Padres acquire Taylor Rogers, Brent Rooker from Twins for Paddack, Pagan
Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller never sleeps as he made a new deal on the morning of Opening Day. The Padres have acquired All-Star reliever Taylor Rogers and 27-year-old outfielder Brent Rooker from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan.
The Minnesota-San Diego trade, per sources:
Twins get right-handed starter Chris Paddack and right-handed reliever Emilio Pagan
Padres get left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers and outfielder Brent Rooker.
Money and a PTBNL possibly involved, too.
Opening Day deal! Love it.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 7, 2022
Rogers emerged in 2019 as one of the best closers in baseball after serving as a primary left-handed bullpen arm beginning in 2016. He posted a 3.96 ERA in 2016 as a rookie, and continued to improve through the 2019 season.
During the pandemic-shortened 2020, Rogers had an out-of-character year, posting a 4.05 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He bounced back in 2021 with a 3.35 ERA, this time as a traditional reliever more so than a closer. He earned his first career All-Star selection last season as well. Striking batters out is Rogers’ forte, as he’s racked up 361 in just 314.2 career innings. He deploys a lethal slider and sinker combination.
Taylor Rogers, Sick Slider…and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/NLEKHHGzOw
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 27, 2022
Rogers is a homegrown Twin in more ways than just one. Minnesota drafted him in 2012 out of the University of Kentucky in the 11th round of the MLB Draft. He is also a twin to Giants reliever Tyler Rogers.
Rooker is the other player acquired by the Padres in this deal. He is still a young player in the league, performing in just 65 games across two seasons. Rooker is yet to find his groove at the major league level with a .212 average. The Padres may want to add him to the outfield depth, which is still severely lacking.
Paddack’s name had been flying around in trade rumors for some time, and after his first three years in big leagues as a Padres, he’ll be making his second major league stop. After a promising 2019 in which he posted a 3.33 ERA and 126 ERA+, he has struggled to the tune of a 4.95 ERA and 81 ERA+ in 35 games since.
Pagan is no stranger to being traded. After serving as the closer of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Padres acquired Pagan prior to the 2020 season with high expectations. Unfortunately, Pagan never really met them as served as an inconsistent middle reliever who also pitched frequently in the eighth inning.
Rogers will come in and be a solid left-handed reliever in what was previously a right-handed heavy bullpen. He may even compete for the closer role, as he has major league experience in those situations.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”
I’m not happy with this trade. We gave up way too much again in a lopsided trade. AJ has to do something. When he can’t make a deal he just figures he’ll overpay like he always does. This will bite us in the butt… again.
The return on this trade seems pretty low. Giving up a ML starter with multiple years of control for a one year rental reliever. Seems the FO of the Padres has target fixation. They target a guy on another team and they pay the price no matter the cost (Nola, Mejia, Wiliams, Snell, etc). Say what you want about Paddack (flaws and all), he is a ML starter. And wasn’t just the Twins that thought so (Mets and Yankees come to mind).
The OF we received is a younger version of Hunter Renfroe that doesn’t have the arm or defense and strikes out a lot more…..JOY!!!
To top this off we are gonna send another player to the Twins later??? How does that even add up? Sure hope this isn’t even a top 30 prospect.
Rogers better be lights out to even come close to justifying this trade. Which, even then, would be a stretch.
I don’t get it.
Obtaining Rogers has value, for now, for this year, assuming he stays healthy, but 6 months from now there will be zero value from him (just like Manaea). And his 3.35 ERA last year does not impress, and the year before was 4.05? Yikes! [and his season ended last year on July 26th after an injury?]
Pagan still has potential, and has two years of control remaining. And has had success as a closer, for whatever that is worth.
Starting pitchers are of supreme value to every team, especially one like the Twins who do not have many, and are definitely trying to win this year (see Correa). Paddack still has a lot of potential, and at least 3 years (perhaps 4 if he is put in the minors for a while).
The Padres are in desperate need of a good OF. They only have 2 legitimate OF’s, at best. The Twins have a glut of OF’s. So Preller goes after a fringy AAAA player who is a first baseman, and is terrible in the OF?!?!
MLBTR said this about Rooker and his defense: “…he’s a college first baseman who the Twins tried rather unsuccessfully as a left fielder (-6 Defensive Runs Saved, -4 Outs Above Average, -9.7 UZR/150 in 268 career innings).”
So, once again, Preller had all the leverage, but got leveraged again.
So, we needed a decent-to-good starting OF, and we got another unsuccessful project in the OF.
And, to add insult to injury, there is this: “The Twins will also receive a player to be named later in the deal…” [Unless … the PTBNL is Hosmer!!!]
But the Twins are covering $6.6 million of Rogers salary.
I like Paddack, but his emotional issues on the mound overpower his skill. Pagan was just too inconsistent. We get a left handed reliver/closer, agreed that it is just for one year though.