San Diego Padres: Three Trades That Could Happen This Week

The San Diego Padres need to make room on the 40-man roster and have plenty of players they can move.

The deadline to add Rule-5 draft-eligible players to the 40-man roster is in just a few days and the San Diego Padres need to make a number of subtractions, otherwise, they are sure to lose a few top 30 prospects and receive nothing in return. This upcoming week is sure to be full of roster moves, including a few possible trades.

San Diego has already traded away minor league catcher Raffy Lopez to the Atlanta Braves and designated Kazuhisa Makita for assignment to clear space on the 40-man to reinstate injured players Clayton Richard, Franchy Cordero, and Dinelson Lamet. Now, AJ Preller must decide which prospects are added to the 40-man roster and which are left vulnerable to the Rule-5 draft.

Chris Paddack, Anderson Espinoza, Austin Allen, Pedro Avila, Edward Olivares, Ty France, and Travis Radke are all either guaranteed to make the roster or will receive serious consideration. There are more eligible players, however, none of which are expected to be added to the 40-man.

There are seemingly easy decisions to make regarding the roster, like removing Walker Lockett, Colin Rea, and either Carlos Asuaje or Jose Pirela. As MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell pointed out in his latest piece, the Padres have been active in trying to trade away roster pieces, versus designated them or outright releasing them.

"In that same light, the Padres’ front office has been active in trying to find trade partners for some of its would-be roster casualties. Preller has insisted the cuts haven’t been decided upon. “It’s fluid,” Preller said. “It’s honestly a day-to-day thing. We’ve already made a couple roster-cleanup-type moves. There’s been plenty of discussion in the last month.”"

Here are three potential trades the Padres could make this week as they attempt to clear roster space and figure out what to do with the above-mentioned prospects.