Ethan Salas should make Padres think twice before trading their next top prospect

Ethan Salas gives the Padres a reason to take a beat and let the next trade offer sit for a minute. It’s not a secret that A.J. Preller can build a blockbuster. We should expect him to recognize when the player another team wants is worth keeping, too.

MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell describes Salas as an emerging long-term answer at catcher. That possibility deserves some thought the next time the Padres begin discussing its best young talent.

A catcher who grows into an everyday job can spare the Padres years of shopping for one. He can give them affordable production and continuity behind the plate. That would also allow the team to spend elsewhere. Those benefits belong in the trade calculation before another club starts selling Preller on its available veteran.

To be fair, Salas still has to deliver. But keeping him has preserved a chance for the Padres to fill a difficult position themselves.

The Dylan Cease trade offers the Padres a useful standard

The Padres acquired Dylan Cease in March 2024 for Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, Samuel Zavala and Steven Wilson. Preller paid a substantial price for a major rotation addition while protecting the players atop his system. We should want him exhausting those possibilities before accepting that every meaningful upgrade requires the biggest prospect’s name. However, this trade ultimately worked out for the Padres in some ways. Still, no World Series to show for it.

The value of keeping Salas still comes into focus here. A trade package has to be judged against what San Diego could receive by developing the player and putting him in its own lineup.

Juan Soto shows how high the return should reach

The 2022 Juan Soto and Josh Bell acquisition cost San Diego James Wood, C.J. Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit. That was an enormous commitment of young talent. It also brought back Juan Soto.

We can debate the price and still recognize why the Padres considered that opportunity exceptional. A player of Soto’s caliber gives a front office a serious reason to surrender years of potential production. The trouble comes when that level of sacrifice starts feeling routine.

If the next prized prospect has a believable path to an everyday role in San Diego, the return needs to justify losing that future contributor. They got a year and a half of Soto. The Nationals got a lot more from their package.

We enjoy the big swings. We should also enjoy watching a player the Padres believed in become someone they can build around.

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