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Yankees To Acquire Enyel De Los Santos

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The Padres traded reliever Enyel De Los Santos and minor league pitcher Thomas Balboni Jr. to the Yankees for outfielder Brandon Lockridge, according to team announcements.  The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner was first with the deal.

De Los Santos, 28, has a 4.46 ERA, 28.2 K%, 7.6 BB%, and 34.6% groundball rate in 40 1/3 innings for the Padres this year.  He’s been stung by the longball, allowing 11 bombs on the season.  Padres manager Mike Shildt has lost trust in De Los Santos in recent weeks, perhaps due to a 7.62 ERA over his last 14 games.

Signed for $15K by the Mariners out of the Dominican Republic a decade ago, De Los Santos was traded to the Padres in December 2015 in a deal for Joaquin Benoit.  He was dealt to the Phillies a couple years later for Freddy Galvis, making his Major League debut with that team.  De Los Santos went on to log big league innings with the Pirates and Guardians, with the Padres picking him up in last November’s Scott Barlow deal.

De Los Santos is earning $1.16MM this year, and was expendable for the Padres particularly after they added Jason Adam and Tanner Scott in trades.  De Los Santos is under team control through 2026 as an arbitration eligible player.  The Yankees supplemented their bullpen earlier today by acquiring Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs.

The Yankees also add Balboni, a 24-year-old A ball reliever.  Balboni, drafted by the Padres in the 15th round in 2022, owns a 38.2 K% and 12.7 BB% on the season.

Lockridge, 27, was a fifth round pick by the Yankees in 2018.  He’s mostly played center field this year at Triple-A, riding a strong walk rate to a 114 wRC+.  Known for his speed, Lockridge also has 34 stolen bases on the season.

Padres To Acquire Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing

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3:37pm: The Padres are sending left-hander Robby Snelling and right-hander Adam Mazur to Miami, reports ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez. Mish adds that infielder/outfielder Graham Pauley is also part of the return, and Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that infielder Jay Beshears is the fourth and final player in the return. It’s a major haul that’ll send three of the Padres’ top remaining prospects (Snelling, Mazur, Pauley) to Miami in exchange for the pair of relievers.

3:32pm: The Padres are finalizing a deal to acquire closer Tanner Scott from the Marlins, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald adds that righty Bryan Hoeing is also going to San Diego in the deal.

It’s the latest trade market strike for a Padres club that has already added righty Jason Adam in a deal with the Rays and that picked up Luis Arraez in another early-season blockbuster with Miami. The Scott trade is still pending the medical review of the players involved.

Scott, 30, has one of the lowest ERAs in the majors this season, with a pristine 1.18 mark in 45 2/3 innings of work. He’s averaged 97.1 mph on his heater, fanned 29.1%  of his opponents and induced grounders at a hearty 49% clip. The flamethrowing lefty has picked up 18 saves for Miami on the season and tacked on another 12 saves in 2023, when he tossed 78 innings of 2.31 ERA ball.

Impressive as Scott’s earned run average has been, he’s seen a resurgence of the command troubles that plagued him for his entire career prior to the 2023 campaign, when he went from a lifetime 14.2% walk rate to a tidy 7.8% mark. Scott has issued a free pass to a glaring 14.8% of his opponents this season, although a good portion of his command troubles came in the season’s first few weeks. He’s posted a 0.49 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate and more manageable (but still too high) 10.9% walk rate dating back to April 20. At this point, last year’s strong walk rate looks like an aberration.

Scott is playing the season on a one-year, $5.7MM contract. He’s a pure rental for the Friars, barring an extension, and won’t net them any draft compensation, as his midseason trade renders him ineligible for a qualifying offer. The Padres are ponying up on a big offer in hopes of building a dominant bullpen that can help them navigate short postseason series with off-days baked in throughout the schedule. Scott and Hoeing join the aforementioned Adam, Robert Suarez (1.51 ERA in 41 2/3 innings), Jeremiah Estrada (2.92 ERA in 39 2/3 frames), Adrian Morejon (2.74 ERA in 42 2/3 innings) and Yuki Matsui (3.45 ERA in 47 2/3 frames) to round out a formidable relief corps.

