Padres Trade Talks INTENSIFYING…

Padres’s trade talks intensifying as this report reveals these players could be made available and would be perfect fits for the Padres’s offensively and I think we should talk about it. Hi, welcome back to another episode of Padres’s Digest with your host Andrew. Please apply if you would like. As always, today or I guess yesterday which is still today for me, I talked about pitchers. Now we are talking about hitters on the Jeff Passan article ranking players who could be traded. And I think there’s some good players here. Uh again, as always, I am fully aware that our prospect pool is not as deep as it used to be. But I don’t think these players are going to be super expensive. Let me not mute my notifications. My bad. Uh well, they’re not going to be cheap, but they’re not going to be super expensive. Let’s put it that way. I think they’re still solid enough that they’ll cost something, but not something too expensive. And as it’s already been proven throughout the uh I don’t know the entire time AJ Peller is here, we’re good at finding talent and that talent being proven to be good enough in the majors. So teams trust us. Let’s put it that way. And that’s the biggest bargaining chip we honestly have is that teams trust us in my opinion. But let me look at three players for you. So, the first two are we’re going to talk about the most. And the last one, I swear to God, I’ve done like three videos on him. So, I’m not going to spend too much time on Yandi Diaz. Uh, if you look back on our channel, like I swear to God, I did a video on him like less than a month ago. Uh, but we I’ll still include him, right? Because I think he’s my biggest want from an offensive trade piece. I know he’s getting older and we’ll talk about it, but I still think he’s my biggest want. But everyone else has a good place, right? So, let’s start with Brandon Low. So, second baseman for the Rays, but he can kind of play anywhere to be honest. A per oh 25% chance of getting traded. Ignore the ads. I can’t give it. I mean, I do have the ad block, but anyways, the point being, ignore that. Uh, the buzz, a perpetual trade candidate, Low is in his final of two option years after a six-year extension at 11.5 million. and his contract is affordable enough that teams with holes at second base could try to weedle the Rays into moving him. Tampa Bay Lo Tampa Bay Lows taking a step back though and considering the activity of the Rays AL East compatriots only a strong offer would do the trick. Lowe’s defense at second base hovered around average to slightly below for most of his career but it regressed to negative9 runs last season while his base running value turned negative for the first time in his career. low 31 is beginning to regress physically, but still has impact in the batters box, leading to 31 home runs and a 256 average last season. Team fits Padres’s number three. So, there’s a lot going on right here, right? They are still expensive. I mean, 11.5 isn’t cheap, but it’s a good price for what he is. The Rays, it’ll be a little bit more expensive. Probably of all the players on this list, it’ll probably be the most expensive. Uh, but for what we need on this team, which is Slug, uh, I think Low would have the best fit. So, most expensive, but best fit. Sometimes in life, it’s not always that easy, right? But let’s look at Brandon Low for a little bit. So, pretty good. Batting run value is above average. Not crazy above average, but still good enough, right? Base running is going down. That’s not our biggest concern. And our fielding run value, fielding is not great. That being said, we do need a DH still. So, if we can keep Cronin Worf at second, put Sheets at first base fulltime, and then put Brandon Low at I mean, I think he even plays first base to be honest. I might be wrong about that. Uh, but him at first base or DH, like there’s a spot for Brandon Low on this team. Uh, so Brandon Low 25% chance of getting traded, but they need a lefty bat with pop to replace Chronor’s production gap. Rays always listen on players with one year control left. low fits the Padres’s pro uh the Preller profile buy low power bat. I would say he’s more like a buy medium buy high power bat, but I don’t know. But mid-tier prospect plus lotto uh mid to make maybe mid high. It depends on what the Rays want to do, right? Uh perfect left-handed platoon bat versus right-handed pitchers. Uh I did not bring up his splits. I was curious about that. Uh I’ll do that right now while I distract you with my uh speakings. Oh, I realized that that just moved that for me. Oops. Okay, my bad. Hold on. We’ll look at that right now. Uh, but his contract, as we said, he is going to be a free agent next year, and this is going to be 11.5 uh contract this year. So, again, a little bit more expensive. Uh, okay, let’s see. Against lefties, not great, but against righties, very good, but he’s an everyday bat. So, we face more righties than we do lefties in the MLB. But you can see the slug, right? Good slugger. home runs, 14 in 2020, uh 2020 though, uh 39 in 2021, 31 in 2025, and even if we regressed back to 20, that would still be a good amount for us in my opinion. Uh but he’s a solid player, solid team guy. I think he would be a nice fit, just maybe a little too expensive, but if anyone can pull something off, it is AJ Prowler. But let me know what you guys think about that. And obviously I kind of spoiled the next one, but it wasn’t really that much of a spoiler to be honest. Jeff McNeel. So this one is a me choice, and I’ll tell you why in a sec. But chance of getting traded 80%. The