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San Diego Padres General Manager AJ Preller
This offseason, the San Diego Padres lost Luis Arraez in free agency to the San Francisco Giants and Ryan O’Hearn to the Pittsburgh Pirates. That leaves a hole at first base for the Padres. As far as all offseason moves, San Diego has added pitching, which includes bringing back starter Michael King.
Losing Arraez could be a big loss at first base. As far as replacing him goes, Jake Cronenworth is an internal option, but there is also an opportunity for the Padres to address the need through a trade. David Schoenfield of ESPN predicted some trades that could shake up spring training. One of those deals involved San Diego and a three-time Gold Glove winner.
San Diego Padres Predicted to Acquire Christian Walker
Schoenfield had a prediction that had Christian Walker coming over to the Padres in exchange for pitcher Bradgley Rodriguez in his predicted trade with the Houston Astros. Adding Walker is someone who would solidify first base for San Diego in 2026.
“Walker didn’t have a good first season in Houston, his OPS+ slipping from 120 to 97, although he hit 27 home runs and Statcast still viewed him as a plus defender at first base. (Other metrics weren’t as generous, but Walker won three straight Gold Gloves from 2022 to 2024, so I would be more inclined to go with the Statcast evaluation),” wrote Schoenfield.
Fielding aside, Walker would be an upgrade in terms of power from Arraez. Make no mistake about it, Arraez is a tremendous contact hitter, but in terms of power numbers alone, it is an upgrade.
In his first season in Houston, Walker slashed .238/.297/.421 with 27 home runs and 88 RBIs. During his 11-year career, his average over a 162-game season is 29 home runs and 87 runs driven in. The Padres would welcome that production at first base.
The move would allow Cronenworth to play his more natural position at second base. Walker was a three-time Gold Glove winner with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Padres Adding Christian Walker Would Help Houston Shed Payroll
Clearly, Walker would provide an offensive boost for San Diego. Parting ways with the 22-year-old Rodriguez, who has made seven MLB appearances, might be worth it to add Walker. It also gives the Astros much-needed bullpen help. More importantly, Walker is under team control for two years, and Houston would have to pay some of his remaining $40 million.
“Rodriguez is a big-league-ready reliever who can help a Houston bullpen that is a little thin from the right side beyond Bryan Abreu, and while the Astros would have to pay down some of the $40 million owed to Walker the next two seasons, trading him would still clear some payroll to make another move,” Schoenfield added.
This is a deal that would help the Padres as much as the Astros. Walker would provide the offensive production power-wise that San Diego has been looking for at first base. Houston general manager Dana Brown has multiple infielders that teams would like to add. Isaac Paredes is the other. In terms of overall production, Walker would be the best addition for the Padres for the next two years.
Scott Roche Scott Roche covers college football, NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com and has three decades of sports writing, covering everything from college to professional sports. More about Scott Roche
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