The San Diego Padres will have to hope that teams around Major League Baseball will be willing to sell at the trade deadline. There are a few guaranteed sellers, including the Athletics, Baltimore Orioles in some sense, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins, and a few others.
However, the one team from that list that the Padres will have to hope sells and sells hard is the Athletics.
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The Athletics, however, have something brewing in Sacramento, and with their eventual move to Las Vegas, it’s possible that the front office won’t want to move on from any of their young players.
Despite that, Dennis Lin of The Athletic recently proposed the idea of the Padres trading for Shea Langeliers, one of the better hitting catchers in Major League Baseball.
“Soon, it might be a moot debate. The Padres appear determined to acquire an upgrade at catcher by this month’s trade deadline. The Atlanta Braves’ Sean Murphy is a longtime target; San Diego has had interest dating back to at least the first half of 2022, when Murphy still played for the Athletics. Current A’s catcher Shea Langeliers is another potential target,” he wrote.
The Athletics don’t have much of a reason to move on from Langeliers, as he’s only arbitration-eligible in 2026 and doesn’t hit free agency until 2029.
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Even if he’s somewhat expensive in 2029, the Athletics still have multiple years with him under control for a good price.
During the 2025 campaign, he’s had some struggles, but in 2024, he blasted 29 home runs and posted a 111 OPS+.