The Marlins currently have two other former Padres on their roster in Wade LeBlanc and Ryan Webb, compared to last season where the Marlins had five former Padres including a former Padre farm hand in Ozzie Guillen.

August 8, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Chad Qualls (32) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks as rain falls during the eighth inning at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates won 7-6. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The veteran right-hander appeared in games last season with the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates. Overall in 52 games last season, Qualls posted a 5.33 earned run average with 4.6 SO/9.

Qualls served as a set-up man with the Padres in 2011  where he earned a 6-8 record with a 3.51 Era and a 5.2 SO/9 in an astonishing 77 appearances.

Qualls is 34 and in baseball terms that is considered old. So the journeyman will try to resurrect his career with the Fish.

Former Padre Closer Heath Bell was one of many Marlins to be shown the door this offseason. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Remember when the Marlins seemed to be everybody’s “sexy” pick to make the postseason before last year began?  Because I do.  And honestly, people had good reason to think that way last Winter.  The franchise appeared primed for a postseason run after they had just splurged in Free Agency during that offseason and acquired All-Stars in the forms of Heath Bell, Mark Buehrle, and Jose Reyes to bolster their already seemingly stacked roster of Hanley Ramirez, Giancarlo Stanton, Omar Infante, Anibal Sanchez, and Josh Johnson.  And the future really seemed bright when they had 2005 World Series winner Ozzie Guillen at the helm as they moved into a new taxpayer funded ballpark.

Sadly, the 2012 season began, and the Marlins tanked and underperformed.  From Ozzie’s ridiculous Castro comments, to the poor production from their high-payroll players (namely Bell), the Marlins slogged their way through a disastrous year.  Then when it became evident that their fancy new franchise “window dressing efforts” failed, they began to unload their payroll and overall talent starting beginning last Summer.

Overall, the franchise traded Infante, Sanchez, Ramirez during the regular season, and traded Bell once their 69-93 campaign was mercifully over with.  Sadly for Fish fans, the organization saved their most gut-wrenching salary dump moment for November when they traded Buehrle, Reyes, Johnson, starting Catcher John Buck, and the team’s versatile “Swiss Army Knife” Emilio Bonifacio to the Blue Jays and received little to nothing in return.

After that move, the Marlins have shaved $146.5 million dollars off of their franchise’s payroll, and are a shell of what they once were now that their most talented players have left town.  But it was after the Toronto deal when I began to look back and honestly began to feel awful for the dedicated Marlins fans out there.

Why you may ask?  Well, as myself and other Padres fans who remember the late-1980’s and early 1990’s, San Diego’s brass had their own version of salary purging and piss-poor trades also.

1989-1993: “The Era of the Talent Dump”

How bad was it?  Well, let’s just take a look at some of the top-tier talent who the Padres jettisoned out of town beginning all the way back in 1989:

In December of that year, the Padres appeared to have made a solid move as they sent Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., Second Baseman Carlos Baerga, and Outfielder Chris James to the Indians for the power-hitting Joe Carter who led the A.L. in RBI’s in 1986.  Alomar Jr. was blocked at Catcher by All-Star Benito Santiago, and Baerga was blocked as well by Sandy’s brother and All-Star Second Baseman Roberto, so the Padres used some of their best prospects to fill a need at the big league level.

The Padres however felt like a change was needed the following off-season as they unfortunately traded Carter after his only season in San Diego and Roberto Alomar to the Toronto Blue Jays for All-Stars Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez in December of 1990.  After the 1992 campaign, one in which Alomar and Carter led the Jays to the World Championship, San Diego shipped Fernandez (who was an All-Star in 1992) to the Mets for two Minor League prospects and forgettable Starter Wally Whitehurst.

As bad as the trades before were, nothing could prepare us fans for what happened in 1993 when kerosene was doused on the Padres’ Summer “fire-sales.”  First, the Padres traded Gary Sheffield, who won the 1992 Batting Title, to the Marlins for a then-unkown Trevor Hoffman.  That trade looks somewhat better in hind-sight due to the fact that Hoffman gave the Friars so many great years, but it still was a ridiculous move all things considered.

Nevertheless, Hoffman’s acquisition will never replace the fact that the Padres traded 1992’s N.L. Home Run leader in the form of McGriff to Atlanta for three prospects who never played in the Major Leagues, or had brief and forgettable stints at professional baseball’s highest level as I discussed in a previous post from the Fall.

I hate to drudge up bad memories for the Friars’ faithful, but here is just a quick recap of the players who the Padres allowed get away from their organization through trades and salary-dumping moves from 1989-1993:

• A 2nd Ballot Hall of Famer in Roberto Alomar.

• Borderline Hall candidates in Fred McGriff and Gary Sheffield.

• 1993’s World Series hero, a 5x All-Star, and a guy with 396 Home Runs in Joe Carter.

• A 4x All-Star Shortstop in Tony Fernandez.

• A 6x All-Star & 1990’s A.L. Rookie of the Year Catcher in Sandy Alomar Jr.

• A 3x All-Star Second Baseman in Carlos Baerga.

Final Thoughts

First of all, let me state that the Padres were not gutted of their best talent (not named Tony Gywnn) in quite the same short period of time that the Marlins have been.  Plus, it was the “Sheffield & McGriff” moves which were the real “salary-purging” transactions.  The others moves were simply bad trades to begin with, and the fact that they ended up with little in exchange for Alomar & Carter after they dealt both Fernandez and McGriff no more than 2.5 years later makes me cringe to this day.

Yet in spite of the window of time being shorter between each organization’s salary and player movement frenzies, I would say that the Padres jettisoned more talent than Miami did in terms of the quality of the players they sent away over the 1989-1993 span as I illustrated in the list above this section.  Furthermore, I can at least feel your pain Marlins fans, because I know that Friars fans my age and older know exactly what it is like to see your favorite team rid itself of a large amount of their most important players.

Padres Fans:  How well do you remember these aforementioned trades?  Which ones hurt the most?  Of the 7 best in bold above, who was your favorite player?

Stats & Contract Information Courtesy of: Baseball Reference

If I were Byrnes, I  would try to fool the Fish by offering up Will Venable and a player to be named later, who will probably end up being Andy Parrino.

Aug 22, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Will Venable (25) doubles during the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Just think about it, the Marlins love our players.  They have former Padres Wade LeBlanc, Ryan Webb and the newly signed Kevin Kouzmanoff.

They also spent top dollar for ex Padres closer Heath Bell, only to trade him in the off-season. Former Padre Edward Mujica was a Marlin before he was sent packing at the trade deadline, and ex-Padre farm hand Ozzie Guillen was relieved from his managerial duty at the end of the season.

If the Marlins love Padres players, then why not like Venable and Parrino?

Jake Marisnick,  a key  player who the Marlins obtained in return for Reyes and Co., pretty much matches the description of Will Venable.

Baseball America’s JJ Cooper tweeted this last night  about Marisnick: “Plus speed, plus arm. Plus power. Big questions about the hit tool. Good prospect.”

To me, that description sounds like Will Venable. I think a Venable, Parrino trade for Stanton could actually work.

MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports that the Marlins do not intend to trade Stanton. Now, can we all really take Marlins management seriously?

At one point, Jose Reyes was untouchable. So was Josh Johnson.

Stanton is a So.Cal kid who would most likely love playing close to home. Not to mention, Petco Park’s fences will be moved in. Sounds pretty enticing.

Let me know  Padres Fans, what  do you think? Fell free to drop us a line or two in the comments section.