Update on Padres prospect Dodgers stole in Matt Beaty trade makes it even worse

Overall, the San Diego Padres' track record when it comes to trades has been pretty good. Time will tell if the return for Juan Soto ends up paying dividends, but AJ Preller's trades typically work out as least reasonably well with Fernando Tatis Jr., Soto (the first time), Jake Cronenworth and Joe Musgrove all being success stories from the annals of Padres history.

However, that doesn't mean there haven't been some duds, and an obvious case is the trade the Padres made to acquire Matt Beaty. On surface, the only weird thing about the Beaty trade was that it was with the Dodgers. Beaty was a versatile player that got on base at a good clip and could fill in as needed on a Padres squad that needed the bench depth.

That bad news, though, is that the deal cost the Padres pitching prospect River Ryan, and that looks to have been a big mistake.

Former Padres prospect River Ryan thriving with Dodgers is truly painful

First, let's look at Matt Beaty since the trade went down. He made a grand total of 47 plate appearances with the Padres, with whom he hit .093/.170/.163, which is only marginally worse than pitcher Bartolo Colon was at the plate in his career (go ahead, look it up). The Padres designated him for assignment that September and he has a total of 72 plate appearances in the big leagues over the last two years with the Giants and Royals since leaving.

Meanwhile, Ryan has gone on to be a consensus top-100 prospect with the Dodgers thanks to his high 90s fastball and multiple plus pitches. For a San Diego team that would kill to have a high-end and cheap starting pitcher on their roster this season, it's extraordinarily unfortunate to see one of their few moves with a division rival result in LA getting a potential frontline starter while the Padres ended up with coal in their stocking.

While Ryan has yet to prove he can do it in the big leagues, it does seem pretty likely that he's going drastically outpace what San Diego got in return for him.

More Padres News from Friars on Base