Baseball

Chicago deals Quentin

to Padres for prospects

Being traded from the Chicago White Sox to his hometown San Diego Padres couldn’t have been more convenient for All-Star outfielder Carlos Quentin.

“I get a call and they said I’ve been traded to San Diego. I’m already here,” the 29-year-old Quentin said on a conference call shortly after the trade was announced Saturday.

Four years after trading Quentin from Arizona to the White Sox, new Padres general manager Josh Byrnes is bringing him home.

San Diego gave up minor-league pitchers Simon Castro, a right-hander, and Pedro Hernandez, a left-hander.

Quentin hit 107 home runs and batted .257 in four seasons with the White Sox.

“Improving our offense is a priority this offseason, and the acquisition of Carlos gives us a proven middle-of-the-order bat,” Byrnes said. “We specifically targeted Carlos because of his production and his hard-nosed style of play.”

San Diego hit the fewest homers in the major leagues (91) and had the lowest batting average in the National League (.237) last season.

Ex-Mariner Laffey, Blue Jays agree on deal

The Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a minor-league contract with left-hander Aaron Laffey and invited him to spring training.

Laffey, 26, appeared in 36 games for the Mariners last season and had a 4.01 earned-run average. He was selected off waivers by the New York Yankees from Seattle in August.

Tennis

Murray hires Lendl

Andy Murray of Scotland hired Ivan Lendl, an eight-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments, as his coach in a bid to earn a major title.

The fourth-ranked Murray, 24, will begin working with the Czech-born Lendl, 51, as he prepares for the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 16.

“It was important to me that any new person joining my team was able to add fresh insight,” Murray said in a statement. “Ivan’s impact on the game is unquestionable and he brings experience and knowledge that few others have, particularly in major tournaments. I look forward to working with him going forward.”

Djokovic defeats Ferrer

Novak Djokovic of Serbia routed David Ferrer of Spain 6-2, 6-1 to win the World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi.

Soccer

Blackburn stuns Man U

Blackburn pulled off the biggest surprise of the English Premier League season, defeating host Manchester United 3-2 to spoil Man U manager Alex Ferguson’s 70th birthday.

Manchester United erased a 2-0 deficit on second-half goals by Dimitar Berbatov. But Grant Hanley scored the winner on a header off a corner kick in the 80th minute, capitalizing on a mistake by goalkeeper David de Gea for his first career goal for Blackburn.

The loss by the defending champions prevented Man U from ending 2011 in first place.

Manchester City can go three points in front by winning at Sunderland on Sunday.

Blackburn started the day at the bottom of the standings in the 20-team league.

Ferguson pledged to stay as Manchester United’s manager for at least another three years.

Elsewhere

• Teddy’s Promise beat Sugarinthemorning by 2 ¼ lengths to win the Grade I La Brea for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

Teddy’s Promise, trained by Ron Ellis and ridden by Victor Espinoza, ran 7 furlongs in 1 minute, 20.47 seconds. She paid $35 to win in the $300,000 race.

Seattle Times news services

Read More: Edinson Volquez (P – SDP), Yonder Alonso (1B – SDP), Mat Latos (P – CIN), Yasmani Grandal (C – SDP), Bradley Boxberger (P – SDP), San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds

Christmas has come early for the San Diego Padres, it appears. On Saturday afternoon, the Padres and the Cincinnati Reds completed a trade that will ship Mat Latos out of San Diego and into the National League Central. While Latos heads to Cincinnati, the Reds will send pitchers Edinson Volquez and Brad Boxberger, catching prospect Yasmani Grandal and first baseman Yonder Alonso, reports Jon Morosi of Fox Sports.

Latos went 9-14 in 2011 for the Padres, but he was able to maintain a 3.47 ERA and a 3.16/3.52 FIP/xFIP in 194 innings. In six career starts against the Rockies, Latos was 3-2 with a 3.44 ERA.

In return, the Padres receive a pitcher in Volquez who has been troubled by injuries over the last few years, but is still immensely talented and has big strikeout ability. Alonso is a 24-year-old corner outfielder and first baseman who will need to see what happens with Anthony Rizzo before he has a set position. Grandal is a 23-year-old catcher who is waiting to make his major league debut. He has a .888 career OPS. Boxberger is a 23-year-old reliever who can strikeout batters.

For more updates on the MLB Hot Stove, check out Baseball Nation and MLB Daily Dish.

By SportsDirect

Former New York Mets general manager
Omar Minaya is returning to Major League Baseball with the San
Diego Padres.

Minaya, 53, will serve as senior vice president of baseball
operations, Padres general manager Josh Byrnes said in a
statement released today by the team. Minaya was fired by the
Mets following the 2010 season, after the team’s second
consecutive fourth-place finish in the National League East
division.

“We’re excited to add Omar to our staff,” Byrnes said.
“His experience, knowledge, evaluative skills and connections
throughout the industry will be invaluable for us.”

The Padres were 71-97 last season, finishing 23 games
behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. San Diego has
not made the playoffs since 2006.

– Editor: Rob Gloster

To contact the reporter on this story:
Eben Novy-Williams in New York at
enovywilliam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

Fourteen months after he was fired by the Mets, Omar Minaya is back in baseball. Minaya accepted a job with the San Diego Padres to assist General Manager Josh Byrnes with player acquisitions at all levels, according to a baseball executive with direct knowledge of the agreement.

Minaya, 53, had been courted by several teams to join their front-office staffs, including the Toronto Blue Jays, the Cleveland Indians and the Milwaukee Brewers, but the Padres’ job offered the greatest responsibility and potential. Minaya is expected to join the Padres’ front office at Major League Baseball’s winter meetings in Dallas next week.

The hiring will please the cash-strapped Mets, who can deduct his new salary from the roughly $1 million he was due to earn from the Mets in 2012. The Mets fired Minaya with two years remaining on his contract after the 2010 season and replaced him with Sandy Alderson.

Before Byrnes was hired by the Padres last year, he was a finalist along with Alderson to replace Minaya in New York. Byrnes went to San Diego instead and was promoted to general manager when Jed Hoyer left to join Theo Epstein with the Chicago Cubs.

Known for his old-school scouting abilities and affable personality, Minaya took over the Mets in the final days of the 2004 season. After two years of big spending on free agents he had built a team that was within three outs of the World Series. He reinvigorated the team and its fan base by signing Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran and later Carlos Delgado while the team promoted its Latin flavor with the moniker Los Mets.

But the Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. The next season the Mets suffered a terrible September collapse and missed the playoffs on the final day of the season. In 2008, they were eliminated on the final day, as well, then things grew even worse.

The 2009 season was marked by devastating injuries, as was 2010, as the Mets fell into near oblivion. But many of the players still on the Mets and in the organization were brought in under Minaya’s stewardship, including Ike Davis, Johan Santana, Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada, Matt Harvey and Jason Bay.

Minaya, who was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Queens, served as the general manager of the Montreal Expos from 2002 to 2004 before the Mets brought him back to head up their baseball department. He was a scout and an assistant general manager for the Texas Rangers and for the Mets under Steve Phillips.

Soon-to-be free agent closer Heath Bell(notes) has saved 132 games for the San Diego Padres in the last three seasons and had 57 holds in the two seasons before that. The word is that he’d like to stick around, but wants the team to offer him a three-year deal, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The paper reports that the Padres are willing to offer two years for $7.5 million to $8 million annually with an option for a third year to the 34-year-old three-time All-Star.

This past season, Bell saved 43 games. That’s more than half of the 71 victories that the National League West’s last-place team managed. He also struck out 51 in 62.2 innings pitched/

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Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

Related: San Diego Padres