The Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres, both among the more hyperactive front offices so far this offseason, made a swap on Thursday night that managed to address a critical weakness on both sides. The A's probably get more value in the end, but the Padres get a catcher with a rare offensive skill set and some further growth potential remaining.

Derek Norris is a perfect part-time catcher and first baseman for a team desperate to add some offense -- the 2014 Padres were a few hundred runs below the poverty line -- at just about any position. Norris rakes against left-handed pitching, so he can play first base and send Yonder Alonso, who's barely competent against right-handers and awful against lefties, to the bench. Norris can also split catching duties with Ryan Hanigan depending on who's pitching; Hanigan's a better defender overall, including game calling and throwing, but lacks Norris' power and ability to get on base, even against right-handers. Norris isn't futile against right-handed pitching, so the Padres should try to get him 500-550 at-bats regardless of his position, and at age 25 he still could improve against righties -- there's nothing in his swing or approach to suggest he can't hit them for at least some more power.

San Diego needed to upgrade its catching while waiting for top prospect Austin Hedges, whose glove is ready but whose bat might be two or three years away, to reach the majors; Norris and Hanigan can fill that gap until 2017. The Padres also get right-hander Seth Streich, a control artist with an average fastball who dominated high-A this year at age 23 but has had elbow issues in the recent past; and they received an international bonus pool slot, which gives them more cash to spend on such amateurs next July 2.

In exchange for Norris, who was largely superfluous to the A's now that they have Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley, Oakland gets two pitchers ready for the major league staff right now. Jesse Hahn has midrotation potential if not more, assuming that his arm permits it. Hahn needed Tommy John surgery after he was drafted in 2010, didn't pitch at all until 2012 and threw just 163 innings in the next 24 months before he was called up to the majors. He stayed healthy in 2014 and shows two plus pitches: a ground ball-generating two-seamer and a hard curveball that missed a ton of bats. The Rays did a lot to try to clean up his delivery to prevent another elbow injury, although anyone with this little of a history of extended health can't be counted on to turn into a 180-inning starter. The A's rotation lost Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija this winter, and those spots are nominally filled by two pitchers, Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin, coming off Tommy John surgery. Oakland could distribute those 65 or so starts among those two pitchers and Hahn to try to keep all three healthy for the full season, and end up getting maximum value from Hahn in the process.

Oakland also added R.J. Alvarez, a solid middle reliever who went to the Padres in this summer's Huston Street deal. He's a fastball/slider guy who kills right-handed batters -- they went 14-for-121 against him this year in the minors and majors (all singles) with 8 walks and 52 strikeouts. He's had injury issues and puts too many lefties on base to be a full-inning, late-game reliever, but given the A's emphasis on platoons, Oakland will almost certainly deploy him properly.