San Diego Padres may have no choice but to trade Josh Naylor

What to do with him

As it stands, Naylor really has no position on the Padres. And just like Franmil Reyes, he needs to be traded to an American League team.

Maybe the Padres should quit acquiring players who are really good hitters but profile as a DH?

I really think Naylor can hit .275/.340 with 25-30 home runs in the big leagues. He’s proven to be that kind of hitter.

What does really alarm me about his brief stint in the big leagues is that his strikeout percentage jumped up to almost 23 percent.

He’s always been know as a pure hitter that doesn’t have a lot of swing-and-miss. And his strikeout percentage throughout the minors sat around 11-15 percent.

Certainly that’s to be expected with a 22-year-old getting his first crack in the big leagues. I would imagine that rate comes back down into the mid-teens once he gets settled in.

It’s easy to see why a lot of people would want Naylor’s bat in the lineup. He’s a lefty slugger who has been really good at getting on base throughout the minors.

But I’m not willing to sacrifice the defense for the offense in this situation. At least not with how truly terrible he is on defense (sorry, Josh).

Unless Major League Baseball announces in the coming months that they’re going to insert the DH into the National League, Naylor almost has to get moved to an American League team.

Unfortunately, because of Naylor’s poor start in the big leagues, I’m not sure you’d get the same level of return as they got for Reyes.

The Padres have made a clear effort to revamp the outfield this offseason bringing in guys like Tommy Pham and Trent Grisham. Naylor does not seem to be part of the plan going forward and could be traded sometime this year.