The 2016 San Diego Padres Trades (One Year Later)
Credit: MiLB
July 26, 2016: Melvin Upton traded to Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Hansel Rodriguez
Melvin Upton had his share of exciting moments as a Padre. He was putting together a solid season with San Diego, hitting .256 with 16 home runs in 92 games along with a very good eight Defensive Runs Saved. When he was dealt to Toronto, everything went downhill for Upton. He hit .196 with an abysmal 55 OPS+ (average is 100) in 57 games. He signed a minor league deal with the Giants to start this season. He has yet to play in the bigs this season and has only recently begun playing for Triple-A Sacramento.
Hansel Rodriguez is looking like a solid prospect for the Friars. He is in Class-A Fort Wayne and in 28 games, he has a 4.11 ERA. In 81 innings, he has 92 strikeouts and eight saves. In his last 10 appearances, he has not allowed a run, with 24 strikeouts in 12 innings. His strikeouts per nine innings has spiked to 10.2 after his previous career high was 7.87. The 20-year-old has shown he can perhaps become a presence in a future Padres bullpen.
Result: WinÂ
July 29, 2016: Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea and Tayron Guerrero traded for RHP Jarred Cosart, RHP Carter Capps, RHP Luis Castillo and 1B Josh NaylorÂ
This was a complicated trade. The Padres ended up giving Luis Castillo back as the Marlins wanted a refund on injured Colin Rea.
Cashner has since moved on to the Texas Rangers. He had a 5.98 ERA in 11 starts for Miami last year. This season he has struggled with injuries. He has been a solid when healthy as he has a 3.36 ERA in 18 starts for Texas.
Guerrero is turning into a solid reliever in the minor leagues for Miami. He is currently with Triple-A New Orleans. He has a 4.88 ERA in 27 minor league games this season.
Cosart has not been able to stay healthy. He is currently on the 60-day DL with elbow surgery. He had a 4.88 ERA in seven games this season in the major leagues before that. Capps also has been banged up. He recently has been called up, finally healthy, and has gotten shelled. He has six earned runs in three outings this season.
Josh Naylor is the most promising player for the Friars in this trade. Naylor has some good raw power. He has not displayed it much this year with just two homers in 25 games for Double-A San Antonio. Just 20 years old, he has plenty of time to develop. He is the Padres #10 prospect.
With how messy this trade was and the lack of health for both sides, this was not a good trade. Each got a promising young player among all the chaos.
Result: Tie
July 30, 2016: Matt Kemp traded to Atlanta Braves for OF Hector Olivera
Kemp was productive with the bat during his season and a half with the Padres. He hit 46 home runs with a 107 OPS+ in his 254 games in San Diego. He was a deadline dump to the Braves. All he has done since is hit, hit, hit. He hit .280 with 12 homers in just 56 games for Atlanta last season. This season, before going down with a hamstring injury, he was hitting .290 with 14 home runs. He started the season ranking highly in most offensive categories.
Olivera has been a hot mess in his professional career. The Dodgers signed him out of Cuba to a lucrative six-year, $62.5 million contract. He has hit just .245 in 30 big league games. He has a .257 average in his 47 minor league games in four different levels. He also has been suspended for violating Major League Baseball’s off-the-field conduct policy after a domestic dispute. He was released by San Diego and is now playing independent ball.
Result: Loss
December 2, 2016: Derek Norris traded to Washington Nationals for RHP Pedro Avila
Norris has had a miserable time since leaving the Padres. He was released by the Nationals before he even played for them. He is now with the Tampa Bay Rays. He is hitting .201 with nine home runs in 53 games.
Pedro Avila is coming off of an incredible start for Single-A Fort Wayne. He struck out an eye-popping 17 batters over eight innings. He has a 3.23 ERA in 10 starts for the TinCaps this season. He has 82 strikeouts to just nine walks. He is certainly on his way to breaking into the Padres’ Top 30 prospects list next season.
Result: Win
Obviously the jury is still out for most of these players. Â A lot can still happen. For the most part, A.J. Preller has done a good job with the deals he has done. No GM can bat 1.000 with trades. There has been a share of clunkers. However, every Padres fan should be excited about the minor leaguers coming up in the next few year, much thanks to the recent trades.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.