Padres trade struggling reliever to one of 2024’s surprise teams to clear roster spot

Overall, the San Diego Padres' bullpen has been pretty respectable in 2024 despite the fact that they lost Josh Hader to the Astros. They currently rank 15th in fWAR against the rest of MLB and their collective 4.35 ERA is right in the middle of the pack as well. Not great, but certainly reasonable considering the turnover they experienced.

While guys like Enyel De Los Santos, Yuki Matsui, and Wandy Peralta have done most of the heavy lifting in the bullpen, there have been some guys who have struggled, including Pedro Avila. Avila has only appeared in four games for the Padres, which is great because his 9.00 ERA and inability to find the strike zone probably shouldn't be seeing the field that much.

San Diego seemed to agree that that roster spot could be better used on someone else as the team decided to trade Avila to the Guardians, who are off to a surprisingly good start to the 2024 season, for cash considerations.

Padres News: San Diego trades Pedro Avila to the Guardians

To be clear, this is a roster culling that happens to net the Padres a little cash and nothing more. Avila hasn't pitched since April 8 and he gave up earned runs in three of his four appearances this season, so the likelihood was that he was going to be gone whether or not the trade happened. As for Cleveland, they are just hoping that they can get a bullpen arm on the clearance rack to keep the good times rolling.

The Padres were hopeful that Avila's strikeout stuff would translate to success this season, but all of the extra baserunners from his issues with walks proved too difficult a hurdle to overcome. How San Diego proceeds will be interesting because there doesn't appear to be a clear cut candidate to replace him.

Padres fans are probably hoping that the move could mean that one of the team's more intriguing signings from the offseason, Woo-Suk Go, could be in the cards, but he is currently sporting 5.14 ERA from his five appearances in the minor leagues thus far and probably needs some more time to iron things out.

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