Padres division-by-division trade targets: NL Central

We continue our division-by-division breakdown of potential trade targets for the San Diego Padres taking a look at the NL Central.

As the San Diego Padres and A.J. Preller continue to scour the league for trade partners, we look at players in the NL Central who could be potential targets.

In our first installment, we took a look at the NL East, which has some promising pitching targets the Padres could look at.

But now we shift to the NL Central. The St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers are certainly looking to contend in 2020, while the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds are in between.

And the Chicago Cubs are in a very weird position as they possibly look at doing a quick re-tool job with a new manager, but certainly, they want to stay competitive.

We’ll look at each team and focus on players that will help the Padres become a contender in 2020 and possibly beyond.

Brewers

The Brewers are not deep in starting pitching as it is, so I don’t think there will be a fit there for the Padres.

Maybe the only area the Brewers could help the Padres is in the outfield.

Reviewing the Brew wrote an article a couple of weeks ago highlighting three players that could be traded this offseason.

Ben Gamel is the outfielder they mentioned who could be traded.

Gamel has spent parts of four seasons in the big leagues now. He was a full-time player for the Seattle Mariners in 2017 and hit .275 with 11 home runs in 509 at-bats.

But over the following two seasons he’s hit just 8 home runs (7 of those in 2019) and he hit just .248 this past season.

He’ll turn 28 in May and is under team control for three more season. Perhaps if he were given a starting role we could see him be a .275 hitter with 20-25 home runs, but I’m not sure that’s a risk the Padres will take.

If the Brewers were willing to part with Ryan Braun, Lorenzo Cain, or Trent Grisham, then we might be talking.

The Padres have some starting pitching depth they could send to Milwaukee for one of those players.

Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals actually have a couple of players who could be of interest to the Padres this offseason.

If San Diego does indeed want to move on from Luis Urias at second base — and I’m not saying they should — then Kolten Wong could be a potential trade target.

The 29-year-old is coming off a Gold Glove season where he was pretty good at the plate hitting .285 with 11 home runs in 478 at-bats.

St. Louis has his replacement on the roster in Tommy Edman, so maybe they look to trade Wong and free up some money.

Wong is under team control for at least one more season and set to make $10.25 million in 2020. There is a team option for $12.5 million in 2021 with a $1 million buyout.

So Wong could potentially bridge the gap until Xavier Edwards or CJ Abrams are ready.

Another interesting target is Alex Reyes.

He was a top 10 prospect in all of baseball before the 2017 season and has remained a top 20 prospect the past two seasons, but injuries have continually set him back.

Reyes is still just 25-years-old and is controllable for at least five more seasons.

If the Cardinals are ready to move on from him, the Padres could get a buy-low prospect that has the potential to be a top of the rotation pitcher.

Reds

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The Reds are a team that you might have to deal with during the season because I think they go into the season thinking they have a chance to make the postseason.

In fact, they could be one of the teams the Padres are battling for a Wild Card spot.

But one name to keep an eye on if the Reds nosedive to start the season is Trevor Bauer.

He’s only under control through the 2020 season at $18.6 million.

Bauer was great to start the 2019 season and looked like a Cy Young candidate. But he really struggled after being traded to the Reds with a 6.39 ERA in 10 starts, which is surprising considering he came from the AL to the NL.

Overall he posted a 4.48 ERA in 213 innings pitched with 253 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.25.

Maybe they look to move him this offseason and get some prospect capital back, but most likely he starts the 2020 season with the team and they try to move him before the trade deadline.

They certainly aren’t trading Luis Castillo or Sonny Gray, so don’t get your hopes up there.

The other trade options from the Reds aren’t that intriguing in catcher Tucker Barnhart and infielder Freddy Galvis.

I do like Galvis as a potential utility player who can back-up Fernando Tatis Jr. at shortstop and will push Luis Urias at second.

Pirates

There is one obvious player for the Pirates that I’ve been wanting for a while, and that’s Starling Marte.

He’s a pretty hot name this offseason in terms of outfielders who could be available in a trade.

Marte is 31-years-old and is under team control for possibly two more seasons. He has an $11.5 million team option that was picked up for 2020, and he has a $12.5 million team option for 2021.

He hit .295 last year in 539 at-bats with 97 runs scored, 31 doubles, 23 home runs, 82 RBI, and 25 stolen bases.

Marte also had a .342 OBP and .845 OPS — the best OPS of his career.

I think he would be a great fit in the Padres outfield and is a player they should be all over if he’s available — and I don’t know why he wouldn’t be.

The Pirates also picked up the 2020 option on Chris Archer and he could be a trade target this offseason. He also has a team option worth $11 million for 2021.

Archer has not been great since coming over to the NL — again, a bit shocking.

And 2019 was a disaster for him as he posted a 5.19 ERA in 119.2 innings with a WHIP of 1.41. But he did have a K/9 of 10.8.

I could see the Padres taking a chance on him as a buy-low candidate who could be a solid middle of the rotation starter.

Those are the players from the NL Central who could be trade targets for the Padres this offseason. Which players interest you the most? Let us know in the comments below.