A deeper look at the players traded by San Diego during a wild August
Credit: John Moore/ Sod Poodles
Way back in 2014, the Padres were involved in a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals. Amongst those traded were names such as Wil Myers, Steven Souza, Trea Turner, and Reyes, an undrafted free agent who signed with the Rays in 2013.
Now a Padre, Reyes spent the next four years pitching in the minors before working his way up to The Show in April of 2019. Armed with a fastball clocking in at 97 MPH, Reyes pitched to a 7.62 ERA with a 13.2 K/9 and 3.45 K/BB over 26 innings for San Diego in 2019.
The strikeout numbers for Reyes were impressive, as was the velocity, but his inability to control his fastball got him sent down to the minors. While it did lead to a bloated ERA, his advanced metrics (3.41 FIP, 4.43 xFIP, 3.38 SIERA) painted him in a much better light.
Interestingly, Reyes’ slider was arguably his most effective pitch at 88 MPH and 34.4 inches of vertical drop. Batters hit a mere .156 against it while posting a .147 XWOBA when facing Reyes’ slider.
Reyes will begin his time with Anaheim at their alternative training site as he was optioned shortly after the trade.
Once again, Trammell finds himself as the centerpiece of yet another trade, this time going to Seattle as the highest prospect dealt by the Padres.
After the Cincinnati Reds tweaked his batting approach to improve upon his power and launch angle, Trammell saw his numbers plummet at the plate. Despite San Diego tinkering with his new approach to favor his on-base percentage, Trammell only posted a .234/.340/.349 batting line with both the Reds and Padres.
The center fielder heated up just when the Amarillo Sod Poodles needed him most, as a grand slam capped off a torrent playoff run in the ninth inning of the Texas League championship game.
reminder that Taylor Trammell’s last official at-bat of 2019 (and as a Padres prospect) was a go-ahead grand slam for the @sodpoodles in the top of the 9th inning of the Texas League championship game pic.twitter.com/FxLSlkNFKZ
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) August 31, 2020
Trammell kept a positive attitude despite his struggles and spent his time at the Padres alternative training site at USD. Before the trade, Trammell was a candidate to make his major league debut due to an injury to Tommy Pham.
His athleticism, plus speed, and power potential are all that made him San Diego’s fifth-ranked prospect by MLB.com. With Seattle, he is now the sixth-ranked prospect in their farm system.
It was once thought that Munoz was the closer of the future. After a rookie season that saw him post a 3.91 ERA, 2.73 K/BB, and 11.7 K/9 over 23 innings for the Padres, Munoz seemed to be on his way.
Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery just before the 2020 season wiped out his season before it began.
Munoz’ future is now up in the air, as not only does he have to make the long recovery from Tommy John surgery, but he’ll have to do so while harnessing his 100 MPH fastball that he had difficulty controlling.
While he had an impressive fastball, Munoz’ slider was just as deadly. Averaging 86.5 MPH, his slider average 32.8 inches of drop and 6.9 inches of break. Batters failed to react as opposing hitters posted a .146 xWOBA while swinging-and-missing at 46.3 percent of sliders.
The stuff is there. The velocity is there. Now Munoz has to put it all together to become a complete player in the Majors.
The writing was on the wall as soon as Jake Cronenworth ran away with second base and Mitch Moreland was acquired to serve as San Diego’s designated hitter.
France had become expendable. It also doesn’t hurt that Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto really wanted to pry him from Preller.
For a good reason as well. France, a local product out of SDSU, is capable of playing every position of the infield (even catcher) and even pitched two innings of emergency relief in 2019.
Unfortunately, France’s primary positions are currently filled, and San Diego carries a glut of players capable of bouncing around, such as Greg Garcia, Jurickson Profar, and Jorge Mateo.
It’s a shame too. France was starting to heat up at the plate, carrying a .309/.377/.491 batting line and an OPS+ of 138.
As a Padre, France wore the number 11. As a Mariner, he now wears the number 23 in honor of the Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., an endearing gesture to his former teammate.
Torrens has been a member of the Padres organization since 2016, when he, alongside Allen Cordoba and Miguel Diaz, was acquired in the Rule 5 draft. Initially taken by the Cincinnati Reds from the New York Yankees, San Diego traded Josh VanMeter to Cincinnati for the Venezuelan catcher.
After playing behind Austin Hedges and Hector Sanchez in 2017, Torrens returned to the minor leagues and received consistent starts at both Lake Elsinore and Amarillo, improving at both levels.
After posting an OPS of .727 at Lake Elsinore, Torrens hit 15 home runs with the Sod Poodles while posting an OPS of .873 while increasing all of his overall batting numbers.
The struggles of Hedges and an injury to Francisco Mejia allowed Torrens to get his shot at playing time, but after only seven games in San Diego, he was also included in the Seattle trade.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.
Yes, the Padres received some talent. But WOW….they gave away SOOOO much. These trades are going to pay off for years to come (for the other guys). Oliveras would be perfect right now, and many of the other guys will be great in the future. It will be fun to watch the pads in the playoffs, but at what price?
Nice article Jason. While trading so many highly ranked prospects was not ideal, we knew the trade prices would be high this deadline. I’m still not totally thrilled with everything we gave away but, talent costs talent. The current team looks well equipped to go deeper into the playoffs than originally forecast.
Overall, I’m giving AJ a B+ right now. Trade grades are always more accurate down the road. We’ll see and hope we got the better ends of all of these.
I think we traded prospects that were blocked in the big leagues or on the rule 5. Credit AJ for being creative and not letting go of the core prospects who are part of the future. I have faith in our scouts that we’ll replenish the farm.