A Padres-White Sox trade to help close the gap in the NL West

The San Diego Padres have spent the last decade playing catch up with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the Dodgers have run rampant in the NL West. This continues on in 2024, as the Dodgers have spent a ton of money adding a plethora of superstars, leaving San Diego trying to catch up.

That's what they've done, already adding one of the best contact hitters in the game, Luis Arraez, before the trade deadline season even catches any steam.

Now the Padres can look towards adding to their pitching rotation to continue catching up with the Dodgers. One player who could garner their attention and tackle a huge role for San Diego is the young reliever turned starter, Garrett Crochet of the White Sox.

A Padres-White Sox trade to send Garrett Crochet to San Diego

The White Sox would need a massive haul for them to deal Crochet. Crochet is in his first season as a starter and he's been dominant. He's pitching to the tune of a 3.49 ERA and a WHIP of 0.93. His Baseball Savant chart is absurd, littered with elite numbers, including xBA and xERA. Baseball Savant has his xERA at an incredible 2.20.

He also comes with 2.5 years of team control. He's truly an elite piece for a White Sox team that doesn't have much value to their name. And the Padres want him. Bad.

This trade centers around one stud lefty for another stud lefty. Robby Snelling is the 26th ranked prospect in the game of baseball, per MLB Pipeline, and his 2023 season was absurd.

Snelling went 11-3 in 22 starts, holding an ERA of 1.82 as he worked his way from Low-A to High-A to Double-A. He struck out 118 batters in 103.2 innings. His production is led by his fastball and curveball, both of which he controls exceptionally.

Joining Snelling in this trade are the Padres 17th ranked prospect, Cole Paplham, and their 27th ranked prospect, Jay Beshears.

Paplham has the potential to be a lights out reliever, if he can get his command in check. He has a devasting combination of fastball and slider that rivals anybody in the Padres system.

Beshears could fly up the prospect rankings if he can continue to perform at the level that he is. He's already been elevated to High-A this year, following a 28 game stint in Low-A where he had an OPS near 1.000.

But San Diego needs to do trades like this if they want to compete with the Dodgers. They need to be willing to empty some of their high valued prospects in order to catch up with Los Angeles. If not, they're destined for more of the same, playing second fiddle to their rival while the Dodgers go on to compete year in and year out.