Caught the very end of Rondell White’s second grand slam against the Mariners game last night. Only four of the guys in that game’s starting lineup are still with the club, and one of them (Xavier Nady) now looks to start 2004 at Triple-A Portland.

The reason for Nady’s return to the minors is the subject of today’s entry, Jay Payton. According to ESPN, Payton has signed with the Pads for 2 years at $5.5M. That’s slightly cheaper than similar outfielders who declared for free agency and signed earlier this off-season. Payton will play center field and bat sixth, most likely between Ryan Klesko and Ramon Hernandez.

When Payton was non-tendered last month, I thought he might be a useful addition to the club:

Could be a good pickup as long as he doesn’t command too much money thanks to his Coors-inflated numbers of a year ago (see Jeffrey Hammonds)… I’d ink Payton, assuming he could be had for roughly the apparent going rate of 2 years for $6M. If he insisted on more than two years or more than $4M per, I’d pass.

This is working out well. The Pads have ended up significantly upgrading their catching situation without taking a real hit on the field or in the pocketbook. Let’s run a quick tale of the tape between Payton and his predecessor, Mark Kotsay:

           Payton  Kotsay
Age            31      28
Ht           5-10     6-0
Wt            185     180
B               R       L
T               R       L
OPS+ (03)     112      97
OPS+ (car)    103     100
salary      2/5.5  3/16.5

Payton probably isn’t the defender Kotsay is, but he should offer a little more at the plate. Plus he helps balance out a lineup that has become very left-handed.

And lest you think Payton is a product of Coors–well, sure he’s probably not going to hit 28 homers again–but check this out:

Home .322/.377/.540
Road .281/.330/.483

Okay, so he loses 100 points of OPS away from Denver, but I’ll take those road numbers out of my #6 hitter any time. Geez, he actually hit more homers on away from Coors (15) than he did at home (13). Maybe 28 homers isn’t a total pipe dream after all. Perhaps also worth noting is that Payton thrived in the #6 spot last year:

#6 .333/.387/.591
#2 .300/.350/.464

Yep, this is looking like a mighty fine signing to me. The only downside I see is that Nady now will start the season back at Triple-A. And in the long run, maybe that’s no so bad anyway. Nady never got his full season in at that level thanks to Phil Nevin’s injury and at least he’ll get a chance to play every day there. So much for Nady being my breakout candidate on offense this year. But with the move into Petco Park and all the expectations that brings, the Padres can’t afford to develop guys at the big-league level now. There is going to be a shift in emphasis, and maybe a little sense of urgency isn’t the worst thing in the world for this ballclub.

Meanwhile, Back Behind the Plate

The on-again, off-again Jason Kendall deal is off again (ESPN). Some folks are calling it dead, but comatose is a more accurate description. Rest assured, we haven’t heard the last of this deal. The Pirates still need to get rid of Kendall’s contract, and they still don’t have an everyday third baseman. They keep expecting Kevin Towers to blink, but he pretty much holds all the cards here and thus far has shown no inclination to make any less a deal than precisely the one he wants to make. The Bucs need this trade to happen a lot more than the Pads do. Meantime, Towers appears content to go into the season with his new All-Star catcher and wait for the Pirates to pay what he deems a satisfactory amount of Kendall’s salary before making any further moves.

Will something happen with Kendall? Maybe, maybe not. But I’m pretty confident it won’t happen until Towers is satisfied with the finances. How much longer can the Pirates afford to hold out and continue to pay Kendall’s salary? Who knows. I do know that if I were in Towers’ shoes right now, I’d be pretty happy no matter how this plays out. Either way, you end up with an exponentially better catcher than you had last year without adversely affecting your on-field product or the bottom line.

This isn’t the Angels going out and buying the best front-line talent on the market. It’s a little more subtle than that. But for Padre fans who have grown accustomed to not even being fringe players, it’s pretty exciting.