Also joining the revamped bullpen is the 27-year-old Hoeing. He’s not nearly as established as Scott and the majority of his new bullpen-mates but is nevertheless enjoying a strong 2024 campaign. In 30 frames, he’s logged a 2.70 ERA with a below-average but respectable 20.2% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate. Hoeing has kept the ball on the ground at a 48.9% clip in part because of a sinker that averages a solid 93.7 mph. He throws that pitch just over half the time and pairs it with a slider-splitter combo — and a rarely-used four-seamer — that helps keep both lefties and, to a lesser extent, righties off balance.

Although Hoeing will turn 28 in October, he’ll finish the season with just two years of MLB service time. That’ll make him controllable for the Padres not only for the stretch run in ’24 but for four additional seasons thereafter. He won’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2025-26 offseason at the earliest, and he still has a pair of minor league option years remaining. That gives them a potential long-term piece in the ’pen, which the Friars surely coveted in exchange for giving up what looks like an impressive collection of young talent that’ll continue to beef up a rapidly improving Marlins system.

Among the names going to the Marlins in the deal, the 23-year-old Mazur and 23-year-old Pauley have both made their big league debuts. Mazur is the more highly regarded of the two, having been a second-round pick back in 2022. He’s struggled to a 7.49 ERA through his first five big league appearances but has posted a 4.39 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and outstanding 5% walk rate in 55 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season.

Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Mazur as the Padres’ No. 4 prospect, calling him a potential mid-rotation starter on the back of 60- or 70-grade command. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen offered a more measured approach recently, noting that Mazur’s command struggles in the majors and some lost life on his heater have him looking more like a potential reliever. There’s some variance in potential outcomes, as is to be expected with a 23-year-old starter who’s rapidly climbed the minor league ranks, but Mazur has the potential to be a rotation piece for several years in Miami.

Pauley went 4-for-32 in a tiny cup of coffee with the Padres earlier this season and has struggled through a down year in Triple-A, hitting just .228/.342/.390. Even as he’s stumbled there, however, he’s drawn walks at a 13.9% clip and played all over the diamond, logging innings at first base, second base, third base and in both outfield corners.

Again, both BA and MLB.com are more bullish on Pauley, ranking him inside the Padres’ top-six prospects, while FanGraphs pegged him at 13th earlier this month. He raked at a .308/.393/.593 clip across three minor league levels in 2023, and his versatility adds value to his profile.

Pauley was primarily a third baseman early on but began moving around the field as the Padres looked to make him more versatile (understandable with Manny Machado entrenched at the hot corner in San Diego). He won’t face that type of permanent roadblock in Miami — Jake Burger could move across the diamond following the trade of Josh Bell — giving Pauley a potential audition as an everyday third baseman or at least a bat-first utilityman.

While Mazur and Pauley have both reached the majors, it’s arguably Snelling who’s the headliner of the deal. The 20-year-old has struggled in the minors this year, but that’s in large part due to an aggressive assignment to Double-A, where he’s one of the league’s youngest players.

The No. 39 overall pick in 2022, Snelling breezed from Low-A to Double-A last season, posting 103 2/3 innings of 1.86 ERA ball with a combined 28.4% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate as a 19-year-old. He’s been roughed up for a 6.01 ERA in his second shot at Double-A — he only pitched 17 innings there last year — with strikeout and walk rates that have trended in the wrong direction (20.2% and 10%, respectively). Still, Snelling ranks as the game’s No. 44 prospect at MLB.com (though he’s fallen off top-100 lists at FanGraphs and BA).

Rounding out the Marlins’ return is Beshears, a 22-year-old Duke product whom the Padres selected in the sixth round of last year’s draft. He’s hitting .261/.373/.377 between Low-A and High-A this season, with a gaudy 13.6% walk rate against just an 18.7% strikeout rate. He’s a power-over-hit infielder who ranked near the back of the Padres’ top 30 on most publications, in part due to questionable arm strength that makes him a tough fit for the left side of the infield.

