year. A.J. Preller even spoke about the player to be named and indicates that player can help the team immediately. The player has been chosen, we just don’t know who it is yet. Listen for a leak regarding who the player is in the next few days.
For Venable, Padres got minor league catcher Marcus Greene Jr. and a PTBNL from the Rangers.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) August 19, 2015
Greene Jr. turns 21 tomorrow. Underwent Tommy John surgery June 29. — Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) August 19, 2015
*** Update- Jon Edwards was acquired to complete this deal. The closer for the Rangers Triple-A team has a lively arm and could be an important part of the 2016 Padres. Having closers experience could be essential for next seasons team.
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