August, 9, 2022
The Padres made a very big deal at the deadline this year, landing Juan Soto from the Nationals. They made other intriguing moves as well. A lot of people think that they won in this year’s trade deadline and I tend to think they are right. Let’s investigate some of these trades.
Padres acquire Josh Hader for Taylor Rogers, Dinelson Lamet, Robert Gasser, and Esteury Ruiz. This is a great trade for the Padres. While Hader might be having a down year right now, he is very experienced in the postseason, and probably had a cheaper price tag than in the past. Their starting rotation is already very good, and Hader is a great way to close the door on teams. I think this is more of a move for the postseason than anything.
As far as what the Brewers got, I expected more of a return for Hader. Ruiz and Gasser are pretty good prospects, but neither are in that elite category. Rogers is just a lesser replacement for Hader, and the Brewers already DFA’d Lamet. The Brewers better hope at least one of these prospects turn into something, or this trade will be a disaster for them. Overall, I think this is a definite win for the Padres.
They also were able to trade Eric Hosmer away, which I wasn’t expecting. They are paying some of his contract, but they are getting a good prospect in return. Jay Groome is a former first rounder of the Red Sox. While he has battled injuries throughout his career, he had a career year this season in AA Portland. The Padres win this trade as well, especially considering his new replacement coming in (which I will come to later.)
The Padres acquired Brandon Drury from the Reds as well. He will more than likely be the DH for the Padres and occasionally fill in at first base, like he did Monday night. In return, the Reds got prospect Victor Acosta. I’m not confident that Drury won’t fall off the table for the rest of the year, so I don’t love this trade for the Padres. Drury doesn’t have a history of being a fantastic hitter, and Statcast doesn’t have too many optimistic things to say as far as peripheral stats go. His BA right now is .269 with a SLG of .514. His xBA is just .241 and his xSLG is .423. I don’t think that seems promising for Drury’s rest of the season. Acosta is young and has a lot of potential, so this trade could potentially look bad in the future.
Their biggest splash was landing Juan Soto and Josh Bell. Bell will be a huge improvement over Hosmer, and Soto would improve just about anybody. Meanwhile, I don’t think the Nationals received the package they needed. I don’t trust Gore to stay healthy, and I’m not very confident Abrams will develop into a star either. Hassell is a good piece and so is Wood, but neither one of them is going to anywhere near Juan Soto. Susana has good stuff, but is only 18 years old, so he will take a while to develop. I believe the Nationals could have gotten a better package from both the Cardinals and Dodgers. Soto adds a lot to this Padres line-up. Not only is he one of the best players in baseball, he is 23-years-old and has World Series experience already. He is a fantastic pick-up for the Padres, particularly if they can extend him. I think the package they gave up was just barely enough for Soto, forget about Bell. In a way, it seems like all the Nationals got for Bell was Luke Voit and maybe half of a Susana (figuratively speaking). Bell is also a big part to the Padres offense. I think they win this trade by a lot.
The Padres had a great deadline, and are still waiting on Tatis Jr. This team feels almost ready but will have a hard time getting past the Dodgers, Mets, and Braves. We will see.