SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Padres took a break from a dizzying series of trades Friday afternoon to introduce one of their new sluggers, Matt Kemp.Kemp, in turn, put the blockbusters by general manager A.J. Preller into perspective as only a guy fresh from Hollywood could.This is unbelievable. Hes a GM rock star right now, moving in and out and doing so many things right now, said Kemp, who sat between Preller and manager Bud Black at news conference at Petco Park. Every day theres something different.Preller smiled and said, Thats definitely the first time Ive gotten the rock star tag.Later, Preller, a native New Yorker, said he listens to Frank Sinatra most mornings, but I dont know if that characterizes me as a rock star.Preller has certainly gotten the Padres humming with a badly needed new identity in just more than a week.Since Dec. 11, Preller has worked a five-player deal with the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers to get Kemp; an 11-player deal with Tampa Bay and Washington to get outfielder Wil Myers, the 2013 AL Rookie of the Year with the Rays; a six-player deal with Atlanta for slugger Justin Upton; a four-player trade with Oakland that landed All-Star catcher Derek Norris; and a straight-up trade with Boston to get third baseman Will Middlebrooks for catcher Ryan Hanigan, who came over from Tampa Bay.Prellers wheeling and dealing isnt over yet, since he has a surplus of outfielders.Its a stunning haul for a team that has had only two winning seasons since its last playoff appearance, in 2006.Preller said acquiring Kemp kicked-started the process, and the other deals started falling into place.Preller has managed to give Black a more well-rounded club that gives us a chance, while retaining top three starters Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross and Ian Kennedy, and most top prospects.We wanted to get a core group that we could give to Buddy and his coaches and hopefully have that group play together for a long time, Preller said.Preller said the Padres are taking a win now and win later attitude. I dont think we went out and just emptied the cupboards and dont have any other players in the system. We definitely looked at different paths to the off-season and one of the things that was attractive to us was to find a way to get offence without touching the front-line pitching in the big leagues.Black said the calibre of players that have come in in a short period of time is extremely impressive, from All-Stars to MVP candidates to guys who are talked as potentially some of the best players in the game as far as talent and production.Preller was hired in August after developing a reputation as a hard-working, hard-charging scouting and player development executive with the Texas Rangers.Kemp and Upton are among the games top power hitters.Kemp had a strong second half in 2014 for the NL West champion Dodgers. He finished the season with a .287 average, 25 home runs and 89 RBIs. That deal, agreed to early the morning of Dec. 11 at the winter meetings in San Diego, was finalized Thursday night.Although hes hit well at Petco Park, Kemp said he hated facing Padres pitchers.Now we have some offence and were going to help them score runs, he said.On Thursday, there was a report the Padres were concerned that Kemp had arthritic hips.Ive got a little arthritis, he said, adding that its nothing to worry about.These hips are unbelievable, man, he said to laughter. These hips are great. You all keep talking about my hips. You want to see my hips, man? Strong hips.Upton, who will earn $14.5 million in the final year of his contract, had 29 homers and 102 RBIs last season. That deal has yet to be finalized.Preller seems to be a later-day Trader Jack McKeon, just without the cigar. McKeon was general manager of the Padres when they went to the World Series in 1984, earning his nickname for his fondness for deals.The Padres also got catcher Tim Federowicz and $32 million from the Dodgers to help defray the remaining $107 million on Kemps deal. The Padres obligation of $75 million to Kemp during the next five years becomes the biggest contract in club history. The Dodgers got catcher Yasmani Grandal and right-handers Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin.Myers and Hanigan came over from Tampa Bay in an 11-player, three-team deal. The Padres gave up catcher Rene Rivera and four prospects. Shortly after that trade was finalized Friday morning, Preller flipped Hanigan for Middlebrooks.Upton and a minor league pitcher cost Preller four prospects, including lefty Max Fried.The Padres had a historically awful offence in the first half of 2014. Although they played better in the second half, they finished at the bottom of the majors with a .226 average, .292 on-base percentage and 535 runs. Their 109 homers were the second fewest in the baseball.___Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson China Jerseys Stitched . -- Center Max Unger and tight end Zach Miller are both probable for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday against the New York Giants and Percy Harvins recovery continues to be slow. Cheap Jerseys From China . Needing to bulk up on both sides of the line, the Falcons agreed to terms with guard Jon Asamoah, defensive end Tyson Jackson and defensive tackle Paul Soliai. Asamoah and Jackson played last season with Kansas City, where Asamoah lost his starting job. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/. -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers. China Jerseys Wholesale . Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up. China Jerseys Cheap . However, Therrien added that Galchenyuks status for next Wednesdays game against the Detroit Red Wings is questionable. Galchenyuk has been out since Jan. 6 with a broken right hand.NASHVILLE -- Facing an early deficit, Nashville turned the game around with its power play. Patric Hornqvist scored with the man-advantage at 13:56 of the third period to lift the Predators to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. Matt Cullen and Roman Josi also scored power-play goals to help Nashville snap a three-game losing streak. The three man-advantage goals were a season high for the Predators. Nashville entered Thursday with the NHLs seventh-best power play. "The power play was really huge, but our 5-on-5 play was strong," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We gave up seven shots in the last two periods and that includes a couple of power plays that they had." Martin St. Louis had both goals for the Lightning, losers of three of their last four. With time winding down in the final period, Hornqvist collected the rebound of Mike Fishers shot and slipped it by Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop. "It hit the heel of my stick, and then I dont know if I got a whack on it on the rebound, too," Hornqvist said. "Its nice to see that it finally went in. Thats how I have to play every single night to be effective." St. Louis opened the scoring at 5:26 of the first period. Ondrej Palat carried the puck from the left boards into the slot, where he sent a backhand off the left post. St. Louis was parked in front of the Nashville goal to tap home the rebound. Less than four minutes later, St. Louis struck again. With the Lightning on a power play, St. Louis wrist shot from the right faceoff dot hit Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton in the chest, fell to the ice, and tricklled across the goal line.dddddddddddd. Hutton is 7-2-2 in his last 11 games. Since scoring a career-best four times in Tampa Bays Jan. 18 game against San Jose, St. Louis had not scored a goal, a stretch of nine games. He also was pointless in five games for Team Canada in their gold medal-winning performance at the Sochi Olympic Games. "Our 5-on-5 play was horrendous," St. Louis said. "Our battle level was very low. Youve got to grind it out in this league, and we didnt do that." After getting nine shots on goal in the first, Tampa Bay managed just four in the second and three in the third. "It was disgracefully embarrassing, thats what that game was," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Two periods, really, really disappointed. Seven shots in the last two periods?" Cullen struck at 12:05 of the second. Ryan Ellis skated the puck into the right circle, where he faked a shot and found Cullen at the back door for an easy tap-in. Josi tied the game 1:11 later on another power-play goal when the Swiss Olympian ripped a slap shot from the left faceoff dot over Bishops left shoulder. "The first period, we didnt manage the puck that well," Josi said. "We actually didnt play a bad period in the first, but they got up 2-0. After that, we just worked their defence and our forwards did a great job down low." NOTES: Palat has points in three-straight games. ... Cullen had not scored a goal since Nov. 27, breaking a stretch of 29 games without a goal. ... Nashville is 7-21-5 when its opponents score first. . The game was the first of five consecutive home games for Nashville coming out of the Olympic break. ' ' '