Padres ‘baseball trades’ praised by rivals

(Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune) Outfielder Hunter Renfroe is one of the major leaguers the Padres traded this offseason in order to get other major leaguers, a departure from how the team has done business in recent years.Padres’ deals this winter have netted major league players rather than dumping salary, adding prospects

The Padres’ first trades in more than 4½ years to acquire players expected to make immediate and significant contributions to the major league roster were also something of a rarity in baseball these days.

“Need for need,” said Dave Littlefield, vice president of player development for the Detroit Tigers. “Sometimes it depends on one team having needs and…