San Diego Padres: 5 trade targets from the AL East

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.