Hammond agrees to contract with Reds

CINCINNATI Chris Hammond has agreed to a one-year, 800-thousand dollar deal with the Cincinnati Reds.Today's deal includes a mutual option for 2007.
Hammond was five-and-one with a three-point-eight-four E-R-A in 55 appearances for the San Diego Padres last season.
The southpaw held left-handed batters to a point-one-six-four average.
Cincinnati drafted Hammond in the sixth round in 1986. He went 14-and-19 in three seasons with the Reds, primarily as a starter.
Hammond turns 40 on January 21st.

Top Ten Prospects: San Diego Padres

While the Padres won the National League West and visited the postseason for the first time since 1998, it’s hard to call 2005 a banner year for the franchise. San Diego had to scrape to finish two games over .500, then was swept by St. Louis in the NL Division Series. The Padres won five fewer games than in 2004, had the lowest winning percentage of any non-strike-year playoff team in baseball history and would have finished closer to last place than first in the NL East or Central.
General manager Kevin Towers began to remake the team even before it wrapped up the division, shipping out malcontent Phil Nevin at the trade deadline. Towers made the first two major deals of the offseason, acquiring Vinny Castilla for Brian Lawrence and Mike Cameron for Xavier Nady in an effort to jump-start the offense. Changes continued in the offseason, as while the Padres were able to retain free agents Brian Giles and Trevor Hoffman, they lost catcher Ramon Hernandez as a free agent and traded Mark Loretta to the Red Sox for Hernandez' replacement, Doug Mirabelli.
A front-office overhaul preceded the roster makeover. Towers explored the GM opening in Arizona and emerged as a candidate in Boston, but remained in San Diego and enters his 11th season at the helm. Owner John Moores brought in some heavy hitters to assist Towers, however.
Former Major League Baseball vice president and Athletics GM Sandy Alderson was made team president, overseeing Towers and the entire baseball operation. Credited with molding Billy Beane into a star executive and promoting statistical analysis in Oakland, Alderson has begun implementing many of the same philosophies in San Diego. His power is only expected to grow.
Grady Fuson, who worked under Alderson as the scouting director in Oakland, joined the Padres staff as a special assistant to Towers in spring training and spent the majority of the year evaluating the system’s talent as well as evaluating top prospects for the draft. Following the season, his role was expanded to vice president of scouting and development. Fuson, who held the same roles with the Rangers, is in charge of revitalizing a flagging farm system. Longtime farm director Tye Waller was made the new Padres first-base coach. Bill Gayton remains scouting director, though Fuson’s fingerprints are expected to be all over the Padres’ 2006 draft.
Though the system isn’t strong, it did provide some returns in 2005 as a pair of astute minor league deals began to pay off. Righthander Clay Hensley, a relative unknown when he was acquired from the Giants for Matt Herges in 2003, emerged as one of San Diego’s top relievers in the second half and will compete for a rotation spot in the spring. Outfielder Ben Johnson, added via the Carlos Hernandez trade with the Cardinals in 2000, will get a chance to replace Giles.
Beyond that, the system is bordering on barren. The Padres’ four full-season affiliates combined to place just three players on Baseball America’s league Top 20 Prospects lists, none in the Top 10.

Padres non-tender Brazelton, hope to re-sign him

The San Diego Padres allowed Dewon Brazelton and Craig Breslow to become free agents on Tuesday night, but the team hopes to re-sign both pitchers.
The Padres acquired Brazelton from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Dec. 8 for third baseman Sean Burroughs.
"I think we'll sign him back," general manager Kevin Towers said. "We wanted to negotiate a better deal. We lose exclusivity, but we were down the road with both of them. We're hoping we'll be able to sign those two back."
The 25-year-old Brazelton was Tampa Bay's opening-day starter last season, going 1-8 with a 7.61 ERA in eight starts and 12 relief appearances. Breslow had a 2.20 ERA in 14 relief appearances.
The Padres also allowed backup catcher Miguel Olivo to become a free agent.
San Diego and backup catcher Dave Ross agreed to a $500,000, one-year deal. He can earn another $25,000 if he starts 85 games.

