Rumors: Padres Trade for First Baseman Mitch Moreland

The trade deadline deals are heating up as the San Diego Padres continue to make moves trading with the Boston Red Sox for first baseman Mitch Moreland.

After making a deal for some much-needed help in the bullpen, the San Diego Padres have now added some offensive help by acquiring Mitch Moreland.

The soon-to-be 34-year-old will add another left-handed bat to the roster and someone who will fit nicely as the team’s DH aginst right-handed pitcher.

Moreland is having a really good season for Boston slashing .328/.430/.746 with a 1.17 OPS, including 8 home runs and 21 RBI in 67 at-bats.

For his career, he’s slashing .253/.321/.449, so perhaps we should expect a little bit of a return to norm.

But he’s still a threat with the bat and will give a boost to the lineup.

Moreland has been much better against righties in his career — as you might imagine — slashing .257/.326/.471.

The price for Moreland was a little high as the Padres gave up a couple of top 20 prospects in Hudson Potts and Jeisson Rosario. But those are certainly losses the Padres can deal with.

And they can keep Moreland for another year very cheap.

As Ken Rosenthal points out, Moreland will likely serve as the team’s DH with Eric Hosmer also a lefty and playing really well at first base.

While the Padres’ offense has been very good this year and the DH spot, in particular, has been solid, it never hurts to add a big threat at the plate like Moreland.

This might not have been the move we’re expecting, but I applaud Preller for not resting on his laurels and continuing to try and improve this lineup.

We’ll see if AJ Preller has made the last of his moves before the deadline or if he’s able to add another pitcher, which still remains their biggest need.