San Diego Padres Rumors: Pursuing Ian Desmond Is Not Worthwhile

Somewhat predictably, the market for free agent shortstop Ian Desmond has been slow to develop after a rather disappointing 2015 season. One team that has started to show interest in Desmond is the San Diego Padres. However, from San Diego’s perspective, pursuing Desmond as a free agent may not be a wise endeavor, even if they can get him at a cheap price.

The Padres were baseball’s most active franchise last winter, but winning the offseason with a series of high-profile acquisitions did not translate into wins during the regular season. The team’s failure to make any noise in 2015 should undoubtedly put San Diego in rebuilding mode, especially with the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers and steady San Francisco Giants well established atop the NL West and the Arizona Diamondbacks appearing to be a team on the rise. For a team in rebuilding mode, signing Desmond makes little sense.

It’s true that the Padres got little productivity from Alexi Amarista, and Desmond could be a significant improvement if he can have a bounce-back year. But there’s no guarantee that Desmond will bounce back from a poor 2015 season, and even if he does, it likely won’t make a huge difference for the Padres in the standings. Also, in addition to the fact that Desmond is coming off a poor season, there are also concerns about his defense at shortstop, further depleting the potential value he could bring to the Padres or any other team.

The Padres should not be spending a chunk of money on a short-term solution like Desmond; instead, they should think about building a team that can compete in the NL West a few years down the road. San Diego has a few talented shortstop prospects in their farm system, such as Javier Guerra and Jose Rondon, and while none of them will be major league ready for another two years, Desmond would be nothing more than an expensive stopgap.

If San Diego doesn’t want to give Amarista another chance in 2016, there are other options available on the free agent market who will be cheaper than Desmond, and perhaps even more consistent and reliable than a player coming off the worst season of his career. Desmond could be a good high-risk, high-reward signing for a team with an opportunity to compete for a championship in the next year or two, but that does not describe the current state of the Padres. San Diego would be a bit foolish to seriously consider signing Desmond.

Bryan Zarpentine is a Featured writer at www.RantSports.com.  Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.