Jason Bartlett Reportedly Traded To Padres

Update: Well, this is confusing:

@SPTimesRays: Interesting twist: #Rays now say reports of Bartlett trade are premature, and no announcement is coming tonight.

We're as clueless as you are. Fingers crossed that this is nothing.

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There have been enough rumors floating around this evening about Bartlett that they deserve their own thread.

It appears as if Jason Bartlett has been traded to the Padres. The MLB.com Padres Twitter feed FollowThePadres is reporting that Rays have traded for pitchers Adam Russell and Cesar Ramos.

Russell, 27, had a 4.02 ERA in 12 appearances out of the Padres bullpen last season. He was one of four pitchers acquired from the Chicago White Sox on July 31, 2009, in a trade for former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy.

Ramos, 26, was the 35th overall pick in the 2005 draft by the Padres. He was 0-1 with an 11.88 ERA in 14 relief appearances for the Padres last season, although he is regarded as a starting pitcher.

Confirmation from Bartlett himself:

SPTimesRays: #Rays SS Jason Bartlett confirms he has been traded to the Padres.

The real get in this deal is Adam Russell. He's 6'8 and throws in the mid 90's. He's had limited experience in the majors the past two seasons with San Diego, but in those two stints (18IP) he has a K/9 of just over 10.00. His BB/9 is a bit higher than you would like (4.33 all told), but he gets his share of ground balls and has an excellent Swinging Strike Percentage. Plus he's going to be cheap for awhile as well.

Cesar Ramos looks to profile as a LOOGY. He doesn't have dominant stuff but does generate far more ground balls than fly balls. His career numbers aren't bad, and since minorleaguesplits.com isn't up and running for the time being it's hard to tell how effective he was against each hand.

For even further looks at Russell and Ramos, you can check out the work of RJ Anderson over at The Process Report or Tommy Rancel over at ESPN1040.