Three players of interest to the Padres this trade deadline
Credit: AP Photo
The San Diego Padres, up to this point, have used the DH spot primarily for Gavin Sheets and field off days for their stars.
The Padres, so far this year, have struggled to slug and to hit lefties well. The Padres rank 18th in the league as a team with a .234 BA against southpaws. They are also in the bottom eight in OPS versus lefties with a .658, which is flat out abysmal. The Padres need an upgrade in order to platoon a competent right-handed hitter who mashes left-handers.
You could see the Padres call the Braves if they continue to slump and try to add Marcell Ozuna, who is on an expiring contract. The Padres did express interest in JD Martinez, who is still a free agent, but nothing came to fruition.
We will be looking at three different right-handed hitters who can help the Padres against lefties.
Rob Refsnyder of the Red Sox, Austin Hays of the Reds, and Luis Robert of the White Sox.
These are the statistics we will be examining for all three players, including both advanced and basic statistics. We will be using AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, BABIP, WOBA, BB%, K%, and WRC+.
We will be examining the players’ stats specifically against southpaws.
Refsnyder is on an expiring contract worth $2.1 million, an affordable deal that the Padres and their ownership can easily stomach. Refsnyder, in his career, has been a player who primarily stars versus lefties, and there is a reason for it. In his career, he owns a WRC+ of 125. If you mainly look from 2021 to this year, he owns a 149.8 WRC+ versus lefties.
So far this year, Refsnyder owns a WRC+ of 154 versus left-handers. Along with that, Refsnyder has a 14.9 BB%, 27 K%, AVG of .283, OBP of .392, and a SLG of .550. His OPS is .942, which the Padres very much need slugging, and Refsnyder provides that. Refsnyder would cost at worst for the Padres, one of their Top 10 Prospects, along with a mid-tier prospect in their system.
Hays would give the Padres potentially a year and a half of control. This upcoming offseason, Hays has a mutual option that can be accepted for $12 million in the last year of his contract. In his career, Hays owns a 123 WRC+ versus southpaws. Over the last four years, he has a WRC+ of 144 versus left-handers. The Padres need slugging, and Hays does just that against lefties, owning a .655 SLG so far this year.
Hays has an OPS of 1.110 versus lefties thanks to an OBP of .455, which comes with an AVG of .379. This year, his K% is down against left-handers compared to how it normally is. Over the three years preceding this year, Hays struck out against southpaws over 20% of the time. This year, he owns a 12.1 K% along with a respectable 9.1 BB%. Hays would be another cheap option for the Padres to go after. The trade package could include Isaiah Lowe and Francis Pena, or a bat, which should seal the deal for Hays.
Luis Robert
If the Padres are to trade for Robert, he would turn into your everyday left fielder. His stats against left-handers would more than help provide what the Padres are looking for. Robert, for his career, owns a 143 WRC+ versus lefties. Now, if we take away the COVID season, he owns a 151 WRC+ in his career versus lefties—something the Padres are missing. Robert, so far this year versus lefties, owns a .870 OPS with a WOBA of .377. His BB% is 16.9 while his K% is 22.5. Roberts’ K% is actually down from the past two years against lefties, and his BB% is up, which is a good sign of improvement.
Money could pose a problem in the Padres’ acquisition of Robert. He will be owed around seven million to finish up this year, and has two $20 million club options for the last two years. The good news is that Robert has struggled so much this year that the Padres could potentially get him without having to give up any of their Top 5 prospects. The bad news is that ownership may not want to take a risk on a player who seems to be on a downward spiral.
The Padres need a player who can slug and hit left-handers. Lucky for them, they should be able to find just that, and possibly some more, in the coming deadline.
Bryant is an Assistant Coach at Heritage High School. He is a big-time SDSU fanatic and a Padres fan.