The Padres have held firm on their reluctance to trade top-ranked prospects like catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries, but the remainder of their system has been picked over in the past four months thanks to acquisitions of Scott, Hoenig, Adam, Arraez and (in spring training) Dylan Cease. They’re a Wild Card team at best in all likelihood, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has never encountered a star player he didn’t love on the trade market and isn’t deviating from old habits in 2024. With Salas and De Vries still in tow, the Padres have the firepower to make another blockbuster add if they soften their stance on that pair, and the timing of this trade gives Preller a bit more than an hour to survey the remainder of the trade market.

Padres Have Discussed Multiple Marlins Relievers

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The Padres paid a hefty prospect price to add Jason Adam to their late-innings mix over the weekend. San Diego is open to bringing in more relief help. Dennis Lin of the Athletic reports that the Padres have discussed Miami right-handers Anthony Bender and Huascar Brazoban among that search. Lin’s colleague Ken Rosenthal wrote this morning that the Fish are fielding offers on essentially all their relievers. Closer Tanner Scott is the most obvious name, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Miami part with anyone from their bullpen.

Bender and Brazoban would be affordable targets for a San Diego team that doesn’t want to surpass the luxury tax threshold. Brazoban is still two years away from reaching arbitration. Bender qualified for early arbitration last winter as a Super Two player. After missing the 2023 season to Tommy John surgery, though, he’s barely making more than the league minimum in his first trip through that process.

The asking price would probably be higher on the 29-year-old Bender, who has a 3.83 ERA over 40 innings of work. He’s striking out 24.4% of batters faced against a 7% walk rate while getting grounders at a 49.1% clip. Brazoban has been even more effective, turning in a 2.93 earned run average with a 27.2% strikeout rate across 30 2/3 frames. He’ll turn 35 in October, though, so a rebuilding Miami team shouldn’t have many qualms about giving him up for young talent.

MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets that the Padres are hoping to come out of deadline season with another acquisition for both the rotation and the relief group. Lin writes that San Diego is among the teams that have shown interest in Miami starter Trevor Rogers. Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald tweeted this afternoon that Miami’s talks on Rogers with multiple teams were picking up and the Marlins were likely to trade him somewhere soon. That at least opens the speculative possibility of some kind of package deal involving one of Miami’s relievers, though there’s not any indication that San Diego’s talks with Miami have gotten that far-reaching.

Garrett Crochet Rumors: Deadline Day

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White Sox ace Garrett Crochet has been the hottest name on the trade market this month, both because of the Sox’ own failed attempt to extend him and because his camp has since indicated that the left-hander wants an extension before pitching in October for a new club. Crochet’s 114 1/3 innings this season have already eclipsed his prior career total. He’s said to be against a move to the bullpen, believing that staying on a starter’s routine is best for his health, and aiming for financial security before pushing his workload even deeper into postseason waters.

It’s rubbed many fans the wrong way to see such a business-like approach, and it’s taken many in the industry aback — White Sox GM Chris Getz included, apparently. Via Sox Machine’s James Fegan, Getz spoke with reporters yesterday and acknowledged that he was “surprised and taken back” by how Crochet’s camp handled the situation, particularly as he’d had a conversation with the left-hander’s agent at CAA just the night before.

“I think most fans and even players without knowing everything, it makes sense,” said Getz. “We understand why a stance would be taken. Now how you go about expressing that is what was a bit hurtful, quite honestly, considering I felt like we could have handled it a little bit differently and still I think everyone accomplished what they wanted to accomplish. … But Garrett and I are fine, we are good. I’ll continue to be one of his top supporters. In regard to how it affects the coming days, tough to tell.”