acquisition of Marcus Simeon took away McNeel’s at bats at second base, and he’s not a great defensive outfielder, which for a team looking to shore up its fielding is suboptimal. The expectation then is that McNeel will be dealt even if New York needs to eat some of his $15.75 million deal with a $2 million buyout on an option for 2027. McNeel, excuse me, McNeel is a nice to have utility player who can play capably all over the field and hit at a league average or better rate from the left side. He’ll be 34 in April. isn’t an impact type of player and has had some injuries the past few seasons, but he’s a valuable role player on a contender or a nice upgrade for a small market club looking to fit its offensive floor. Team fits. You’ll notice the Padres’s are not on there, but I think there’s a spot for Jeff McNeel somewhere on this team, whether it’s an everyday starter or if he’s cheap enough, someone who can like fill in some small gaps or like there’s an injury or something. Uh, but as you can see, not horrible. Like he doesn’t strike out that much. He gets a good amount of walks. Like his on base is pretty good. It’s not amazing, but it’s good, right? Uh doesn’t chase. I mean, he’s around average on chase, but he does not hit the ball very hard. He gets the sweet spot a lot, but he doesn’t hit it very hard. And that’s why his batting average was only 243. So 2023 was 270 and it’s been dropping off slowly. Home runs have gone up a little bit, but again, 12 home runs. He’s not a I mean, his slug is actually not that bad. I mean, 411. Uh but my point being he’s not a home run hitter, right? But he’s a high trade likelihood, which means the Mets want to get rid of him. Would they trade for with us? I don’t know. But a high contact, low strikeout, versatile left-handed hitter. Mets want to shed payroll. Plus roster crunch after Simeon. Low to mid prospects. Mets may eat some money. Ideal number one or two hitter. Slides around second, left, right field. Uh I even saw he can play first base again, which would be a good fit for us because we need a first baseman. Uh I’m not saying he’s the best pick. I’m not saying he’s the guy who’s going to like fix the team. I’m not saying he’s the guy who’s going to like I don’t know solve all our problems, but as you can see like from his stats below, he’s been a very good hitter. Uh it’s just not He’s getting older, right? He’s getting older. It’s it’s it’s I don’t know, natural. It’s expected. Uh but if they eat the contract and we pay 8 million, I don’t know. I don’t think that’s not worth it. I think if he’s cheap enough and they eat enough of the contract, uh, he would be like a better um, uh, Jose Glaciius, you know what I mean? Yes, this is kind of a stretch. I’m not going to lie, but I think there’s potential there is all I’m trying to say. Uh, and then finally, the last player, Yandi Diaz. Again, I’ve talked about him a billion times, but 25% chance of getting uh traded on a 12 million deal with a $10 million club option that vests at 13 million with 500 play appear plate appearances next year. So, if he makes 500 plate appearances next year, it’ll have a 10 million club option. Uh Diaz’s contract is very affordable. Whether the Rays are willing to trade him is another question. They’ve got Jonathan Aronda at first base and they’ve got enough DH bats to go around. And yet there’s skepticism that they’ll move Diaz, who has spent the last seven seasons with the team. Diaz, 34, doesn’t offer much base running or defensive ability, but he’s reliable at the plate. If he can get close to last year’s number, 300 average, and 25 home runs, he’ll be a huge bargain. And his option would be an easy pickup given his age, his bat speed could decrease soon. Team fit number one, Padres’s. again talk about him a billion times. So I I you should already know by now how much I would like having Yondi Diaz on this team. I think he would be a perfect fit. Again, 25 home runs is not Petonto, right? But 25 home runs would still mean a lot for this team. 482 slug would be huge for this team. Uh basically everything is red on that besides sweet spot and barrel. Uh so what’s not to like? And he can be a DH. He can be a first baseman. He can do like a we do like a a rise and a O’Harn type situation where they split first base reps. But Padres’s love a bat first guy to lengthen the lineup. Lengthen the lineup for cheap. Yandi Diaz fits the buy a bat to make offense declines approach. Wait, buy a bat to mask offense declines approach. I can read why he’s lower. Age 34 defensive ground grade would primarily DH. Rays may prefer moving low instead, which I would take. uh cost moderate. Solid, but not a priority. I wouldn’t call him a priority either, but I think he would be a solid option. If he gets 300 at bats, we can pay him 10 million when he hits 35. So, why not? Why not? I I think he fits very nicely onto this team. And what do you guys think? Is there any other players you would like us to discuss? There’s a longer list uh that they have of like lesser known or like more low-key players. I can do that. I don’t know how bottom of the barrel you guys want me to uh dig dig dive into. I don’t know. Whatever. Uh but yeah, let me know what you guys think. Do you like them? Do you hate them? What would you rate them? And as always, have a fantastic rest of your day. Please subscribe as always and go Padres’s. Goodbye.

Today, Andrew McFarland talks about 3 more possible trades the Padres could make, this time on the offensive side, while not a necessity, it could always use a little work…

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