Padres really going for it. Darvish is older and injury prone, but the guy was great last year and finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting.

In return, the Padres didn't even give up a single top 10 prospect.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Yu Darvish-to-the-Padres deal is on the verge of happening, sources tell ESPN. Darvish is expected to go with Victor Caratini to SD. Cubs&#39; return is Zach Davies and four young prospects: OF Owen Caissie (18), SS Reggie Preciado (17), OF Ismael Mena (18), Yeison Santana (20).</p>&mdash; Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1343749303706263552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

2020 Royals Official Offseason/Season Repository
 

Padres!

Yeah, I'm not sure Cub fans would be thrilled with this trade, considering the fact that the Cubs are also paying a portion of Yu's salary.

Dodgers will still boat race the Padres.

Yeah just taking a short trip around Twitter and it's not pretty. Even a lot of baseball writers think it was pretty much a salary dump. Hard sell considering they just started their own TV network, and a fan base that pretty much always shows up.

Thing is though, I think with the 2020 season a wash with no fans in the stadium really hurt their bottom line numbers, that they may had to shed some payroll. I mean, this angle makes sense.

On the other hand, Yu's value is very high right now, and even though he's 34 and has a injury history, I can understand that there wasn't a top 10 prospect back in the return, but sell high while you still can.

So I figure they must think well, let's get 4 young players and hope one of them hits.

One of those players is a big-time international signee (7 figures), but the return is still shockingly light.

The Padres have a legitimate elite rotation now and will be a threat to the Dodgers, for sure.

In a matter of a few months they added Clevinger, Snell and Darvish while only losing Patino and Trammel...

Their system is still loaded.

Magic Man is back

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We have signed RHP Ervin Santana to a minor league contract. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Royals</a></p>&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1343962056031137793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

How far has the Padres farm system fallen with all these trades they've made? It sure seems like they've barely given anything up at all and have gotten huge returns.

I think top heavy (Gore, Abrams, Campusano, Weathers, Hassell) is the more appropriate term. I think they've definitely taken a hit with organizational depth.

Gabriel Arias, the SS they dealt to Cleveland, has a chance to be a with high WAR SS with his defense.

Cole Wilcox (paid like a first round pick in the June draft) and Blake Hunt (big time power) could come back to bite them with the Rays. Reginald Preciado is a prospect one can dream upon, but he's a long ways away.

They've lost some depth but Patino is really the only high level gut they moved.

The issue is where would Arias ever play for them? You use guys like that to trade to improve.

I agree.

If they kept Arias, I could see them moving him to 2B to make their defense more elite. But their window is now. It makes no sense to wait for Arias to arrive in 2022.

Abrams also probably ends up at 2nd in the long run and he's a much higher graded prospect. Top that off they just signed a Korean middle infielder.