Padres rumors: Club among those desperately trying to trade for Pirates CF Bryan Reynolds

Padres rumored to be among teams trying to trade for Pirates star Bryan Reynolds

Several teams around Major League Baseball are trying to convince the Pittsburgh Pirates to trade star outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

Will the San Diego Padres be the team to pry Bryan Reynolds from the Pirates’ grasp? According to USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale, the Padres have “engaged” them on the topic.

It would take a hefty trade package for any team to get Reynolds, who finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2019 and was an All-Star in 2021. He hit .302/.390/.522 with a .912 OPS last year, 35 doubles, an MLB-leading eight triples, and 24 home runs.

According to The Athletic‘s Dennis Lin (subscription required) , sources in the organization and around the league view the Pirates’ asking price for their star as “prohibitive.” Perhaps, the Pirates don’t want to deal him at all.

Would the Padres trade Chris Paddack and/or Ryan Weathers to get Bryan Reynolds?

The Padres acquired Chris Paddack from the Miami Marlins in 2016 in the Fernando Rodney trade, and he underwent Tommy John surgery that year. He made his debut with the Padres in 2019 and has a career 4.21 ERA, 1.127 WHIP, and 4.10 FIP over 61 games (61 starts). Now 26 years old, he’s been piggybacking with other starters during spring training, as the Padres try to sort out their rotation.

Weathers, son of 1996 World Series champion David Weathers, was the Padres’ first-round pick in 2018. He made his debut in the 2020 NLDS, only the second pitcher in MLB history to debut during the postseason. In 2021, the 21-year-old pitched in 30 games, including making 18 starts, and compiled a 5.32 ERA.

Both pitchers are still unseasoned enough to be marketed on potential as much as their stats. But it’s almost impossible to imagine the Pirates trading Reynolds for just one of them, and hard to see the Padres giving them both up, given how fragile the starting rotation situation is heading into the season.

Likely, nothing will come of this, and the fruitless trade talks will just be added to the long list of things the Padres did not do this offseason.

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