MLB Trade Deadline: Not the Year for San Diego

The San Diego Padres might be the biggest disappointment of this MLB season. Coming in with lofty expectations given what seemed to be, on paper, a World Series-caliber roster. Sitting at 48-52, the Padres are six games back from the final wild-card spot with an uphill battle that is increasingly unrealistic. With the Padres seeming to re-shift their focus to a potential sell-off, here is how it could look in San Diego leading up to the August 1st deadline.

The Padres are Not Making the Postseason and are Plain Bad

What a disaster in San Diego. Their lineup is loaded with too much talent to be this mediocre, but here we are. Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts are having fine seasons but still aren’t meeting their expectations. Juan Soto earned an All-Star nod, but the chemistry between him and the rest of the team doesn’t appear right. Fernando Tatis Jr has been pretty awesome, but the elephant in the room will always be that he isn’t dependable. With Ha-Seong Kim being reliable, that’s it for this Padres offense. No one else is contributing.

Jake Cronenworth is a liability. Trent Grisham isn’t good. Nelson Cruz and Matt Carpenter don’t have it anymore. They can’t find a steady catcher if their life depended on it, and they have no one promising or relatively good as a depth piece. When the Padres put together a top-heavy lineup, they understood they would sacrifice depth and the bottom of their order. However, when the top-end talent isn’t consistently elite, combined with a no-show from everyone else, this is what you get.

Looking at the mound, Blake Snell has been among the best starting pitchers in the National League. Sitting third in the NL Cy Young race, Snell has only allowed four earned runs over his last ten starts. Talk about dominance. After him, Joe Musgrove, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Yu Darvish have created a very serviceable starting rotation. They could certainly use additional arms in the bullpen, but Josh Hader covers up a lot of their flaws as he is one of, if not the best, relief pitcher in baseball. 

Will the Reds Trade for Blake Snell of the Padres?

A lot is on the line this next week. Their series beginning tonight is extremely important against a lousy Pittsburgh team, with the Texas Rangers coming to town next. The Padres can win every game, but they must show they can make up ground on the teams ahead of them. If they are magically within three games of the final wild-card spot, the Padres could convince themselves of their playoff chances. If the distance continues to grow, the team better sell and I think they should sell regardless.

If Blake Snell and Josh Hader are openly made available for trade, they immediately become the best starter and reliever on the market. Teams would give up loads of prospects for each player, making it wise to sell high when the market has a robust need for arms. Additionally, I’d see what I can get for Juan Soto. It sounds increasingly likely Juan Soto wouldn’t mind a return back to the east coast in free agency in a year and a half, so dealing him now for a package similar to what you gave up to acquire him is what I’d do. Cut bait early, returning prospects that will help stop the bleeding.

Given how entrenched the Padres are in on trying to win now might make it tough to convince AJ Preller that this team doesn’t have it, but a series sweep by the Rangers leading into the trade deadline could be the final straw.

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