We’ll round up today’s Crochet chatter here and break out any major developments into their own posts…

  • USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the White Sox have become increasingly optimistic that they’ll find someone to meet their asking price on Crochet even in the wake of his extension revelation. Per Nightengale, the Sox believe that they’ll trade Crochet between now and the 5:00pm CT deadline but expect to hang onto center fielder Luis Robert Jr. — as was reported to be the case regarding Robert just last night.
  • Both Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Bruce Levine of 670 The Score suggest that Crochet’s market remains strong. Rosenthal lists the Padres, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, Red Sox and Orioles as teams with varying levels of interest. Levine echoes much of that same list and quotes an executive from a rival AL club stating the relative obvious: “You don’t get a chance to find a top pitcher like that often. You must get creative.”
  • The Yankees inquired on Crochet at some point but were told in those initial talks that the two parties “didn’t match up” in a trade, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Yankees could always revisit talks, particularly with so many alternative rotation options off the board. New York has been tied to Tigers righty Jack Flaherty as well, and the Yankees are seeking a rotation upgrade as they simultaneously explore the possibility of moving Nestor Cortes in a separate deal.

Padres Had Interest In Yusei Kikuchi

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  • Before the Blue Jays traded Yusei Kikuchi to the Astros earlier tonight, the Dodgers and Padres were among the teams showing interest in the left-hander, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (X link).  Both NL West teams are known to be looking for starting pitching help, and it’s probably safe to assume that basically any club with rotation needs at least called the Jays about a clear trade candidate like Kikuchi.

11 Long Shot Trade Candidates

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We're less than 24 hours from the deadline. There has been a flurry of activity dating back to Thursday night, taking a few of the top names (e.g Randy Arozarena, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Carlos Estévez, Isaac Paredes) off the board. We've devoted ample attention to the likes of Garrett Crochet, Jack Flaherty and Yusei Kikuchi.

Every deadline features some late surprises. Talks don't always get over the line, but we're likely to hear about discussions on marquee names who are less clear trade candidates than are the good players with limited contractual control on bad teams. None of the following players are likely to be traded. They've probably each got less than a 20% chance of changing uniforms. There's an argument for teams to listen on these players, though they're of varying ability and trade value.

Tarik Skubal

Skubal might be the best pitcher in baseball. If the Tigers trade him, it'd be the biggest transaction of the summer. He's probably the frontrunner for the American League Cy Young award behind a 2.35 earned run average with a 30% strikeout rate over 130 innings. Detroit is three games below .500 and 5.5 out in the Wild Card race. Last night's Carson Kelly trade shows they're willing to move rentals. Needless to say, a Skubal trade would be in another stratosphere of significance.

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Padres Hoping To Add Starter, Have Discussed Jack Flaherty With Tigers

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The Padres fortified their bullpen with their weekend acquisition of righty Jason Adam from the Rays, but they’re not done yet. Dennis Lin and Chad Jennings of The Athletic report that San Diego is hoping to add “at least” one starter and is still open to bringing in additional relief help. They’ve had discussions with the Tigers about Jack Flaherty, per the report, and have indeed at least checked in on a potential Blake Snell reunion (as was reported last night).

Flaherty, 28, stands as one of the likeliest trade candidates on the market. He’s on a one-year, $14MM contract with a Tigers club that faces a 12-game deficit in the AL Central and a 5.5-game gap in the chase for the final AL Wild Card spot (with four teams to leapfrog in that hunt). The Tigers could hold onto Flaherty and make him a qualifying offer — he’s a lock to reject and at least net them a draft pick it after his brilliant 2024 rebound — but the demand for pitching should allow Detroit to extract a better package than that potential comp pick.

In 106 2/3 innings since signing with Detroit, Flaherty boasts a 2.95 ERA with an exceptional 32% strikeout rate and an outstanding 4.6% walk rate. Among the 80 pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched in 2024, Flaherty has the fifth-best strikeout rate, the seventh-best walk rate and the second best differential between those two marks (trailing only White Sox ace Garrett Crochet). He’s also keeping the ball on the ground at a solid 43% clip, and this year’s 93.5 mph average fastball is his best since 2021. Flaherty also has the sixth-best swinging-strike rate among those 80 pitchers, trailing only Crochet, Cole Ragans, Tarik Skubal, Dylan Cease and Chris Sale — an impressive collection of some of the game’s top arms.

