Padres continue to make moves, acquire Jason Castro from Angels
Credit: AP Photo
It has been quite a while since the San Diego Padres were in “win-now” mode at the Trade Deadline.
After striking deals with the Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox for Trevor Rosenthal and Mitch Moreland, A.J. Preller swung another agreement with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Just before the Angels were set to play.
Sources: The Padres are trading for catcher Jason Castro, sending righty reliever Gerardo Reyes to the Angels in return. Deal is pending medicals.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) August 30, 2020
Hours after landing Moreland from Boston, San Diego acquired catcher Jason Castro from Anaheim. In exchange, Anaheim will receive right-handed reliever Gerardo Reyes from San Diego.
Castro will arrive in San Diego as the primary backup to Austin Hedges while sharing reps with Francisco Mejia when the latter returns from his thumb injury.
A revitalizing 2019 season with the Minnesota Twins saw Castro post a .737 OPS with 13 home runs, an effort that was rewarded with a one-year, $6.85 million from the Angels.
Castro, despiting getting a majority of the starts in Anaheim, failed to live up to expectations, hitting only two home runs while posting a .707 OPS. However, with only 62 plate appearances in 2020, Castro can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
Despite his struggles, the 33-year-old has retained his eye at the plate, evidenced by a walk rate of 16.1 percent. Interestingly, Castro has hit 62.1 percent of baseballs in the air while making more hard contact, which could signal more power in the future.
Reyes was on the Padres 60-man roster but was not added to the active 28-man roster. In his major league debut, Reyes pitched to a 7.62 ERA, but a 3.41 FIP, 4.43 xFIP, and 3.38 SIERA painted his actual outings in a much better light.
The Castro trade is the third made by Preller in the last two days, and, knowing Preller, the wily general manager still has at least a few tricks up his sleeve before the MLB Trade Deadline ends at 1:00 P.M. Pacific Time.
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.