3 dream targets for the San Diego Padres at the MLB trade deadline

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You can never count San Diego Padres' GM A.J. Preller out when it comes to shaking up the trade market. As he demonstrated last July, the MLB trade deadline is his playground, shocking the baseball world by pulling off successive blockbusters for Juan Soto and Josh Hader.

And while we don't expect the Padres to stage an encore performance this summer, fans can still dream given the aggressive nature of San Diego's front office. On that note, let's tee up three dream trade targets for the Friars this summer.

1) Luis Robert Jr. would be a dream trade target for the San Diego Padres at the MLB Trade Deadline

The rumors have begun swirling around Juan Soto's future with the Padres, and it seems like a foregone conclusion that Soto will be leaving San Diego no later than the end of 2024, when he becomes a free agent. So the Padres have to replace his talent, right?

Enter Luis Robert Jr. You saw his 2023 Home Run Derby showing, and you had to come away impressed with the White Sox star.

Robert Jr., soon to be 26, is signed through 2025 with team options for 2026 and 2027. But the White Sox aren't exactly going anywhere fast, and are rumored to be sellers this summer. Of course, Chicago would presumably want to keep Robert Jr. around for the long haul, but I can't think of a better replacement on the trade market for Juan Soto.

With 27 home runs and a .909 OPS (144 OPS+) so far in 2023, Luis Robert Jr. would be a dynamic and splashy Soto replacement, and would certainly pave a path for the Padres to move off the latter even as soon as this summer.

Jul 15, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher David Bednar (51) / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

2) David Bednar would be a dream trade target for the San Diego Padres at the MLB Trade Deadline

Like Juan Soto, the future surrounding closer Josh Hader is, at best, murky in San Diego.

Hader will be a free agent at the end of this season, and if the Padres miss the postseason, they'll risk letting him walk for nothing, and without a viable replacement on staff. That's where acquiring the Pittsburgh Pirates' David Bednar would help.

Bednar, 28, actually played briefly for San Diego in 2019 and 2020, but his unsightly 6.75 ERA over those two seasons led to the organization moving on from the right-handed reliever. He has since blossomed into an All-Star closer for the Pirates, with 17 saves and a 1.22 ERA thus far in 2023.

The 28-year-old Bednar is a valuable asset, given his team control through 2027. Therefore, the Pirates won't be eager to move him unless they get blown away with an offer, one that the Friars probably couldn't afford to make given the state of their farm system.

But going from Hader to Bednar? That would be ideal, to say the least.

Jul 16, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

3) Shohei Ohtani would be a dream trade target for the San Diego Padres at the MLB Trade Deadline

And then of course, there's this guy. The two-way Japanese superstar who needs no introduction.

Ohtani is every team's dream trade target, let alone just San Diego's. But the Los Angeles Angels recently changed their tune regarding offers for Ohtani, so perhaps the dream lives... for now.

It goes without saying how prospect-rich any package for the best player in baseball would be, and the Friars don't have anywhere near the ability to offer what the Angels would demand in negotiations, not even the bare minimum. The Padres understand this first-hand from their experience selling off the farm for those aforementioned Soto and Hader trades last summer.

The opportunity to acquire a talent as rare as Ohtani is undoubtedly compelling, but he will also be a free agent at season's end, which should be the avenue the Padres use to explore pursuing him.

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