The Friars’ once-outstanding farm system has been thinned over the years by president of baseball operations A.J. Preller’s insatiable appetite for marquee trades. San Diego recouped some of the value they lost when trading five top prospects for Juan Soto in the offseason when they traded their final year of control over Soto to the Yankees. However, the headline prospect in that trade never threw a regular season pitch in the Padres organization; right-hander Drew Thorpe was instead packaged with three other farmhands in a trade to acquire Dylan Cease during spring training. Preller has since further thinned the system with trades for Luis Arraez and the aforementioned Adam.

Catcher Ethan Salas and young shortstop Leodalis De Vries still rank among the sport’s elite prospects, but all indications to this point have been that both are close to untouchable. Lin recently wrote a separate piece on that subject, and veritably any report connecting the Padres to a high-end trade target has suggested that Salas and De Vries aren’t expected to be in play. That’s likely all the more true when it comes to a rental like Flaherty (or a high-priced star with an opt-out clause, like Snell).

The Padres have been without right-hander Yu Darvish for weeks as he tends to an undisclosed personal matter. He’s on the restricted list indefinitely. Right-hander Joe Musgrove has been out since May due to a bone spur in his elbow and is on the 60-day injured list. They currently have Dylan Cease, Michael King, Matt Waldron and Randy Vasquez in the rotation, but Vasquez has spent much of the season flirting with a 5.00 ERA while King has already set a new career-high for innings pitched. Adding Flaherty or another arm to the mix would both help to bridge the gap until Musgrove and/or Darvish are ready to return and also give the Padres another impact arm for a potential postseason rotation. A theoretical group fronted by Cease, Flaherty, Musgrove and Darvish would be formidable, assuming all four are healthy and active.

Padres To Acquire Jason Adam From Rays

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The Padres acquired right-hander Jason Adam from the Rays in exchange for three prospects, per announcements from both clubs. The Padres are sending righty Dylan Lesko, outfielder Homer Bush Jr. and catcher J.D. Gonzalez to Tampa. The Friars designated right-hander Glenn Otto for assignment to open a roster spot while the Rays reinstated Jeffrey Springs from the 60-day injured list to take Adam’s spot.

Like so many other players before him, Adam bounced around the league before finally becoming his best self in Tampa. He was drafted by the Royals back in 2010 and subsequently spent time in several organizations, including the Padres, as well as the Twins, Blue Jays and Cubs. He was non-tendered by the Cubs after 2021, at that point sitting on a 4.71 earned run average through 78 1/3 major league innings. He had struck out 27.9% of batters faced but also given out walks at a high rate of 11.4%.

The Rays signed him going into 2022 and he has taken his game to another level since then. He made 170 appearances as a Ray with a 2.30 ERA, 30.4% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. He has 24 saves and 51 holds in that time. That includes 47 appearances this year with a 2.49 ERA. His 27.8% strikeout rate in 2024 is a few ticks below recent years but his 47.3% ground ball rate is a personal best.

All contending clubs are looking to bolster their bullpens at this time of year and that’s especially true of the Padres. Their relief corps has a combined ERA of 4.19, which places them in the bottom third of the league. They’ve received good results from Robert Suarez, Jeremiah Estrada, Yuki Matsui and others but guys like Wandy Peralta and Enyel De Los Santos have struggled, with Peralta currently on the injured list.

Adding Adam and his skills to that relief group is understandably appealing, as is his modest salary. Though he turns 33 years old next month, his long journey to being established at the major league level has led to him having a delayed path to notable earnings. He qualified for arbitration for the first time going into 2023 as a Super Two player and made $1.775MM last year, getting a modest bump to $2.7MM here in 2024. He is eligible for two more arbitration seasons before he’s slated for free agency after 2026.

