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Monday July 16th, 2013

Yasmani Grandal has been a big disappointment for the San Diego Padres. He was suspended for PED use in 2012 and was injured in 2013.

Bernie Olshansky (Baseball Writer): Follow @BernieOlshansky

When the San Diego Padres traded Mat Latos for Yasmani Grandal (among others), the team was hoping they would get a lot more out of him than they currently are. Grandal was suspended for PED use, and has only played in 28 games this year.

Unfortunately he will not play any more games in 2013 due to an injury to his ACL and MCL. In this piece, I will talk about the possible impact that Grandal’s departure has on the Padres.

When the Padres traded for him, they were hoping to get an everyday catcher with production down the road similar to that of Yadier Molina or Buster Posey. So far, it looks like that is very wishful thinking. Grandal is 24 years old.

In his two-year career, he has played in just 88 games. In a few years, the best-case scenario is the Padres looking back on this as a slow start. But for now, it hurts.

This season, Grandal did absolutely nothing, hitting just .216 with one HR and nine RBI in 108 PA. Last year, he was a bit better, hitting .297 with eight HR and 36 RBI in 226 PA over the course of 60 games. An ideal season out of the young catcher would be around 150 games with 20 – 25 HR –  and around 80 RBI. Grandal definitely has the potential to produce numbers like those — the key is for him to stay healthy and not be suspended. How much will the Padres get out of him for what they gave the Reds?

 What also hurts the team’s fans is watching Mat Latos succeed in Cincy. This season, the pitcher that was sent for Grandal (and others) is 8-3 with a 3.53 ERA in 120 innings. Since my last Padres piece, the team has really fallen off, dropping to 12 games under .500.

Mat Latos is 8-3 with a 3.53 ERA. He didn’t get his first loss until his 15th start of the season and has stepped up when needed this season. He should be an all-star without a doubt and it’s sad to see that he won’t be there.

There is no way to tell whether or not Grandal would have produced decent numbers, should he have remained healthy. But, even with outrageous numbers, I highly doubt he could have helped the franchise enough to keep them around .500 this campaign.

As for the injury that Grandal sustained, I do not see it being tremendously devastating. Being a catcher, he should not be regarded for his legs. After this injury, he might lose some speed, but that is about it.

Once he is fully recovered, his hitting probably will not be affected. Before he was injured, he split time at catcher with Nick Hundley.

Hundley will most likely take over as the full-time catcher moving forward, and once Grandal returns next season I could see the two splitting time again until he is fully recovered and has all his strength back.

There is a lot of hope, though, for Padres fans. As I said before, Grandal has the potential to be a big time catcher. He will grow defensively and his bat will improve.

He just needs to avoid making dumb decisions like taking PEDs. If he stays healthy, we will be talking about him in the same conversation as Posey, Molina, and Mauer. On the other hand, if Grandal cannot manage to stay healthy and is labeled as ‘injury-prone’, the club will have struck out on the Latos trade.

Edinson Volquez, whom the Padres received with Grandal,  has not been good. Year after year his stuff is there, but he can never find the zone and always manages to give up a big HR.

Teams have been known to put up big innings on Volquez and it is looking like he will never be the ace that many fans have hoped he would be. The hard throwing RHP is also a Free Agent after this year – and has no trade value.

It looks like this season will be another disappointment for San Diego Padres fans as the team continues to rebuild. Grandal’s injury is very sad, but the bottom line is if he had stayed healthy, he probably would not have made a large difference.

It will be interesting to see what the team can do when everyone is healthy and mature, but we will have to wait.

It may not be very exciting to watch the club play in the present, but as the team grows and prospects are promoted, the team will become much less boring. If I could offer Padres fans one piece of advice, it would be to stay patient. The team will contend eventually.

Grandal hit 4 HRs in hist 1st 10 Games before the ALL-Star Game. As a Catcher that has patience at the plate, he served up a 3 Slash of .297/.394/.863 in his few months of action. The Padres have big hopes for this offensive Catcher in 2013.  In 2012, with him carrying the bulkload of work for the 2nd season, the team were one of the best clubs in the 2nd half – particularly behind the offensive contributions of he and Chase Headley.

***The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners***

Today’s feature was prepared by our Baseball Writer Bernie Olshansky. We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.

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