Padres: Three big name trade targets AJ Preller could be eyeing

Padres: Christian Yelich might prove too costly for the Brewers to keep

I don’t make much of any player’s struggles last year. It was – as much as I’ve grown to hate the phrase – an unprecedented season where baseball was hardly top-of-mind for anyone, really.

Christian Yelich was one of those guys who really never got it going – at least if you’re looking at his traditional numbers. He batted just .205 on the year, although he did get on base at a .356 clip. But prior to 2020, he had just turned in back-to-back seasons where he tallied an OPS of at least 1.000.

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Heck, if not for a late-season knee injury that ended his 2019, he may very well have been the back-to-back recipient of the MVP award in the National League. So why, you ask, might the Brewers trade him? Because he’s in just the second season of a nine-year, $215 million deal – and Milwaukee is hardly a franchise that swims in cash.

The logic here? If Milwaukee might look to unload Hader as he gets more and more expensive, it stands to reason they might do the same with Yelich – especially as he’s still just 29 and likely has many productive years left (and, thus, higher trade value).

Like I said. This is a long shot. But, man, can you imagine one of the game’s best left-handed hitters added to a lineup that already showcases Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr.? Oh, and there’s a California tie here, too. Yelich grew up in Thousand Oaks, CA – a quick 2.5-hour drive up the coast from San Diego.

Padres: Josh Hader is the guy we all expect to end up in San Diego

Like I said. When we saw that initial report early this week, we all assumed AJ Preller had circled back and was closing in on Josh Hader.

In his first four seasons in the big leagues, the left-hander has racked up 15.3 strikeouts per nine, emerging as one of the most overpowering relievers in all of baseball. Similar to Yelich, he plays in Milwaukee – a team that is definitely more of the mid-market mold – and with each passing year, his trade value is going to go down and his contract up.

Adding Hader to the Padres’ bullpen would, at least in my mind, pull them even with the Dodgers in the NL West. That gives them a legitimate ninth-inning presence that, when paired with the team’s current mix of relievers, could wind up being the best bullpen in the league.

The entire NL Central is poised to be pretty brutal, with the lone exception of the Cardinals, who traded for Nolan Arenado this winter. Cincinnati listened to offers all winter without making a move to unload any of their stars, the Cubs are re-tooling and the Pirates are in the early stages of a top-to-bottom overhaul.

Milwaukee could see this as a chance to follow suit, load up the farm system and prepare for the future. Few players (if any) on their roster hold as much value as Hader and I’d be shocked if he’s still with the Brewers come the trade deadline this summer.