The Padres had to make significant salary cuts in the offseason, which led to Juan Soto getting trading to the Yankees. They have still attempted to field a competitive team here in 2024 and have succeeded. They are currently on a seven-game winning streak that has bumped them to 57-50 and possession of a National League Wild Card spot. But they seemingly want to avoid the competitive balance tax this year and are currently on pace to do so.

RosterResource calculates their CBT number at $225MM, roughly $12MM away from the $237MM base threshold. That appears to give them a decent amount of wiggle room but that’s an unofficial estimate. Adam has less than a $1MM left to be paid out this year, so he will only marginally increase San Diego’s CBT number, perhaps leaving the front office room for further moves.

The Rays aren’t buried in the standings but have decided to do some selling this year anyway, seemingly due to a combination of strong depth as well as a seller’s market. Their record is currently 53-52, just four games out of a playoff spot, yet they have already traded multiple established big leaguers for younger talent. They have sent Zach Eflin to the Orioles, Aaron Civale to the Brewers, Randy Arozarena to the Mariners and now Adam to the Padres.

They still have a chance to compete down the stretch but have not been shy about making these kinds of moves, seemingly content to add some young talent and save some money while trying to backfill the lost talent from within their own system. With Springs, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen nearing returns from elbow surgeries, they had readymade rotation replacements. Baz came up to take Civale’s spot and Springs is about to do the same for Eflin. Arozerena’s playing time can be given to guys like Richie Palacios or Jonny DeLuca, while the club always has intriguing bullpen arms on hand and can likely put together a solid relief corps even without Adam.

Lesko, 20, is viewed as the most intriguing part of their return in this deal. The Padres selected him 15th overall in 2022 and he has received plenty of love from prospect evaluators since then. His time in the minors has seen him miss plenty of bats but also the strike zone. He has thrown 69 2/3 innings over 16 starts at the High-A level this year with a 6.46 ERA. He has struck out 25% of batters faced but walked 16.5% of them.

Despite the control issues, he is still considered one of the better prospects in the league. FanGraphs currently lists him #88 overall and MLB Pipeline #76. Baseball America had him #38 overall coming into the year but he’s no longer on the top 100 and was recently bumped to #5 in the Padres’ system. Perhaps the Padres are moving on from a prospect that they have soured on or they have simply accepted this as the price of getting a quality reliever who is affordable and controllable. Either way, Tampa has a strong reputation of getting the best out of players and could perhaps get Lesko back on track in the years to come.

Bush is naturally the son of former big leaguer Homer Bush. The younger Bush was a fourth-round pick of the Padres last year. He is a speed-and-defense specialist with a contact-based approach at the plate. In 130 minor league games, he has seven home runs, a 9.5% walk rate and 15.7% strikeout rate, leading to a line of .290/.383/.379. He also has 65 steals in 76 tries. BA currently ranks him 12th in the Padres’ system.

Gonzalez was a third-round pick last year and BA currently ranks him #8 in the system. He is only hitting .205/.322/.230 in Single-A this year but is projected to potentially be a two-way player from behind the plate someday.

Otto was claimed off waivers in September. He began the year on the injured list with a right teres major strain. He began a rehab assignment in early June and was optioned later that month. He has tossed 15 1/3 innings in the minors this year with a 7.63 ERA. The Friars will have a few days to consider trades or put him on waivers.

The Padres have made a notable upgrade to their bullpen for the stretch run but surely aren’t done. Bob Nightengale of USA reports on X that they are now going to turn their attentions to the rotation. The Rays have already made a number of future-focused moves but could perhaps consider more, with players like Pete Fairbanks, Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz candidates to go in the coming days.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Adam was heading to the Padres on X. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN reported Lesko’s inclusion on X. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported on X that Bush and a third prospect were also going to Tampa. Joel Sherman of The New York Post first relayed Gonzalez on X.

