Padres trade Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan to Twins for Taylor Rogers, Brent Rooker

The deal gives the Padres a new closer in Rogers after last season's stopper, Mark Melancon, signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in December. Melancon posted 39 saves in 2021 and earned his fourth All-Star appearance, while Rogers recorded nine saves and made his first career All-Star team.

Rogers shared closing duties in Minnesota last year but was the team's primary ninth-inning man in 2019 (30 saves) and during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, when he registered nine saves. A 2017 first-round pick by the Twins, Rooker has hit 10 home runs and posted 21 RBIs in 189 career at-bats over 65 games.

Paddack was selected by the Miami Marlins in the eighth round of the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft and was traded to San Diego for former three-time All-Star closer Fernando Rodney in June 2016. Paddack made his big-league debut on March 31, 2019 and over the last three years, has gone 20-19 with a 4.21 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 310 strikeouts over 308 innings pitched covering 61 games (60 starts).

Since breaking in with the Seattle Mariners in 2017, Pagan has mostly been used as a middle-to-late inning reliever, producing a career-high 20 saves with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. Prior to joining the Padres for the 2020 season, Pagan was with the Mariners in 2017, Oakland Athletics in 2018 and Rays in 2019.