San Diego Padres Trade For Philadelphia Phillies Freddy Galvis

After trading for Chase Headley and Bryan Mitchell prior to moving Ryan Schimpf, the San Diego Padres have made another deal, acquiring shortstop Freddy Galvis from the Philadelphia Phillies.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale broke the story and added that the Phillies would receive pitching prospect Enyel De Los Santos from the Padres. De Los Santos is currently San Diego’s 13th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

The Padres reportedly had 8-9 players on their shortstop  wishlist with Galvis regarded as one of the favorites. General Manager A.J. Preller was able to land his man, giving San Diego a defensive-minded shortstop who Nightengale believes could woo Eric Hosmer to sign.

Galvis has been in the major leagues for six seasons, appearing in 642 games, hitting .245 with 52 home runs, 233 RBIs and 43 stolen bases. In 2016 Galvis was dangerously close to hitting the 20/20 plateau with 20 home runs and 17 stolen bases.

While his offensive production is nice, Galvis is known more so for his glove. In 2016 he finished behind just Brandon Crawford for the National League Gold Glove at shortstop. He is one of the best defenders at arguably the hardest position in the league. That defense is something Preller was certainly intrigued in during trade discussions.

Galvis is a free agent after the end of this season, however outside of his play on the field, he provides San Diego with two key necesities.

One, as Nightengale points out, he makes the Padres much more of a win-now team. That attitude could lure Hosmer or others to San Diego in free agency. His addition makes the Padres a much more legit team and could help them inch closers to that .500 mark before they are ready to compete. As free agents see the Padres no longer rebuilding and forming a team who will try to win games in 2018, they will be more likely to sign with them.

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Galvis also works as a stop-gap for top prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis is only 18, yet he is already banging on the major league wall. The Padres were smart to give him another year of seasoning though before bringing him up. Tatis should be ready by 2019, but by then he will be trained to face a higher level of pitching.

Galvis gives the Padres a player who can hit as well and field, and helps them bridge the gap to one of their best prospects. While he may not be a name brand guy like Zack Cozart, he is cheaper and provides one of the best gloves in all of the MLB.

As for what the Padres gave up, De Los Santos looked like a promising pitcher in the team’s farm system. MLB Pipeline wrote:

De Los Santos has already shown rapid improvement since he began his pro career, and there might be plenty more left in the tank. His fastball usually sits between 93-95 mph and has been gunned as high as 97, and he throws it with plenty of life down in the zone, leading to a good amount of ground-ball outs. De Los Santos already shows feel for an average curveball that he can throw for a strike, while his changeup shows glimpses of becoming an above-average pitch.De Los Santos floods the zone with strikes and has natural bat-missing ability, and scouts expect him to induce even more whiffs with improved control and command. He might be far off from being big league ready, but all the ingredients are there for him to become a No. 4 or 5 starter.

As a pitching needy team, it seems weird for the Padres to trade a highly touted pitcher. However seven pitchers sat in front of him in San Diego’s farm system. As the Padres exit from their rebuild and start working towards contention, some prospects must be used to add better, major league proven players.

Ben Higgins of Padres Radio says it best when he writes:

Overall, this seems like a successful and necessary trade for the Padres. They were able to land a shortstop they coveted who will help them win in 2018 while serving as a stopgap to Frenando Tatis Jr. in 2019. Freddy Galvis is one of the more underrated players in the MLB and his excellent glove work alone makes this a solid coup for San Diego.

Preller has already made three trades this offense and with a players like Brad Hand, Chase Headley and Yangervis Solarte still available, there are sure to be more. With Galvis in tow, the Padres are such to make many more moves, which should make for an exciting offseason in San Diego.

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