Did the San Diego Padres overlook Joe Musgrove's shoulder injury during the trade deadline?

If the San Diego Padres had a chance to be proactive rather than reactive at this summer's trade deadline, it seems they missed that opportunity.

After shutting down ace pitcher Joe Musgrove on Saturday for three weeks with inflammation in his shoulder capsule, it appears as though the Friars had underestimated the severity of this injury. The team initially scratched Musgrove from his last scheduled start Wednesday in Colorado and deemed his soreness "mild."

But with a prime chance last week to patch the gaping hole Musgrove now leaves behind in San Diego's rotation, it begs the question: did the Padres do enough at the trade deadline to mitigate this issue?

The San Diego Padres seemed to have downplayed Joe Musgrove's shoulder injury at exactly the wrong time

If you recall, San Diego swung a five-player trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates at last week's trade deadline for veteran left-hander Rich Hill and first baseman Ji-Man Choi. In retrospect, this move now looks much more significant given how the club has handled Musgrove's injury. And yet, the Padres could've done more, too.

A recent article by MLB Trade Rumors' Anthony Franco helps further shed light on this idea:

It doesn’t seem the Friars were aware of the seriousness of Musgrove’s injury at the deadline. The club scratched him from his scheduled start Wednesday morning but initially hoped he’d return to the mound next week.

If in fact GM AJ Preller and his front office staff misjudged their ace's shoulder problem, that's some serious malpractice. Approaching the trade deadline, which is a team's final in-season opportunity to acquire impact talent, the Padres needed to fully understand how to proceed so that they could prepare for any scenario involving Musgrove.

For example, If the club knew his injury was more serious, that could've elicited more aggressive action on Preller's part while the iron was hot (i.e. pursuing Justin Verlander, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, others). And given the way Rich Hill struggled in his San Diego debut Sunday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, that only magnifies the issue at stake.

If the Padres miss the playoffs in 2023, we might be able to trace one of the major reasons for their downfall back to this incident.