The Padres are known to be very interested in the White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet as they look for improvements in the rotation, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that “right-handed shutdown” is San Diego’s “top” priority right now.
A right-handed shortstop makes sense for the Padres, whose late-game arms bend slightly to the left. Over here Robert Suarezthe upper right-hand arms of the Friars are Jeremiah Estrada again Another De Los Santos. Estrada has been impressive this season, pitching in 21 innings of 0.86 ERA ball with a whopping 43.2% strikeout rate against an 8.6% walk rate. De Los Santos has pitched a solid 3.54 earned run average, but has given up eight home runs in just 28 innings (2.57 HR/9). He has six ribs but wasn’t usually the preferred option in the highs – not all that surprising given his home run issues.
Other right-handed options in manager Mike Shildt’s bullpen include the Rule 5 pick Stephen Kolek and a long shortcut Johnny Brito. Kolek posted an ERA just shy of 6.00 while occasionally working in minor league positions as the Padres tried to navigate the season with him in the big league lineup. Brito has been used in relief for a long time and has settled in well in that role. They are less likely to move to shorter, higher-level areas.
Estrada and southpaw Yuki Matsui have been the main options in Suarez’s set-up situations. But Estrada pitched just 39 1/3 innings last season and doesn’t have a major league hit record outside of this year’s outing. He’s also been more effective against lefties than righties, though neither can mount much in the way of offense.
San Diego’s reported interest in Crochet and their preseason trade activity could be instructive when looking at potential bullpen targets. Beyond Crochet’s usual prominence, he’s also being paid an $800K salary this season. In the Padres’ acquisition of Luis Arraezthey not only convinced the Marlins to pay the remainder of Arraez’s salary to the league minimum but also returned a two-year, $4.5MM release clause. Woo-Suk Go. It is reasonable to expect that they would have some interest in freeing up minimum wages (or paying a heavy prospect premium to convince their trade partners to pay a minimum wage).
San Diego is about $12MM shy of the luxury tax cap, according to RosterResource, with a salary cap of $166MM. They haven’t been afraid to spend beyond their means in the past, but the Padres also cut salary by more than $80MM this past season. It seems unlikely that they will return the reliever to a significant contract unless the current relief team includes money to help with the trade.
In Oakland Mason Miller He stands as one obvious choice — and he’s exactly the type of high-profile player the Padres baseball president often pursues with unparalleled ferocity. Team mate Lucas Erceg, who was just returned to the injured list today, is another speculative candidate who could fit the bill. Other names will become more clear as July 30 inches closer and as the teams plan more precisely for their deadline. Some speculative words to keep in mind for current competitors include Ryan Helsley (Cardinals), I’m Garcia (Blue Jays) and Hunter Harvey (Foreigners) to name only a few.
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