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Padres: A Trade for Catcher Pedro Severino Could Make Sense

By Jake Mastroianni |
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 20: Pedro Severino #28 of the Baltimore Orioles catches against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 20, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 20: Pedro Severino #28 of the Baltimore Orioles catches against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 20, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
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Austin Hedges #18 of the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
Austin Hedges #18 of the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

As the San Diego Padres continue to look for an upgrade at catcher before the trade deadline we look to the Baltimore Orioles for help.

Yesterday we looked at the teams who could be sellers at the trade deadline that the San Diego Padres could work with.

Now we start to take a deeper look at those teams and players on those teams who could make sense.

And today I wanted to look at the Baltimore Orioles. While they are certainly still in the playoff picture, I don’t expect that to last too much longer.

It’s been a great story in the first month of the season, and perhaps they have some hope for the near future now, but if they’re being realistic they’re not competing in 2020 or even 2021.

Baltimore should certainly be looking to upgrade their team for the future at this year’s trade deadline.

And I would think someone like catcher Pedro Severino could be available.

He’s 27 years old and has three years of team control left under arbitration before becoming a free agent.

The right-handed backstop should get a significant raise for 2021 in his first year of arbitration.

Baltimore already has another solid, young catcher doing well in Chance Sisco. Plus, they have maybe the best prospect in all of baseball coming up at the catcher spot in Adley Rutschman.

Severino is also having one of his best seasons and the Orioles would be smart to try and capitlize on that by selling high on him in a market that doesn’t have a lot of great options at catcher.

Pedro Severino #28 of the Baltimore Orioles. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Pedro Severino #28 of the Baltimore Orioles. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

San Diego Padres — Why Would They Want Pedro Severino?

Let me start by saying, I don’t see Severino as a long-term solution to the Padres’ problem at catcher. I view him as a back-up, but for the rest of this 2020 season, he could certainly by the primary catcher for the Padres.

But I also don’t see anyone out there — other than Salvador Perez — that gives the Padres a proven everyday catcher.

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Severino has been around a while after making his debut with the Washington Nationals in 2015.

He didn’t get a full run of things until 2018 when he played in 70 games for the Nationals and hit just .168 with 2 home runs.

But things started to click for him in Baltimore last year as he hit .249 with 13 home runs in 96 games with an OPS of .740.

That’s carried over into 2020 as he’s currently hitting .333 with 5 home runs and an OPS of .981 in 24 games.

His .367 BABIP suggests his average will come down a good bit, but he’s also striking out much less this year and is making hard contact 42.4 percent of the time he puts the ball in plate — well above his career average of 30.3 percent.

What concerns you the most with Severino is that he’s been terrible defensively. He had -13 defensive runs saves last year according to FanGraphs and has -3 this year with a negative framing rate as well.

Adrian Morejon #50 of the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Adrian Morejon #50 of the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

San Diego Padres — What Would it Cost? Is it Worth the Move?

Like many teams rebuilding, the Baltimore Orioles will likely want a young starting pitching prospect.

I think a straight-up swap of Adrian Morejon for Severino would make a lot of sense and be a pretty fair trade.

The Padres are fortunate to have a great depth of starting pitching. And while I like Morejon, I think the Padres could live with this deal.

Perhaps San Diego tries to package Joey Lucchesi with a B-level prospect and get the deal done that way as I think that could work too.

But would that be worth it for a back-up catcher that can’t play defense?

I guess that depends on what Jayce Tingler and the Padres value most in their catcher.

Right now Padres’ catchers rank 28th in baseball with an OPS of .491 to go along with a .122 average.

But on the flip side, Padres’ catchers have the sixth-best defensive rating in MLB (mostly because of Austin Hedges), according to FanGraphs.

Obviously you’d like to be great at both. Perhaps with the pairing of Severino and Hedges those two sides even out.

Despite the lack of offensive production from the catcher position, the Padres offensive has still been one of the best in baseball.

And it is important to have a good defensive catcher behind the plate for all these young starters.

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It’s not an easy decision to make, but I feel like Severino could help give the offense a boost and give the Padres a solid back-up catcher/DH for the next several years.

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