Padres Ship Luis Urias to Brewers for Trent Grisham
The Luis Urias experiment in San Diego is officially over. The Padres traded the 22-year old infielder along with Eric Lauer to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Trent Grisham and Zach Davies. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Brewers plan to play Urias at shortstop since they already have Keston Hiura at second base.
For the Padres, the move gives them a young outfielder with terrific upside. The 23-year old Grisham clubbed 26 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A last season and then played in another 51 games with Milwaukee. He replaced Christian Yelich in the Brewers outfield over the last month of the season when the All Star suffered a season-ending injury.
Davies made 31 starts with Milwaukee and finished with a 10-7 record and a 3.55 ERA. The 26-year old spent his entire five-year career with the Brewers and gives new manager Jayce Tingler a veteran arm that can slot into the back of the Padres rotation. In a separate move, San Diego also announced they had signed free agent Drew Pomeranz to a contract, pending a physical. The 31-year old lefty thrived in the bullpen last season with the Brewers and is expected to sign a three-year contract according to Passan.
With second base suddenly open in San Diego, the Padres still have Ty France on their 40-man roster. The power hitting infielder was named the Triple-A Player of the Year after hitting .399 and clubbing 26 home runs for the El Paso Chihuahuas in only 76 games last season. He hit another seven home runs for the Padres in 69 games played with San Diego, and he figures to get an opportunity to stick at second in 2020. Another name to keep an eye on is Esteban Quiroz, who hit .271 with 19 home runs for the Chihuahuas in 2019.
The Padres should remain busy this offseason and these moves could be just the beginning for general manager A.J. Preller.