{"id":77251,"date":"2024-06-19T16:34:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T20:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=77251"},"modified":"2024-06-19T16:34:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T20:34:32","slug":"padres-relievers-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/19\/padres-relievers-trade-rumors\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres Targeting \u201cShut Down\u201d Relievers Ahead of Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having done enough to remain in playoff contention, trading for a \u201cshutdown right-handed reliever\u201d is a top priority for the San Diego Padres. The Padres are known to have strong interest in White Sox lefty <\/span>Garrett Crochet<\/span><\/a>, but according to <\/span>Ken Rosenthal<\/span><\/a> adding a right-handed reliever is a \u201ctop priority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Padres Targeting \u201cShut Down\u201d Relievers Ahead of Deadline<\/h2>\n

With the trade deadline approaching, Padres general manager AJ Preller is already reportedly burning up phones. San Diego enters three games shy of .500 at 37-40 on Wednesday, sitting one game back in the Wild Card race. Having kept themselves afloat through the first part of the season, the Padres pitching staff could use some help.<\/span><\/p>\n

San Diego ranks 17th in the league with a bullpen ERA of 3.94, while their batting average against is tied for 21st. Beyond closer <\/span>Robert Suarez<\/span><\/a>, the higher-leverage relievers in the Padres bullpen are mostly left-handed. Right-hander <\/span>Jeremiah Estrada<\/span><\/a> and southpaw <\/span>Yuki Matsui<\/span><\/a> have been Suarez’s primary options in setup situations. Estrada is having a breakout season, having carried a 1.23 ERA through 22 innings before getting crushed by the Mets on Sunday. But the 25-year-old logged just 39 \u2153 innings last season and has previously shown limited success in the major leagues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insiders Anticipate The Padres Being Very Active At The Trade Deadline<\/h3>\n

The Padres have shown <\/span>strong interest<\/span><\/a> in Crochet and could trade for right-hander <\/span>Michael Kopech<\/span><\/a> in a blockbuster deal. But San Diego has also <\/span>emerged as a favorite<\/span><\/a> to land Oakland\u2019s flame-throwing right-hander <\/span>Mason Miller<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Kopech<\/h4>\n

With the White Sox expected to have their second consecutive deadline fire sale, their starter-turned-closer is <\/span>drawing interest<\/span><\/a> from several teams. Kopech\u2019s bullpen tenure got off to a strong start, but he\u2019s hit a rough patch of late. His rough patch has ballooned his ERA from 3.18 to 4.91. Still, the 28-year-old has a lot to offer the Padres bullpen. Kopech is averaging 98.8 mph on his heater, and his 32.3% strikeout rate is nearing that of his career.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond his bat-missing ability, Kopech is both affordable and controllable. He\u2019s earning $3 million in 2024 and would be arbitration-eligible for one more year before entering free agency in 2026. Given Chicago\u2019s massive rebuild, insiders believe the White Sox are seeking controllable pitching in exchange for their top players.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mason Miller<\/h4>\n

Mason Miller is the star-caliber player that Preller has been known to pursue with nearly unrivaled aggression. But <\/span>Jon Heyman reports<\/span><\/a> that rival execs are split on whether the A\u2019s will trade the rookie closer. The 25-year-old right-hander is the hardest thrower in the majors, averaging 100.9 mph on his four-seamer. He has struck out a major league-leading 46.7% of batters faced in his first year as a closer. Miller is still signed to a rookie contract with six years of club control to go. But he could bring Oakland \u201ca prospect package worth pursuing\u201d if they decide to trade the flame-throwing rookie.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the trade deadline nears, Preller and the Padres are expected to bring in more talent to try to make another playoff run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having done enough to remain in playoff contention, trading for a \u201cshutdown right-handed reliever\u201d is a top priority for the San Diego Padres. The Padres are known to have strong interest in White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet, but according to Ken Rosenthal adding a right-handed reliever is a \u201ctop priority.\u201d Padres Targeting \u201cShut Down\u201d Relievers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":77263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,30],"tags":[3614,28481,771,6448,28448],"class_list":["post-77251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-padres","tag-garrett-crochet","tag-mason-miller","tag-michael-kopech","tag-robert-suarez","tag-yuki-matsui"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}