Padres Insider Expects Team to Make Big Trade Deadline Acquisition

Last year, the Padres made six trades after the regular season got rolling. It's hard to imagine the team going as far as it did in 2024 without Luis Arraez, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott, or Martin Perez.

Who will be the Padres' big in-season acquisition this year?

It's too soon to say, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, but "there's a good chance" general manager AJ Preller will acquire a hitter between now and the July 31 trade deadline.

Of particular concern, Cassavell notes, is left field. The envisioned platoon of Jason Heyward and Connor Joe never quite materialized as hoped.

Joe, the right-handed half of the platoon, was traded to the Reds last week after going 0 for 9 with the Padres. Heyward, the left-handed half, is slashing .173/.226/.280.

It isn't Joe's fault that the Padres had amazingly not faced a left-handed starting pitcher in a while before this week. Given the abundance of righties he's been able to face, Heyward's slash line looks less forgivable.

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In the aggregate, Padres left fielders enter Thursday's off-day ranked 27th among the 30 big league clubs according to wRC+, an all-encompassing hitting metric. Cassavell writes that the Padres' "problems in left are bigger than merely finding someone to start against lefties."

This was a known problem entering the season after the Padres opted not to re-sign Jurickson Profar, an All-Star a year ago. Profar tested positive for a banned substance in March, fetching an 80-game suspension, so it's not as if he could be helping in San Diego right now.

Among the names sure to stir speculation is Kyle Stowers. The El Cajon native is having a breakout season in Miami, slashing .300/.375/.571 for the rebuilding Marlins. Preller hooked up with Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix last year on two trades — one for Luis Arraez, another for Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing — which is often a reliable predictor of teams engaging in the future.

But Stowers still has less than two years of major league service time, which could motivate Bendix to hold onto the hot-hitting 27-year-old.

Angels left fielder Taylor Ward, a popular trade candidate a year ago, is off to a slow start in Anaheim (.186/.227/.410). Last year, Ward slashed .325/.377/.496 against lefties, and the Padres could limit his exposure to lefties in a platoon situation if the Angels make him available again.

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