The NL West was already shaping up to be likely the most competitive divisional race in baseball this season — and then the last 48 hours happened. First, the San Francisco Giants shocked everybody by swinging a trade with the Boston Red Sox for star slugger Rafael Devers, and they didn't even have to give up a big-league starter or their best prospects to do it. Then, the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed Shohei Ohtani back to the mound in a 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
Two days, two contending teams, two big statements of intent with weeks to go before the trade deadline. Which begs the question: What can the Padres do to respond? San Diego is now a full four games back of L.A. in the West and just one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the third and final NL Wild Card spot entering play on Tuesday. AJ Preller has developed a well-earned reputation for being among baseball's boldest executives, and he's going to need to live up to it if he wants to help his team keep pace with the beasts of the Senior Circuit.
How? Here are four great places to start.
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4. OF Austin Hays, Cincinnati Reds
The most glaring hole in the Padres' lineup comes in left field, where San Diego has been historically bad so far this season. But we'll get to that in a little bit; that's not the need that this move is aiming to fill. This team also needs to add at least one bench bat, preferably one that can hit left-handed pitching considering how lefty-heavy San Diego is outside of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts.
With an .813 OPS lifetime against southpaws, Hays fits that bill, and he's been tremendous when healthy for the Cincinnati Reds this season. He's also a veteran on a one-year deal, so Cincy might be open to moving him for future value even if they're able to remain on the fringe of postseason contention into July.
3. LHP Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels
San Diego's bullpen has by and large been excellent this season, particularly the late-inning trio of Robert Suarez, Jason Adam and Jeremiah Estrada. But that trio is also entirely right-handed; the Padres could use another lefty option in relief to complement Adrian Morejon, especially given that Yuki Matsui has been up and down and Wandy Peralta doesn't have the platoon splits you'd expect thanks to his changeup-heavy approach.
San Diego's biggest deadline move last season was acquiring Tanner Scott. Preller doesn't have to swing that big this time around given how good Morejon has been so far this season, but another bullet couldn't hurt, and Detmers' transition to the bullpen has gone swimmingly so far in L.A. He's always had monster stuff, and now he's finally able to fully let it rip in short spurts, with the option to pitch multiple innings if needed.
2. RHP Edward Cabrera, Miami Marlins
Even if Michael King gets healthy, San Diego needs to add at least one starting pitcher before this year's deadline. And while Sandy Alcantara gets all the buzz, his lower-profile teammate might be a shrewd move for the Padres at a far lower cost. Cabrera's electric arm has always been undercut by his complete lack of command, but he's cut his walk rate to a career-best this season, and he's pitched to a 2.38 ERA since the start of May.
Realistically, it's going to be hard for the Padres to beat out the Dodgers or Chicago Cubs for Alcantara's services, especially if he keeps pitching like he has been of late. Their biggest deadline priority lies elsewhere, after all. But Cabrera would come with big-time upside and give the team another back-end option to put behind Dylan Cease, Nick Pivetta and (hopefully) King.
1. Luis Robert Jr., Chicago White Sox
This is the big one. To call San Diego's left-field situation right now a mess would, frankly, be an insult to messes. If Preller does only one thing at the deadline this year, it has to be finding another viable outfielder to put alongside Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill.
And the biggest name on the market should be Robert. That might be confusing, considering that he's hitting below .200 right now. But the power/speed combination remains very, very real, and the fact is that he hasn't been surrounded by a viable big-league lineup in years now. A change of scenery could be exactly what he needs to unlock the five-tool talent we saw back in 2023, when he went 38/20 and garnered down-ballot MVP consideration.