Trade Deadline Looms for Padres
Will A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres be active in the next week and a half as the MLB Trade Deadline is coming?
There are ten days until the major league trade deadline.
On July 31, all trades must be finalized for potential playoff teams. Unlike years of the past, where teams could expose and trade players through August via the waiver deadline, you may not add players anymore. That certainly complicates things.
The are several teams that are on the cusp on competing, and until recently, the San Diego Padres were one of them. The team has lost seven of their last ten games and is tied for last place with the suddenly resurgent San Francisco Giants with a 47-52 record. At this point, it is becoming painfully apparent that the Padres will not be buyers in the coming week and a half. Or will they?
The Padres could actually both buy and sell at the trade deadline.
Rumors of a starting pitcher keep surfacing in San Diego as the team longs for a pitcher to lead their young staff. Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, and Trevor Bauer have all been rumored to be of interest to the Padres as the front office searches for a stable pitcher to add to the rotation.
Although the Padres are falling out of the playoff race, they could still trade for one of these ace pitchers. The trade market will be active now, and the Padres could easily maximize the worth of some of their higher-valued prospects during the season. Anything can truly happen.
The Padres have a few pitchers who could be dealt in the coming week as well. Craig Stammen is a pending free agent, and Kirby Yates is having the best year in his career. The Padres could feel it is time to move Stammen, a proven veteran pitcher, and let some of the younger options earn a chance in high leverage situations. Andres Munoz is exceptional, and it is no secret that he will be given every opportunity to earn the closer’s role. Though Yates still has another year of control left, the Padres could choose to trade him now while he has tremendous value.
Then there is the outfield situation which is about to get more complicated as Travis Jankowski is nearly healthy. He has been in the minors for the past few weeks and could be activated as soon as there is a trade. The speedy, left-handed hitting centerfielder is a perfect fit for the Padres as a bench player or spot starter. He can also steal a bag off the bench and be inserted on defense when needed. “Fast Freddy” should be back soon.
A.J. Preller and his staff have options, and there are several ways they may go with the direction of this team. These next ten days will be significant as the team could make some very key trades, or they could do absolutely nothing. Only time will tell. One thing we know; the Padres will be front and center in nearly every trade rumor for the next week and a half.
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.
Who knows what Preller will do? He’s active, that’s a plus, but so many of the moves are questionable. Signing Hosmer, extending Myers and Green are all shit-for-brains moves.
Since this is not a playoff team, they should trade any player who’s not part of that next winning team.
1)That means extend or trade Yates.
2) Trade Stammen.
3) Commit to Urias.
4) Trade Kinsler. Overall the numbers are brutal, plus he’s too streaky.
5) Trade Myers. Won’t be pretty, but enough already.
6) Platoon Hosmer. He sucks again in 2019, although he’s not dead-cat stinky like 2018. But he does not hit lefties. There are multiple internal options. Myers, if he’s not traded. Reyes, who is not a MLB outfielder. Even giving Ty France a shot at 30 games at 1B would be preferable.
7) either retrain or fire Andy Green. He routinely gives away games by waiting until a starter gets bombed before going to the pen. With a young staff, many of whom are workload-limited, he should have a quick hook the 3rd time through the lineup. And even though Hosmer sucks, he leads the team in at bats. Think that through. Machado, Renfroe, Reyes are all better hitters having better years, yet the manager has arranged for Hosmer to get more ABs than them. There is no excuse for that kind of stupidity.
Teams that try to “both buy and sell” at the deadline always end up getting the worst of both worlds, not the best.
You mean if the team could dump Myers and, in a separate move, pick up a good young pitcher, they shouldn’t bother?
You know perfectly well what I meant.