Yankees, Padres Interested In Blake Snell

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The Yankees and Padres are two of the teams expressing interest in left-hander Blake Snell, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman writes (links to X).  Reports surfaced earlier this week that Snell was drawing interest from pitching-needy contenders, and New York and San Diego are the first clubs specifically known to gotten in touch with the Giants over Snell’s availability.

It remains to be seen if the Giants will actually move Snell, or be deadline sellers in any real capacity given that the team is still just 4.5 games out of a wild card berth.  Snell is himself a major factor in San Francisco’s renewed hopes of contention, as the southpaw has been almost untouchable since returning from the injured list.  Over his last four starts, Snell has a 0.75 ERA and a 35.7% strikeout rate, highlighted by a 15-strikeout gem of an outing against the Rockies yesterday.

This is the type of rotation-carrying production was what the Giants were hoping to receive when they signed the reigning Cy Young Award winner to a two-year, $62MM deal back in March.  However, Snell’s lengthy stint in free agency and subsequent lack of proper Spring Training work wreaked havoc on his performance, resulting in two IL stints (with an adductor strain and a groin strain) and a 9.51 ERA over his first six starts in a Giants uniform.

This recent injury history will obviously weigh on the minds of any team that does approach the Giants about a Snell trade, not to mention the fact that Snell can opt out of the second year (and $30MM salary) of his contract.  The presence of this opt-out clause means that Snell isn’t exactly a rental player, thus creating extra financial risk for an acquiring team, and some difficulty in working out an acceptable trade package with San Francisco.  Snell’s recent form increases the chances that he might exercise his player option, but if any more injury issues arise, Snell could pass on his opt-out and remain on the books for that hefty $30MM payday next year.

Snell is naturally a known quantity to the Padres after pitching with San Diego from 2021-23, but the financial aspect of a Snell trade is particularly noteworthy for a Padres team that is trying to remain under the luxury tax threshold this season, in order to reset its penalty status after two years of overages.  San Diego’s acquisition of Jason Adam from the Rays earlier today resulted in a pretty minor financial hit, though the Padres had to give up a hefty prospect package to obtain the reliever.  Payroll aside, there is also the broader fact that it seems rather unlikely that the Giants would trade Snell to a division rival.

The Bronx Bombers have long had Snell on their radar, and the six-year, $150MM offer Snell reportedly received from the Yankees in January is the highest contract known to be on the table for the left-hander during his elongated free agent market.  As Heyman notes, the luxury tax is also a factor given that New York has already topped the upper tier ($297MM) of tax penalties.  RosterResource estimates that the Yankees’ Competitive Balance Tax number is just shy of $312.9MM, and thus they would face a 110% tax on any further salaries added to their ledger.

Padres Notes: Taillon, Catching, DeVries

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Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon has reportedly drawn interest from several teams as the trade deadline approaches, and it appears as though the Padres can be added to that list.  The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, Ken Rosenthal, and Patrick Mooney write that the Friars “have Taillon on their radar,” as starting pitching remains a need in San Diego.

Joe Musgrove might be on the verge of starting a minor league rehab assignment this coming week, but he’ll need multiple ramp-up starts since he hasn’t pitched since May 26.  Yu Darvish’s last MLB game was on May 29 and his last minor league rehab game was on June 19, and his return date remains uncertain given how the veteran is still on the Padres’ restricted list dealing with a personal family issue.

San Diego’s rotation has still posted solid numbers even without these two frontline pitchers, with the trio of Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Matt Waldron leading the way.  Bolstering that group with a veteran like Taillon, however, would allow the Padres to bump the struggling Adam Mazur out of the starting mix.  Should the Padres get Musgrove, Darvish, and a new addition joining up with Cease, King, and Waldron, they could perhaps adopt a six-man rotation to keep everyone fresh for the playoff drive, or this semi-surplus could resolve itself should other injuries emerge.

Taillon is far more than just a rental player, as he isn’t yet halfway through the four-year, $68MM contract he signed with Chicago during the 2022-23 offseason.  Taillon receives $18MM in each season of the deal, so he has roughly $43MM remaining in owed salary — a number that won’t appeal to a Padres club that is trying to reset its Competitive Balance Tax status.  After paying the tax in each of the previous three seasons, staying under the CBT line was a known goal for the Padres this season, and the team is projected (as per RosterResource) for a current tax number of roughly $224.8MM.

