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Hairston Traded for Who?

On Sunday, the Padres traded Scott Hairston to the Oakland A’s for Ryan Webb, Craig Italiano, and a player to be named later.

Both Webb and Italiano have been too hittable (more hits than innings pitched) but have struck out a decent number of hitters (Italiano has Career Minor League K/9 of 10.2, Webb has a less impressive 6.9 K/9). Because of Hairston’s hitting prowess as a center-fielder (.307/.364/.547 so far in 2009), I have to believe the PTBNL is the centerpiece of the deal. If that is the case, there is a good chance that the reason the player is an unofficial part of the deal is because teams cannot trade a draft pick until that player has been with the organization for a full year. 

Jemile Weeks, the A’s top draft pick from 2008 signed on July 9. He could be the centerpiece of this deal (edit: we now know, thanks to MadFriars.com, the Padres are picking between two pitchers). Weeks is an athletic 2B in his first full season of professional baseball. Through his 46 game career, Weeks has hit .330/.426/.535. He is currently playing in High-A Stockton (this is pure speculation on my part; I do not have any inside information on this trade).

New info:

MadFriars.com reports, “Earlier in the weekend, Oakland dealt former first-round pick Danny Putnam to San Diego.”

Also (from same article): “The Padres will pick from two pitchers sometime this month to determine who the PTBNL is. General manager Kevin Towers said one pitcher has major league service time.” So my Jemile Weeks idea obviously will not be accurate.