Rumor mill suggests Padres could pivot to underappreciated trade target at deadline

Throughout the lead-up to the trade deadline at the end of the month, so much of the chatter around the San Diego Padres has surrounded the big names. With AJ Preller at the helm of the front office, that isn't all that surprising, and he is living up to his reputation with the Padres already connected to some of the biggest names on the trade market (Garrett Crochet, meet Jesus Luzardo).

However, those big names on the starting pitching market are going to command high premiums, and will be swarmed from now until the end of July. The Padres could probably match MOST offers in terms of prospect packages, but the bidding could feasibly go beyond what they are comfortable with, especially if they are dead set on keeping Ethan Salas and Leo De Vries.

To prepare for that contingency, the Padres appear to be exploring some other starting pitchers that may be available on the trade market, with the Blue Jays' Chris Bassitt emerging as a potential Padres target.

Padres Rumors: Is San Diego targeting Chris Bassitt at the trade deadline as a backup plan?

GMs all across the league are kicking the tires on any number of players, and Feinsand's report didn't make a firm connection to a potential deal with the Blue Jays here. However, Toronto is definitely trending towards being firm sellers at the deadline, as they are quite far back in the AL playoff race. Bassitt is making $22 million this year and next, which may be a cost the Blue Jays want to trim. That could be problematic, as the Padres also don't want to take on a ton of money, but some sort of sharing of the financial burden could benefit both sides.

Moreover, Bassitt has been an incredibly steady, if somewhat unconventional, rotation performer for a while now. While he doesn't strike out a ton of batters, nor does his stuff jump off the page, he is good at limiting hard contact, has a track record of throwing strikes (except this year), and is pretty much a lock to give you a 3.00 to 3.5ish ERA every season.

With Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove out, that could be all the Padres really need. Sure, finding another frontline starter would be great, but a middle of the rotation guy like Bassitt that just does his job and keeps the Padres in games could go a long way towards the team staying in contention the rest of the way without mortgaging San Diego's future in the process.

More Padres News from Friars on Base