Grading this hypothetical San Diego Padres-New York Yankees trade package

It's that time of year when hypothetical trades start becoming more and more of a thing. As we head toward the MLB trade deadline, you can expect to see plenty of "what if" trades floating out there involving the San Diego Padres.

From time to time, we will look at potential trades that are floated out there on social media and give you our corresponding grades for them. You're always willing to float out a hypothetical trade idea involving the Padres to us on our Twitter account (@FriarsOnBase) and perhaps we will use your trade as the basis for an article.

Let's kick off our 2023 series with this hypothetical trade between the Padres and New York Yankees via @DugoutStation on Twitter.

Grading this hypothetical San Diego Padres-New York Yankees trade

So, in this trade, the Padres would receive two outfielders (Harrison Bader and Jasson Dominguez, New York's top overall prospect) plus shortstop Anthony Volpe and right-hander Ron Marinaccio in exchange for outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. and right-handed reliever Robert Suarez. It would certainly be a blockbuster deal, but would it really have any merit?

First, let's remember that this proposed deal comes from a Twitter account that is very heavily influenced by Yankees fandom, so it's going to lean toward that in a big way. It's obvious from the ask of Tatis that that is the case.

With that in mind, we're going to answer it from the Padres viewpoint. The return for the Padres would by no means be enough for the team to send Tatis and Suarez to the Bronx. Volpe has struggled mightily in his rookie season, slashing .196/.273/.364 heading into the weekend. Bader has just returned from his second stint on the injured list this season and Dominguez has all of the potential in the world ... but he's still a prospect and hasn't proven anything at the MLB level (in fact, he's slashing .198/.344/.369 through his first 276 Double-A plate appearances this season).

Of all of the pieces mentioned, the one that could potentially help the Padres the most at the moment is Marinaccio, who would be a nice piece to add to the bullpen (3.31 ERA over 32.2 innings in 30 games). But that's a lot to give up in order to land a bullpen piece of the puzzle.

We give this trade proposal a big thumbs down and hand it an F grade. If you're going to try to pry away the 24-year-old Tatis, who is showing this season what he could potentially be in the prime of his career, it's going to take more proven, healthy, producing collateral to make it happen.

Would you do this trade if you were the Padres? Let us know on Twitter or through our Facebook page.