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<p>An apparent solution to the Padres&#8217; greatest weakness is en route to San Diego. The club on Friday traded for shortstop Freddy Galvis, sending pitching prospect Enyel De Los Santos to the Philadelphia Phillies.</p><p>Galvis represents the Padres&#8217; latest attempt at plugging a troublesome position, though he is a younger and more viable option than recent predecessors. The 27-year-old, a season away from free agency, presumably will keep a seat warm for Fernando Tatis Jr. as the top prospect nears the majors.</p><p>Even if only for 2018, Galvis could provide stability for a pitching staff that has lacked it from the left side. Galvis, a switch-hitter and strong defender, started all but 15 games over the Phillies&#8217; last three seasons. In the same span, the Padres cycled through 14 players at shortstop, some of them appearing out of position.</p><p>Galvis started all 162 games last season, hitting .255 with a .309 on-base percentage, 12 home runs and 14 steals. The Venezuela native also emerged as the leader in a young Phillies clubhouse, earning the team&#8217;s nomination for the Heart and Hustle Award. Impending free agency and the presence of prospect J.P. Crawford made Galvis available in a trade.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s a guy that&#8217;s been on the radar for the last few years,&#8221; Padres general manager A.J. Preller said. &#8220;Internally, we had guys raving about him from a defense standpoint, a makeup standpoint. He&#8217;s a winner, kind of the edge he brings every day. We talked to 50 people in the last few months. Everyone came back saying the same thing.&#8221;</p><p>Over six seasons, Galvis is a career .245 hitter with a .287 on-base percentage, 52 home runs and 43 stolen bases. He was signed as an international free agent in 2006, when Don Welke, now San Diego&#8217;s vice president of scouting operations, was a special assistant for Philadelphia. The Padres&#8217; new hitting coach, Matt Stairs, occupied the same role last season with the Phillies.</p><p>&#8220;We feel really good about him from a defensive standpoint, from an age standpoint,&#8221; Preller said of Galvis. &#8220;Offensively, he&#8217;s hit 20 home runs (in a season), had years where he stole almost 20 bases. He&#8217;s a guy that wants to get better constantly. There were a lot of reasons why he fit.&#8221;</p><p>The Padres focused on several shortstops this week at the winter meetings. Sources said other targets included Zack Cozart, who signed a three-year contract Friday to play third base for the Los Angeles Angels; Detroit&#8217;s Jose Iglesias, a season away from reaching the open market; and free agent Alcides Escobar.</p><p>&#8220;In some cases, the commitment wasn&#8217;t necessarily lining up, being a little too long in terms of years and dollars,&#8221; Preller said. &#8220;Or maybe it was a one-year commitment, and we just felt better about what Freddy could bring to the table. There&#8217;s always the possibility it ends up being a longer relationship. We&#8217;re going to have guys pushing to be on our club in the middle of the infield, but it&#8217;s good to have that flexibility.&#8221;</p><p>Galvis made $4.35 million last season. MLBTradeRumors.com projects his 2018 salary at $7.4 million.</p><p>De Los Santos, who had been one of many intriguing arms in the Padres&#8217; farm system, posted a 3.78 ERA last season in 26 appearances (24 starts) with Double-A San Antonio. The 21-year-old right-hander likely would have received an invitation to major league spring training with San Diego.</p><p>&#8220;He was definitely hard to give up,&#8221; Preller said. &#8220;We tried a lot of other names, a lot of other combinations, but ultimately there&#8217;s an understanding you&#8217;ve got to give up something good to get something good. We had a sense there was competition for Freddy.&#8221;</p><p>Clearing a spot for Galvis on the 40-man roster, the Padres designated minor league reliever Jose Ruiz for assignment. Ruiz, 23, posted a 5.98 ERA last season in 44 appearances with high Single-A Lake Elsinore. The former catching prospect was converted to a full-time pitcher in 2016.</p><p>Tatis, who will turn 19 in January, established himself as one of baseball&#8217;s elite prospects this year. He impressed with low Single-A Fort Wayne before a late-season promotion to San Antonio. Evaluators think he could push for a September call-up in 2018, though having a veteran such as Galvis could allow the Padres to exercise more patience.</p><p>Galvis joins an infield with a logjam at the adjacent positions. Options at second or third include Yangervis Solarte, Cory Spangenberg, Carlos Asauje, prospect Luis Urias and former franchise cornerstone Chase Headley, reacquired from the New York Yankees this week.</p><p>With the exception of Urias, any one of them could be available for trade. On Friday, the Padres continued to discuss Headley with other teams.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The San Diego Padres traded for Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis on Friday. The Padres sent back pitching prospect Enyel De Los Santos to the Phillies. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_Freddy-Galvis.jpg</photo0><caption0>The San Diego Padres traded for Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis on Friday. The Padres sent back pitching prospect Enyel De Los Santos to the Phillies. </caption0><photoCredit0>Laurence Kesterson | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dennis Lin</p><p>The San Diego Union-Tribune</p></bylineMeta></div>

Padres acquire shortstop Freddy Galvis from Phillies