Remember how I talked about how the Royals should look to kill two birds with one stone by getting an established outfielder and prospects in return for Ragans? Well, this trade blows that idea out of the water.
That said, if the Royals can only get a one-for-one deal with Ragans, they might as well shoot high and acquire Tatis in an agreement that BTV’s model accepted.
Surprisingly, Tatis may be more available than some baseball fans would like to think. His BTV surplus value is 83.3, slightly higher than Ragans’. However, he also commands a super long-term deal, one of many that San Diego has on their payroll (Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts being the others). He also only posted an .807 OPS, down from his .833 mark in 2024.
Thus, the Padres may view a possible Ragans-Tatis trade as an avenue to improve their starting pitching (they lack depth after No. 1 starter Nick Pivetta, especially after Dylan Cease signed with the Blue Jays this offseason) while shedding some short-term payroll. Still, he posted a 6.1 fWAR in 2025, and his Statcast percentiles showed that Tatis is one of the most naturally talented hitters in the league.