Two thoughts:

1) Meredith had become persona non grata in the Padres bullpen and apparently didn’t fit into their plans for 2010.

2) I haven’t heard anything concrete, but is it possible that the acquisition of Salazar might be the precursor to a trade involving Kouzmanoff?

It really is difficult to evaluate these individual moves until we see what the final picture looks like.

Geoff-

Does it really matter what they do down the road?  Unless, of course, it involves moving Salazar for a playing better than Meredith.

This isn’t about Meredith being particularly valuable.  This is about Salazar being even less valuable. 

If the Padres felt they had to move Meredith, they could have done better.

Both the O’s and Padres are in the same mode- stockpiling as much young talent as possible.  There’s a clear winner here because while the O’s may or may not have just received a piece for their next contending club, the Padres definitely did not.  Unless the Pads find a way to parlay Salazar directly into a piece more valuable than Meredith (unlikely), then this trade is baffling…

Cla has 2.017 years of service time, per Cot’s Contract blog.  Salazar, 0.088.  If you assume that 2009 performance is meaningless, fast-forwarding instead to the offseason, doesn’t that mean that Cla will be arbitration-eligible, while Salazar will be a $400k/yr player for another couple seasons?  Based on Geoff’s insights, I’m guessing they already decided they weren’t offering Cla arbitration. 

As far as Salazar being worthless, that’s possibly true, but his PECOTA is .278/.331/.462, and his ZiPS RoS is .292/.333/.458.  So, there are a lot of numerical indicators suggesting that whatever has kept him in the minors so far has been overcome, ala Micah Hoffpauir in Chicago.  Like Micah, he probably won’t be anything special, especially in that park, but a serviceable 3b/of type is useful.

I as a Baltimore fan like this deal but it seems that 75% of the Baltimore fans. How can anyone jusify a 31 year old utility player without a true position being part of a long-term plan. Bad move for the Friars.

Personally I think this may be a win win for both teams.  The Padres are trying to make something from nothing and moving Meredith was a good move because he get a higher contract at the end of the year and he is not being used anyway.  Now receiving Salazar may not have been the best move but I do believe he is the patchwork in the COG that is Kevin Towers.  I wouldnt be surprised is have the team is trade by the 31st.  I am sure Kooz and Eck are on their way out and dont know it yet but time will tell.  If the Padres wanted to get ahead they wouldnt sign out dated talent.  Edmonds, Prior, Floyd, Giles (1 year option pickup) were all bad ideas and have costed the Padres greatly.  Not to mention the crap trades (Jason Bay for Giles) package.  Padres should keep their talent and develop vice signing old players and trading them at the deadline.