The Milwaukee Brewers made something of a strange trade, sending starting third baseman Caleb Durbin and two utility players to the Boston Red Sox for a package of three players that included versatile infielder David Hamilton. Given that such a trade creates a new void for the Crew at third base — and the fact that Hamilton’s more of a reserve type than a starter — the San Diego Padres could be primed to take advantage. 

Milwaukee no longer has a third baseman. Not only that, they traded a pair of players who could have filled in at the position for a time in Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler. There is no firm conclusion as to what things could now look like at the hot corner, though the possibility exists that they flip shortstop Joey Ortiz back over to third and let newly-acquired prospect Jett Williams handled duties at the six. That’s a lot to put on a prospect with no big league experience, however. 

Enter the Padres. 

The Friars don’t figure to be a team especially lauded for their depth outside of the bullpen. But position players, they have. And with the team desperately in need of some help on the starting pitching front, there’s a logical connection to be made between the two organizations. 

It’s not a terribly obvious fit. The Padres have Gavin Sheets, Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts, and Manny Machado set to start across their infield. Sung Mun Song figures to spend time at all four spots, and Miguel Andujar will occasionally fill in at a corner. They also have the likes of Mason McCoy and Will Wagner on the 40-man roster and José Miranda coming to camp on a minor-league deal. It’s a lot of bodies, even if it may not be much in the way of certifiable depth. However, such volume does lend itself to the idea of attempting to capitalize on the Brewers’ current positional deficiency. 

Is there a world where the Brewers — who spun Caleb Durbin into a quality defender within a calendar year — would be interested in doing the same with Jake Cronenworth? It might be a tougher sell in a lineup that’s already heavy on left-handed hitting, but they’re also a team that likes versatility. A transition to third while maintaining the ability to hang at each of the three infield spots could be enticing. His upside at the plate compared to the Padres’ other options in this imaginary world also represents the opportunity to get the most effective return. 

Even McCoy or Wagner could have their purpose in the hypothetical game. You’re not going to net one of the top rotation options, but perhaps there’s a framework to be generated around one of the more fringe types currently on the Milwaukee staff. The Padres are in a position where another team’s fringe is their full-time starter, after all. Given that volume exists on both ends of this these fake trade talks, though, it makes projecting anything remotely finite nearly impossible. We’re merely offering a more general scenario.

On the Brewers’ end of things, they’re not necessarily looking to move a starter just as the Padres aren’t looking to move a position player. Intriguing names exist, however. Brandon Woodruff and Jacob Misiorowski are each, of course, not likely to be considered here; Woodruff costs too much for the Padres’ books, while Misiorowski was one of the genuine breakouts of 2025. Robert Gasser and Logan Henderson each have upside, but it’s also possible that the Brewers are more interested in retaining Brandon Sproat and giving one of the two a change of scenery to accommodate the arm they acquired from the New York Mets. Chad Patrick represents more of a back-end option that could maybe be had to eat some innings. Is Quinn Priester too valuable to do the same, or could the Padres make something work there, too? 

Despite so much uncertainty in what a framework would look like, it’s worth noting that the two organizations also have a transactional history. The two sides came together on the trade that brought Josh Hader to San Diego back in 2022 and, prior to that, San Diego acquired Trent Grisham and Zach Davies from Milwaukee in 2019. A move here may lack the magnitude of either deal (particularly the 2019 agreement), but one can’t completely underestimate such a factor in trade matters. 

The only logical picture to be created here is that there is a broad fit. The Padres need arms, and the Brewers need some help on the positional side. What the intricacies of that all look like is anybody’s guess. The thing that is clear, though, is that there is a fit and there is a history. With the team running out of time to build ahead of the upcoming season, perhaps there’s something to the abstract that could manifest into something more concrete in the near future.

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