The San Diego Padres have signed four players to Minor League contracts, including a pair of players with MLB experience. The club has signed outfielder Kennard Jones, infielder Josh Bell, and pitchers Parker Frazier and Zack Segovia to Minor League contracts. It is unknown at this time if the players will receive invitations to the team's Major League camp. The signings were announced by Matt Eddy of Baseball America.

Jones, 33, is probably the strangest and most intriguing signing of the bunch. Jones was drafted by San Diego in the third round of the 2001 draft. He spent five seasons in the Padres organization, reaching Triple-A in 2006. However, his career stalled, and he spent the majority of the last seven seasons playing in independent leagues. Jones did not play baseball last season, and Eddy confirmed that Jones is rejoining the organization as a player and not a coach. Jones last played in 2013 with the Kansas City T-Bones of the American Association. For his professional career, Jones has a triple-slash line of .277/.360/.370 in 12 seasons. On a side note, Jones is married to Anisha Gwynn, the daughter of Padres legend Tony Gwynn.

Bell, 28, was once one of the game’s top prospects as he was ranked the #37 prospect in baseball in 2010 by Baseball America. Last season, Bell played in Korea and posted a productive triple-slash line of .267/.345/.433, with 10 HR’s and 39 RBI in 63 games. Bell last appeared in the big leagues with Arizona during the 2012 season. For his Major League career, Bell has slashed .195/.223/.265 with three home runs in 100 career games.

Frazier, 26, was drafted in the eighth round of the 2006 draft by the Colorado Rockies. Frazier spent the 2014 season with the Chicago White Sox organization, where he split the season between Double-A and Triple-A. He posted a 2-5 record with a 4.26 in 42 relief outings in 2014.

Segovia, 31, has not pitched in the Big Leagues since 2009. He was originally drafted in the second round by Philadelphia in 2002. Last season, he pitched in the Texas organization as well as in the Mexican League. Between the two leagues, he posted a 6-7 record, with a 4.93 ERA in 22 games (19 starts).

While none of the above players mentioned are likely to make an impact in San Diego in 2015, they will supply depth in the upper levels of the Padres organization. It will be interesting to see if any of these players overcome the odds stacked against them. 

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Kevin Charity
Hello, my name is Kevin Charity. I am 29-years-old, and I reside in San Diego, California. I have been blogging for about four years, mostly writing about baseball. I am a huge San Diego Padres fan, and I have had my work featured on MLBTraderumors.com. No one knows as much as the Padres organization as I do.