Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon has reportedly drawn curiosity from a number of groups because the commerce deadline approaches, and it seems as if the Padres might be added to that listing. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, Ken Rosenthal, and Patrick Mooney write that the Friars “have Taillon on their radar,” as beginning pitching stays a necessity in San Diego.
Joe Musgrove could be on the verge of beginning a minor league rehab project this coming week, however he’ll want a number of ramp-up begins since he hasn’t pitched since Could 26. Yu Darvish’s final MLB recreation was on Could 29 and his final minor league rehab recreation was on June 19, and his return date stays unsure given how the veteran remains to be on the Padres’ restricted listing coping with a private household subject.
San Diego’s rotation has nonetheless posted strong numbers even with out these two frontline pitchers, with the trio of Dylan Stop, Michael King, and Matt Waldron main the best way. Bolstering that group with a veteran like Taillon, nonetheless, would permit the Padres to bump the struggling Adam Mazur out of the beginning combine. Ought to the Padres get Musgrove, Darvish, and a brand new addition becoming a member of up with Stop, King, and Waldron, they may maybe undertake a six-man rotation to maintain everybody contemporary for the playoff drive, or this semi-surplus may resolve itself ought to different accidents emerge.
Taillon is excess of only a rental participant, as he isn’t but midway by way of the four-year, $68MM contract he signed with Chicago in the course of the 2022-23 offseason. Taillon receives $18MM in every season of the deal, so he has roughly $43MM remaining in owed wage — a quantity that received’t enchantment to a Padres membership that’s attempting to reset its Aggressive Stability Tax standing. After paying the tax in every of the earlier three seasons, staying underneath the CBT line was a recognized aim for the Padres this season, and the group is projected (as per RosterResource) for a present tax variety of roughly $224.8MM.
Whereas this provides San Diego some wiggle room underneath the $237MM tax threshold, buying Taillon would alone soak up the remainder of that CBT house, to say nothing or some other additions the Padres may may earlier than the deadline. The Padres may look to sweeten the prospect return in an effort to get the Cubs to cowl a bigger chunk of Taillon’s remaining wage, or maybe some type of bigger multi-player deal could possibly be organized involving a notable contract heading from San Diego to Chicago to assist offset the Taillon contract. A.J. Preller and Jed Hoyer aren’t any strangers to inventive trades, and it’s maybe value noting that the 2 golf equipment have been linked up on a number of trades over the past eight years — most notably the blockbuster that despatched Darvish to San Diego in the course of the 2020-21 offseason.
Speculatively talking, it could be extra seemingly that the Padres view Taillon as one thing of a backup plan, as one would think about the Friars would first discover less-expensive choices earlier than contemplating including one other long-term pitching contract into the group. A attainable commerce may additionally be a moot level if Taillon occurs to have San Diego as one of many 10 groups on his no-trade listing, as his contract incorporates some partial safety towards a deal.
Winners of their final six video games, the streaking Padres have moved right into a wild card place, and are solely proportion factors behind the Mets for the highest NL wild card spot. Since San Diego is just 6.5 video games behind the Dodgers, the NL West title isn’t but out of the query, however in any regard, the Padres are heating up at simply the fitting time. Preller figures to be aggressive in shopping for on the deadline to totally cement his group as a contender after lacking the playoffs in 2023, even when upgrading whereas staying underneath the CBT line presents an attention-grabbing secondary problem.
Past pitching, the Padres may additionally need assistance behind the plate, because the New York’s Put up Jon Heyman writes that catching could possibly be a goal space. Luis Campusano and Kyle Higashioka have dealt with the catching duties this season, with Campusano hitting .237/.280/.375 with six residence runs over 239 plate appearances and Higashioka exhibiting surprising pop in hitting .226/.269/.540 with 12 homers in 145 PA.
That interprets to a 127 wRC+ for Higashioka and an 89 wRC+ for Campusano, who has additionally posted subpar defensive metrics. Former high prospect Campusano was seemingly beginning to escape in 2023, however this season’s powerful outcomes may no less than end result within the lack of extra enjoying time, if the Padres go for the warmer hand in Higashioka. Including a brand new catcher would shake issues up solely, and Campusano may doubtlessly see himself despatched to Triple-A in that situation since he nonetheless has a minor league possibility remaining.
Since Ethan Salas is one among baseball’s high prospects, the Padres have already got a “catcher of the longer term” within the wings for a few seasons down the highway, giving them some leverage to ultimately transfer on from Campusano if he can’t get again on observe. After all, there’s hazard in shuffling the catching place at midseason, and a few groups draw back from deadline catching trades since it may be troublesome on a catcher to hitch a brand new group and be taught a brand new pitching employees’s tendencies on the fly.
Talking of prospects, it stays to be seen how prepared the Padres are to commerce considerably from a minor league pipeline that has already been closely mined for trades in recent times. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin opines that shortstop prospect Leodalis De Vries may not be solely untouchable in commerce talks however is no less than near such standing, as “the Padres is not going to take into account transferring him for something lower than controllable, star-level expertise.”
The 17-year-old De Vries was a world signing simply this previous January, inked to a hefty $4.2MM bonus. De Vries has already began to ship on his potential by hitting .242/.362/.450 with 9 homers and 11 steals (in 12 makes an attempt) over his first 276 skilled plate appearances, all on the A-level. Xander Bogaerts instructed Lin that he was very impressed by De Vries’ expertise and maturity when the 2 had been briefly teammates throughout Bogaerts’ minor league rehab project this season, additional enhancing De Vries’ standing as a attainable future cornerstone within the Padres’ lineup. It’s truthful to imagine loads of different groups have taken discover and requested about De Vries in commerce talks, giving Preller one other massive chip to presumably take into account dangling for the fitting return by July 30.
