San Diego Padres: 5 trade targets from the AL East

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JULY 17: Trey Mancini #16 of the Baltimore Orioles rounds the bases after hitting a two RBI home run against the Washington Nationals in the eighth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 17, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JULY 17: Trey Mancini #16 of the Baltimore Orioles rounds the bases after hitting a two RBI home run against the Washington Nationals in the eighth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 17, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
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ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – OCTOBER 08: Kevin  Kiermaier #39 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a single against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning in game four of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field on October 08, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – OCTOBER 08: Kevin  Kiermaier #39 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a single against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning in game four of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field on October 08, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

We continue our division-by-division break down of trade targets for the San Diego Padres. This time we focus on the AL East.

The AL East is one of the most competitive divisions in all of baseball, and that’s where we’ll look for the San Diego Padres to make some offseason upgrades.

In case you haven’t been following along, here are links to the other divisions:

NL East

NL Central 

NL West

As I mentioned, the AL East is always full of good teams looking to make the playoffs. The Boston Red Sox just won a World Seris and are never really looking to rebuild — although they could be looking to unload some big contracts this offseason.

Meanwhile, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays both made the postseason in 2019 and will be looking to do the same in 2020.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles are in obvious rebuilds and could be a good match for the Padres to trade with.

Rays

I don’t see many fits for the Padres with the Rays, but I as wrote in another article this week, they could be looking for a catcher.

light. Related Story. Trade partners for Hedges

While we’ve mainly been focused on deals to make the Padres better for 2020 in this series, they could look to trade Hedges to Tampa Bay for a prospect.

It’s really hard to see the Rays parting with anyone on their Major League roster as they try to make the playoffs again in 2020.

Maybe if they find themselves out of the race and they’re sellers at the trade deadline, Charlie Morton would be a good target.

And I like Kevin Kiermaier defensively, but his offense doesn’t warrant the contract they gave him.

ST PETERSBURG, FL – SEPTEMBER 27: Miguel  Andujar #41 of the New York Yankees hits a three-run homer in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on September 27, 2018 at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FL – SEPTEMBER 27: Miguel  Andujar #41 of the New York Yankees hits a three-run homer in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on September 27, 2018 at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

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.

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 20: Mookie  Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox takes batting practice before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on September 20, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 20: Mookie  Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox takes batting practice before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on September 20, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

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.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – JUNE 26: Trey  Mancini #16 of the Baltimore Orioles swings at a pitch against the San Diego Padres at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 26, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – JUNE 26: Trey  Mancini #16 of the Baltimore Orioles swings at a pitch against the San Diego Padres at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 26, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

Orioles

More from Friars on Base

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.

TORONTO, ON – JULY 03: Ken  Giles #51 of the Toronto Blue Jays reacts after the final out a MLB game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre on July 03, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – JULY 03: Ken  Giles #51 of the Toronto Blue Jays reacts after the final out a MLB game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre on July 03, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

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.

Next. Padres interested in Jon Gray. dark

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.

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