Padres get perfect chance to validate Adrian Morejón deadline decision against Yankees

You can usually count on the trade deadline occasionally leaving behind a what-if worth revisiting. This weekend, the Padres and Yankees are about to put one of theirs on the display. Adrian Morejón remains in San Diego, where he’s still a trusted late-inning weapon. Will Warren remains with New York, and the Yankees plan to deploy him Friday’s series opener at Petco Park. A little more than a month after the two pitchers were linked in a disputed deadline rumor, we get to see the parallel universe without having to leave Petco Park.

Bob Nightengale reported that the Padres rejected a proposal involving Warren for Morejón. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman later denied that the conversation ever happened, saying some deadline reports were accurate and others weren’t. The full truth may be buried somewhere under several layers of front-office jargon, but the connection wasn’t invented out of thin air.

Padres made their choice by keeping Adrian Morejón

We don’t really need to waste time trying to figure out which executive said what. The interesting part is what the Padres decided to do.

With a thin rotation and a valuable reliever approaching free agency, trading Morejón for a starter with multiple seasons of club control would have been understandable. It also would have weakened the best part of this team at the time they were pushing themselves back into the postseason race.

A.J. Preller chose to retain the bullpen weapon. We can argue about the effect it would have on the long-term roster construction another day. But in this situation, he read the room properly.

Morejón enters the Yankees series with a 2.77 ERA, 90 strikeouts and a 1.08 WHIP across 74 2/3 innings. Strong numbers, sure. But his value goes further than that. Craig Stammen can summon him a multitude of ways. He could use him to escape a jam or stretch him across multiple innings. 

He did stumble recently in a two-run outing against the Reds on September 1. But even high-leverage relievers will eventually get barreled up. That doesn’t erase a stretch in which Morejón carried a 0.45 ERA from July 21 through Aug. 27.

Warren represents the bill San Diego might eventually regret paying. The 27-year-old owns a 4.23 ERA with 133 strikeouts over 134 innings, and he just held Boston to one run across seven-plus innings. The Padres could certainly use that instead of what they’ve been getting out of Casey Mize.

One weekend cannot settle an imaginary trade. Warren could dominate and Morejón could surrender a lead without rewriting the deadline. We’re judging roster strategy, not holding a three-day evaluation.

The Padres kept the arm they trusted with their season. Now the Yankees get an up-close look at why.

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