San Diego Padres: 5 trade targets from the AL East

Yankees

Much like the Rays, the Yankees will be trying to make the postseason and win a World Series in 2020, so they aren’t likely to trade any big league talent unless it makes them better for the next season.

But they do have a couple of intriguing young guys they might be looking to move.

With the emergence of Gio Urshela, there are rumors that Miguel Andujar could be available.

I’m not sure where he would fit in with the Padres as he’s only played third base at the big league level and is a below-average defender there, but the offensive potential is hard to ignore.

In 2018 he hit .297 with 27 home runs and 92 RBI in 149 games. This past season he only played 12 games because of injury.

Another interesting name to consider is Clint Frazier.

The once-promising prospect has been pushed down the depth chart in the Yankees outfield and could be on the move.

This past season he hit .267 with 12 home runs in 225 at-bats. The 25-year-old outfielder is right-hander and I know the Padres are looking for a left-handed bat in the outfield, but there is plenty of upside with Frazier and he’s under team control for four more seasons through arbitration.

Red Sox

This is where things could get very interesting depending on how aggressive the Padres want to be this offseason.

The Red Sox are looking to shed some salary to get under the luxury tax (isn’t that a nice problem to have) and Mookie Betts could be available.

While the Padres have the prospects to get any deal done, I’m not sure this makes much sense.

Betts is likely to make around $25 million in his last year of arbitration before becoming a free agent.

Maybe if the Padres were in a position to contend for a World Series this year they make this move, but even that would be risky.

And I don’t see how the Padres could re-sign him or extend him with the big contracts they already have on the books.

But one can dream of a lineup that has Betts and Manny Machado in the middle of the order, right?

Another scenario out there is for the Red Sox and Padres to swap bad contracts with Wil Myers and David Price.

Price is owed $96 million over the next three years, while Myers is owed $68.5 million through the next three seasons.

I can see where this deal makes sense for the Padres as they get their veteran starting pitcher to pair with the young guys, but even that is risky as Price will play next season at 34 and has been steadily declining.

On the flip side, this makes little sense at all for the Red Sox other than they’d be saving $27.5 million, or just over $9 million each of the next three seasons.

But they have no need for Myers in their already crowded outfield.

Orioles

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One of the names I’ve been falling in love with this offseason is Baltimore Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini.

The 27-year-old outfielder is under team control for three more seasons and is coming off a 2019 season in which he hit .291 with a .364 OBP to go along with 35 home runs and 97 RBI on a very bad Orioles team.

In his career, he’s a .276 hitter with 86 home runs, an OBP of .335, and an OPS of .819.

Again, he’s a right-handed hitter, but he’s actually hit better against righties (.279) in his career than lefties (.267).

FanGraphs has him as a below-average defensive player over his career, but I can get over that if he’s putting up those numbers at the plate.

It’s unclear if Mancini is even available, but with the Orioles in a long rebuild, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be looking to trade him for some prospects.

And I’m sure they could get a nice return for him after the season he just had.

There isn’t really much else on the Orioles roster that intrigues me expect maybe a bullpen arm like Mychal Givens.

Dylan Bundy was once a can’t-miss prospect who the Padres could buy low on and hope a change of scenery does him some good.

But Mancini is the main target here.

Blue Jays

The Blue Jays are starting to turn the corner on their rebuild and have actually been rumored to be buyers this offseason.

There were talks of them being interested in Jake Odorizzi before he accepted the qualifying offer from the Minnesota Twins.

They’ve also been linked to catcher Yasmani Grandal early in the offseason.

Ken Giles is the only big-time player known to be available for trade this offseason, and he makes virtually no sense for the Padres as he’s set to make even more than Kirby Yates in his final year of arbitration.

The Blue Jays moved most of their trade chips during this past season when they shipped off Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, and Kevin Pillar.

One way the two teams could hook up is if the Padres were to deal Austin Hedges somewhere else, then the Blue Jays are at least listening on their two young catchers Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire.

Both are pre-arbitration players so the Padres could save some money there and get a solid catcher to pair with Francisco Mejia.

The Blue Jays need starting pitching and the Padres have a number of back-of-the-rotation arms they could swap for a catcher.

Maybe a deal sending Ronald Bolanos to the Blue Jays for McGuire could work.

But again, that’s not very likely and doesn’t really move the needle.

Not a lot of great trade targets in the AL East, unfortunately, but let us know which players you think could be a good fit for the Padres in the comments below.