Padres rumors: Trea Turner trade was discussed with Nationals

The San Diego Padres‘ trade deadline, while not without a few successes, arguably fell short of what the team needed to get done in a competitive division.

Monday we learned of additional discussions with the Nationals that never came to fruition.

We knew before San Diego was said to be “close” to trading for Scherzer, by none other than the normally reliable Ken Rosenthal.

Word via FanSided MLB reporter Robert Murray on Monday is that the Padres were not that close  on Scherzer after all.

Murray noted,

"“A deal was never close, but Padres general manager A.J. Preller routinely explores trades for every big name.”"

Whether that makes you feel better or worse is up to the reader to decide.

San Diego Padres reportedly discussed a Trea Turner trade with Nationals

Murray’s report added a little extra info to what we already knew, however: the Padres eyed then-Nationals shortstop Turner as well.

San Diego, at the time, already had a pretty good shortstop who doesn’t really need an introduction. But July 30 was not a very good day for the Padres and maybe A.J. Preller is just a bit psychic or something.

Hours after the trade deadline, Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. hurt his shoulder sliding into third base.

Per MLB.com that night:

"Manager Jayce Tingler said postgame Tatis suffered a left shoulder subluxation, a recurrence of the partial shoulder dislocation that he has sustained on three separate occasions already this year."

Tatis landed on the 10-day IL a day later. His return this season is not even for certain. So things went from “not great, Bob” to worse.

Ha-Seong Kim has been holding down the position since Tatis’ injury. He has a batting average just over the bad place and an OPS under .700.

Tatis, who has no reported timetable for his return but told reporters he’d be back this season, was back on the field getting reps — but in the outfield this time. No word whether he’ll stick there or return to short.

In any case suddenly the added luxury of having Turner, who also has experience at second base and in the outfield, around in case of emergency turned into a necessity.

Turner is batting .321 this season with .887 OPS. Above average on the base paths as well as in the field, he’s been with 4.3 WAR, per FanGraphs.

Murray concluded:

"Adding Turner would have narrowed the gap between the Padres and Dodgers. But with both Turner and Scherzer going to Los Angeles, it not only maximizes the Dodgers’ chances of winning the World Series in 2021 and beyond, it makes the Padres’ quest of catching them and the San Francisco Giants, who added former NL MVP Kris Bryant, infinitely more difficult."

So maybe a deal for Turner wasn’t close, either. But looking back about 10 days later, it certainly would have helped.