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.

Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are an interesting team to watch this offseason as they’ve hinted at possibly trading some very established Major League players.

And that includes a former MVP in Kris Bryant.

The article above from Cubbies Crib makes a lot of sense and would certainly give the Padres a viable bat in the outfield.

I’ll be honest and tell you I’m not sure how great Bryant is defensively in the outfield, but from what I’ve read it’s not great.

Bryant didn’t have his best year in 2019 but was still an All-Star and hit .282 with 31 home runs and was close to a 4 WAR player.

Another player mentioned in that article is Willson Contreras.

I love the idea of trading for Contreras, maybe even more than Bryant, but it’s hard to believe the Cubs would be willing to part with him.

The catcher hit .272 last year with 24 home runs and is under team control for three more years.

It would take quite the prospect haul for either of these players, but if the Cubs are really shopping them, that’s two huge impact players that could change the dynamic of the Padres lineup.

Reds

More from Friars on Base

• Padres fighting with hated rival to sign quality veteran relief pitcher
• Jurickson Profar free agency update likely rules out Padres reunion
• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher

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.