Padres rumors: Max Scherzer trade ‘close,’ per Ken Rosenthal, but Heyman tweets caution

The San Diego Padres are close to acquiring Nationals ace Max Scherzer, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Thursday afternoon on Twitter.

This came just minutes after Jon Morosi of MLB Network said talks had intensified in the past two hours.

This would be a dream scenario for the Padres, who are in third place in the National League West chasing the Dodgers and surprise Giants.

However, Jon Heyman tweets that this deal may not be as close as Rosenthal made it appear, so caution is necessary.

Max Scherzer hot in last start before possible Padres trade

Scherzer allowed one run in his start on Thursday for the Nationals. He allowed three hits and struck out five.

The victory raises Scherzer’s record to 8-4 on the season with a 2.76 ERA and 0.89 WHIP (good for second best in MLB). He has struck out 147.

Scherzer was the National League’s starter in the 2021 All-Star Game in Denver, his fourth All-Star start of his career. He’s won three Cy Young awards, including a pair in Washington in 2016 and 2017.

The Padres rotation could use the help. Sitting right around the middle of the National League, the rotation has a combined 4.08 ERA.

Yu Darvish (3.27 ERA) and Joe Musgrove (3.28) have combined for 219 innings started between them, but things get a bit dicey after that.

Chris Paddack (5.14 ERA), Blake Snell (5.44), and Ryan Weathers (3.02) round out the current rotation, with Dinelson Lamet set to head to the bullpen when he returns.

Scherzer would take his place as the team’s ace and also provides plenty of postseason experience. He has made 18 postseason starts (and 22 appearances) across seven postseasons.

In 2019, he made five starts for the World Series champions, with a 2.40 and .187 batting average against to show for it.

Needless to say, that’s the kind of thing the Padres could use.

San Diego currently sports a 59-45 record, good for third in the NL West. They’re 3.5 games behind L.A. and 5.5 behind the Giants.

They are up by five games on the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card standings currently.

The Padres are no lock to make the playoffs but FanGraphs puts them at 89 percent, so it’s not far off.