San Diego Padres get Mike Cameron from NY Mets for utility player

Mike Cameron will return to baseball in the same outfield where he was so frighteningly injured last summer.
Cameron's trade from New York to San Diego was finalized after the Padres were assured by doctors on Friday that the outfielder has no lingering vision or health problems from his season-ending, face-to-face collision with Mets teammate Carlos Beltran in the Petco Park outfield on Aug. 11.
The Mets got utilityman Xavier Nady from San Diego.
Cameron was playing right field when he was hurt. He will play centre for the Padres, who've been pursuing him since before Petco Park opened in 2004, featuring a huge outfield, particularly centre and right.
"Maybe it's a test from a higher power, to be able to come back and play in the same place," Cameron said. "I was thinking the other day, 'Man, I'm going to the same place.' I guess the good Lord wants me to get rid of my fears right away. I'll be all right."
Cameron and Beltran collided while pursuing a sinking liner. Cameron was hurt the worst, breaking his nose, his right orbital socket, his cheekbones and sustaining a concussion. He had surgery a day later.
Cameron joked about it Friday, saying his wife loves San Diego because she spent extra time in the city in August.
"For her to get a good experience, I had to be in the hospital for a week," he said.
Padres general manager Kevin Towers said Cameron passed thorough vision and physical exams, and the outfielder said he's as close to 100 per cent healthy as possible.
"I didn't have to rehab anything," Cameron said. "My limbs were fine. It was my face that had to heal. I had to lose a little beauty for three months. Other than that, everything's good. I'd be ready in two weeks if they needed me to play."
The Padres tried to sign Cameron as a free agent after the 2003 season, but he accepted a $19.5 million US, three-year deal from the Mets.
"I'm a big believer in fate," Towers said. "Things happen for a reason. We've been looking the last two to three years to find this type of athlete to roam the vast expanse of Petco Park."
The Padres also think Cameron will thrive offensively at Petco Park, where right-handed pull hitters fare better than left-handed pull hitters. Cameron hit at least 18 homers every season from 1999-2004, and had 12 last year before the collision.
Mets manager Willie Randolph said Cameron "is a great guy, a hell of a player. He played hard for me this year and I'm going to miss him. It's just part of our whole putting together a team."
Cameron was uncomfortable playing right, where he was moved after the Mets signed Beltran last off-season. He said he met with Mets GM Omar Minaya after the season and expressed his desire to play centre, but added that he didn't demand a trade.
"He felt much more comfortable in centre field than in right field," Minaya said. "I had to take that into account."

Brian Giles agrees to stay with San Diego Padres

Right fielder Brian Giles reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday night to re-sign with his hometown San Diego Padres for US$30 million over three years.
The deal was pending Giles' scheduled physical Thursday morning and an announcement was expected later in the day, two baseball officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the contract hadn't been finalized yet.
One of the top outfielders on the free-agent market, Giles batted .301 with 15 homers and 83 RBIs last season, leading the NL West-champion Padres in several offensive categories. He drew a major league-best 119 walks and had a stellar .423 on-base percentage.

Padres re-sign Young

Eric Young agreed to a $700,000 US, one-year contract with the San Diego Padres on Monday, two weeks after the team declined to exercise the utilityman's option for next year.
The Padres declined Young's $850,000 option on Nov. 8, giving him a $150,000 buyout, which the sides took into account when negotiating his new deal.
The 38-year-old Young hit .275 last season with two homers, nine doubles, seven steals and 22 runs in 56 games. He can start earning performance bonuses at 200 plate appearances.
Young made 10 starts at second base and 22 in the outfield.
He missed nearly three months after dislocating his right shoulder making a catch against the centre-field fence in the Padres' home opener against Pittsburgh on April 7.