Ranking the San Diego Padres deadline deals so far

The San Diego Padres have been MLB’s most aggressive team as we enter the final hours before the trade deadline. Here we rank their five deals.

As we have reached the final hours before the most unusual MLB trade deadline in history, the San Diego Padres have been baseball’s most aggressive team. So far, they’ve made several major trades to upgrade a team that has a strong chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Through Sunday, the team had made four big trades, but they pulled off their most influential one yet on Monday morning when they acquired Mike Clevinger from the Cleveland Indians. So, how do the five trades rank? Let’s take a look.

How do the five Padres trades rank?

#1: Padres acquire Mitch Moreland from the Red Sox for Jeisson Rosario and Hudson Potts. The Padres acquired one of the best bats available at the deadline this year, as Moreland was hitting .328 with eight home runs and 21 RBIs — one of his best seasons. Besides that, he provides some winning and veteran experience to a team that still has some young key players. In return, they didn’t have to give up any top prospects, but instead parted with the No. 16 and No. 19 players in their system. Eric Hosmer has been hitting well, but Moreland gives them a nice DH option.

#2: Padres acquire Jason Castro from the Angels for Gerardo Reyes. This might be the least-talked-about deal the Padres have made, but the team had a need at catcher. And while Castro hasn’t done a lot with the bat this year, he has a reputation for being a good backstop and like Moreland should provide some veteran leadership. Meanwhile, they gave up a 27-year-old pitcher who has some filthy stuff but struggled in his brief time in the majors last year.

#3: Padres acquire Trevor Rosenthal from the Royals for Edward Olivares and a player to be named later. Olivares wasn’t one of the Padres’ prized prospects, but the consensus seems to be that he could be a low-end major league player. The Padres did get one of the top relievers available, as Rosenthal has revived his career this year, though his 3.72 FIP doesn’t exactly speak dominance. And while he’s struck out 21 batters in 13 2/3 innings, he’s also walked seven, more than you’d like to see from a closer.

#4: Padres acquire Mike Clevinger, Greg Allen, and a player to be named from the Indians for Cal Quantrill, Josh Naylor, Austin Hedges, Gabriel Arias, Joey Cantillo, and Owen Miller. This appears to be the trade the Padres stocked up their farm system for. Indeed, they are betting A LOT on Clevinger in this deal. AJ Preller is giving up two major-league-ready contributors plus their No. 7, No. 9, and No. 11 prospects according to MLB.com. If Clevinger helps the Padres get past the Dodgers and/or the rest of the NL field in the playoffs, it will be worth it, and this trade will move up in the rankings. But the Padres’ lauded farm system will take a huge hit from this deal. At the same time, it could be argued that they still held onto their top six prospects, so at least there’s that. Plus, perhaps Arias is expendable with CJ Abrams lurking — oh yeah, and there’s that Fernando Tatis Jr. guy, too.

#5: Padres acquire Austin Nola, Austin Adams, and Dan Altavilla from the Mariners for Taylor Trammell, Ty France, Luis Torrens, and Andres Munoz. Give a ton of credit to the Mariners on this one. They flipped a 30-year-old catcher with little track record having a breakthrough season, along with two lesser names, for a four-player haul that includes a top-100 prospect in Trammell. Nola is having a dream year, batting .306 with five home runs and 19 RBIs, but the Padres had already acquired a catcher and a DH before this trade. Not only are they betting a lot on Nola continuing this run, but it could also be argued that they didn’t really even need him and should have saved some of that talent for trying to acquire a starting pitcher such as Clevinger. If Nola keeps playing well, it might not be a bad trade, but in any case, he comes at a high cost.