Trade Winds to Start Blowing Soon for Padres
Credit: USA Today Sports
The San Diego Padres are in rare position that they might both buy and sell at the trade deadline, which is roughly two weeks away.
A.J. Preller is a savvy general manager who prefers to maximize players value when it’s inflated. If there are players on the team that he feels can be moved for a better investment, then he will not hesitate to pull the trigger. Nor should he. The Padres need not be picky at this point.
When you factor in that the team needs 40-man roster space. Trades are surely going to happen at some point. There are several young players that need to be protected this winter from the Rule-5 draft, so the Padres could be motivated to sell off veteran players.
Expect the team to package players together similar to when they dealt Ryan Buchter, Brandon Maurer and Trevor Cahill to the Royals for Travis Wood, Esteury Ruiz and Matt Strahm. Strahm and Ruiz did not require 40-man spots, so the team gained two openings.
Jose Pirela might not be the most appealing of players to Padre fans, but to a playoff team he could be viewed as serviceable. He can play five different positions on the diamond. If you package him with a reliever who has plenty of value, a deal could be made. The Padres do have several relief pitchers who will be of interest to contending teams.
Despite the recent struggles of Brad Hand, he will still be of interest to other teams. The Padres sole representative in this year’s MLB All-Star game has a tremendous slider and is under team control for two or three years. The Padres do not need to necessarily deal the lefty, but they will surely listen to all offers.
Kirby Yates and Craig Stammen will also be of interest to teams looking to bolster their bullpen.
Then there is the outfield. Nobody knows what the team will do in that regard, but Wil Myers, Manuel Margot, Travis Jankowski, Hunter Renfroe and Franmil Reyes will all be looking for playing time the rest of the season. The Padres could choose to move an outfielder to help thin out the 40-man log jam.
The Padres have a very deep system right now. One of the deepest in all of major league baseball. Do not be surprised if they also potentially deal some of them in a deal for a young major league type player who is under team control for a few seasons. A starting pitcher could be of interest here as the Padres look to deepen their staff for the 2019 season and beyond.
A.J. Preller and his staff are busy this time of year. There is a lot to do. The Padres will be rumored in a few moves here and there in the coming weeks. They might even pull off a few trades. One thing is for certain. The trade winds are surely blowing into San Diego.
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.
I keep reading that we should be ready to contend in a couple of years and that few players on the roster now will be here then. The only way to contend is to have a completely different roster. Few, if any, “stars” on the Padres now deserve to be on a championship team
It will be interesting to see what Preller does . This season has been a disaster in that the team has regressed from last year. I’m not sure how Preller fixes this mess as only Hand, Yates, and Stammen have significant value. Ross may get you a low-level prospect, but no position players other than Myers are going to be desirable. This team has a lot of dead weight (Spangenberg, Asuaje, Pirela, Jankowski) and I’m not sure how Preller fixes that without just releasing players.
Also, the OF and 3B is a mess. I’m not sure why they recalled Reyes if he’s only going to start once per week and playing Jankowski instead of Margot is puzzling to me. Villanueva and Asuaje at 3B is not working out and are just short-term band aids..
Man oh man, this roster is a dumpster fire.
You are right. Team has worst W-L record in the NL, 2nd worst run differential. They suck.
This trading season, and the coming off season need to be a period of whirlwind activity.
Keep: Margot, Hedges, Lucchesi, Lauer, Perdomo, Cordero.
Trade: Hand, Ross, Yates, Stammen, Myers (paying part of his salary), and Hosmer (probably not possible, but it’s better to recognize a mistake as soon as one can).
Whatever: Renfroe, Reyes, Galvis.
Non-tender, DFA, or trade: just about everyone else off the 25 man roster. A cardinal error for a rebuilding team to make is to waste a roster spot on a so-what player. Some of these guys will be kept as placeholders – someone has to play 2B until Urias is ready- but just look at the ages. A position player over age 26 who isn’t good by now probably never will be.
Pirela has a -.5 fWAR, which makes him the 2nd worst player on the team after Bryan Mitchell. Let’s not kid ourselves — nobody will trade anything of value for him. Better to send him down to El Paso and see if he can regain his hitting skills down there.
You are spot on about Pirela….and his actual value.
Meant to include another prospect. Id add Gettys
Maybe Myers stays unrealistically hot for the next couple of weeks and then perhaps he could be moved with the Padres only having to pay $20 to $40 million of his salary. Hopefully one or more teams are needy in the bullpen and give great value for Hand and/or Yates. It was nice to see Ross bounce back, hopefully he can be valuable … hopefully he can enjoy a pennant race.
You are definitely on to something here. A couple of players will be traded for value, but any 40 man roster player not part of the next good team should be attached to these trades or shopped independently.
Timing is key on trades. Last year Pirela looked liked a blossoming hitter who hit everything hard. This year he looks like a soon to be 29 year old, meh hitter, without a position.
Team should be able to open up numerous spots: Hand probably gets traded, it might be now or never. Ross is a FA next year an the time to cash in any value is now. Spangenberg gets thrown in to a trade or non-tendered this off season, he’s had his chances. Kirby Yates ought to be traded, his trade value might never be higher. Pirela has been mentioned. Dickerson should come off the 40 man roster one way or the other. There is no point to keeping Bryan Mitchell around.
That’s 7. Only Hand has a stand alone market of note, the others are minor moves, or throw ins.
If the team will win the division in 2020, this year’s team needed to be a .500 club. That’s not happening, so Preller will need to start prioritizing acquiring ML talent, not prospects in any moves. What about a Hand/Ross deal to NY for Drury/prospects?
I’d want Drury and Sheffield/ Florial and Frazier for Hand and Ross.
Lol…Yankees are definitely not trading Sheffield
Ha, Yanks Homer think their “prospect” is the best thing since sliced bread. Dude ain’t even a top 30 prospect bruh
Getting back a competent ML 3B for a reliever who would be the 6th or 7th best guy in their bullpen is actually a decent swap. Can’t expect the Yankees to pay more just because we’re desperate.