While this gives San Diego some wiggle room under the $237MM tax threshold, acquiring Taillon would alone absorb the rest of that CBT space, to say nothing or any other additions the Padres might might before the deadline.  The Padres could look to sweeten the prospect return in order to get the Cubs to cover a larger chunk of Taillon’s remaining salary, or perhaps some kind of larger multi-player deal could be arranged involving a notable contract heading from San Diego to Chicago to help offset the Taillon contract.  A.J. Preller and Jed Hoyer are no strangers to creative trades, and it is perhaps worth noting that the two clubs have been linked up on multiple trades over the last eight years — most notably the blockbuster that sent Darvish to San Diego during the 2020-21 offseason.

Speculatively speaking, it might be more likely that the Padres view Taillon as something of a backup plan, as one would imagine the Friars would first explore less-expensive options before considering adding another long-term pitching contract into the organization.  A possible trade might also be a moot point if Taillon happens to have San Diego as one of the 10 teams on his no-trade list, as his contract contains some partial protection against a deal.

Winners of their last six games, the streaking Padres have moved into a wild card position, and are only percentage points behind the Mets for the top NL wild card spot.  Since San Diego is only 6.5 games behind the Dodgers, the NL West title isn’t yet out of the question, but in any regard, the Padres are heating up at just the right time.  Preller figures to be aggressive in buying at the deadline to fully cement his team as a contender after missing the playoffs in 2023, even if upgrading while staying under the CBT line presents an interesting secondary challenge.

Beyond pitching, the Padres might also need help behind the plate, as the New York’s Post Jon Heyman writes that catching could be a target area.  Luis Campusano and Kyle Higashioka have handled the catching duties this season, with Campusano hitting .237/.280/.375 with six home runs over 239 plate appearances and Higashioka showing unexpected pop in hitting .226/.269/.540 with 12 homers in 145 PA.

That translates to a 127 wRC+ for Higashioka and an 89 wRC+ for Campusano, who has also posted subpar defensive metrics.  Former top prospect Campusano was seemingly starting to break out in 2023, but this season’s tough results could at least result in the loss of more playing time, if the Padres opt for the hotter hand in Higashioka.  Adding a new catcher would shake things up entirely, and Campusano could potentially see himself sent to Triple-A in that scenario since he still has a minor league option remaining.

Since Ethan Salas is one of baseball’s top prospects, the Padres already have a “catcher of the future” in the wings for a couple of seasons down the road, giving them some leverage to eventually move on from Campusano if he can’t get back on track.  Of course, there is danger in shuffling the catching position at midseason, and some teams shy away from deadline catching trades since it can be difficult on a catcher to join a new team and learn a new pitching staff’s tendencies on the fly.

Speaking of prospects, it remains to be seen how willing the Padres are to trade significantly from a minor league pipeline that has already been heavily mined for trades in recent years.  The Athletic’s Dennis Lin opines that shortstop prospect Leodalis De Vries might not be entirely untouchable in trade talks but is at least close to such status, as “the Padres will not consider moving him for anything less than controllable, star-level talent.”

The 17-year-old De Vries was an international signing just this past January, inked to a hefty $4.2MM bonus.  De Vries has already started to deliver on his potential by hitting .242/.362/.450 with nine homers and 11 steals (in 12 attempts) over his first 276 professional plate appearances, all at the A-level.  Xander Bogaerts told Lin that he was very impressed by De Vries’ talent and maturity when the two were briefly teammates during Bogaerts’ minor league rehab assignment this season, further enhancing De Vries’ status as a possible future cornerstone in the Padres’ lineup.  It is fair to assume plenty of other teams have taken notice and asked about De Vries in trade talks, giving Preller another big chip to possibly consider dangling for the right return by July 30.

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