3 trade options for Padres to create super bullpen after latest rumor

The Padres already have the kind of bullpen that can make a close game feel like it belongs to them. But if the latest rumor involcing Josh Hader is any indication, A.J. Preller still doesn’t seem to be looking at this group like a finished product.

If there is a chance to turn a strength into something unreasonable, the Padres are going to at least have the conversation. So, basically, the Padres have a chance to build a super bullpen. That might sound dramatic, but so is this team’s entire operating system.

The best deadline moves are not always about fixing the ugliest problem. Sometimes they are about making opponents miserable in the area where you already have an advantage.

These three names would each create a different version of that chaos.

These 3 Padres bullpen trade targets could create a deadline superpower

Josh Hader

There is no quiet version of a Josh Hader reunion. If the Padres even get near that conversation, it becomes one of the deadline’s loudest bullpen stories.

Health is the main complication. Hader hasn’t pitched for the Astros this season because of left biceps tendinitis, and his rehab path is important. He has been working through minor league appearances which is encouraging.

Still, if Houston keeps sliding, Hader becomes a fascinating conversation driver. The Padres know him. The league knows how he looks when right. And San Diego, of all teams, understands the value of having a left-handed monster who can turn a ninth inning into a formality.

Aroldis Chapman

Aroldis Chapman would be the nastiest version. At 38, Chapman is somehow still throwing like time forgot to collect rent. His numbers with Boston have been absurd: a 0.61 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 12 saves and another climb up the all-time saves leaderboard. 

Chapman would be about importing immediate violence into the late innings. And pairing him with Mason Miller would be unfair.

A lefty like Chapman gives Stammen another high-leverage weapon against the pocket of a lineup that decides a game. It also keeps Miller from becoming the only emergency button in every tight spot.

Pete Fairbanks

Pete Fairbanks is probably the weirdest option, which might make him the most Padres option.

The surface numbers are terrible so far this season. A 9.00 ERA is not exactly the kind of thing fans want attached to a deadline bullpen target. Add in the 15-day IL stint for nerve irritation in his right hand, and it’s easy to see why this would not create the same instant buzz as Hader or Chapman.

But the Padres can scout beyond a baseball card. Fairbanks has still shown strikeout ability. His expected ERA (3.17) is far cleaner than the actual damage. He’s converted five of seven save chances for Miami, and the fastball-slider combination can still play in real leverage.

This would be the buy-low-ish power play. Still not cheap, necessarily, but more creative. The Padres would be betting that their pitching infrastructure, defensive environment and clearer role structure could pull Fairbanks back toward the impact reliever he has been before.

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