The Oakland Athletics have traded outfielder Seth Smith to the San Diego Padres in exchange for reliever Luke Gregerson, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. The deal was first reported by Chris Kusiolek.
Gregerson is the Athletics' second bullpen addition in the last two days, joining Jim Johnson, who was acquired from the Orioles last night. He will likely serve as Johnson's setup man in a strong-looking bullpen that also includes the likes of Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle, Jesse Chavez and Jerry Blevins.
In 73 appearances for the Padres in 2013, the 29-year old Gregerson pitched to a 6-8 record and 2.71 ERA in 66.1 innings of work. He has been consistently good throughout his career, posting a career 2.88 ERA, 2.8 BB/9 and 9.1 K/9. Gregerson drew consistent trade interest from many teams over the summer in advance of the non-waiver trade deadline, but the Padres waited until the offseason to make their move.
Smith, 31, hit .253 with 8 HR and 40 RBI in 117 games in his second season with the Athletics, seeing time at both corner outfield positions. Because the Padres' outfield of Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin and Will Venable seems set, the team could either trade one of those three or use Smith as a fourth outfielder. Smith returns to the NL West, where he spent the first five seasons of his career with the Rockies, and will become a free agent after next season.