The San Diego Padres have been one of the best baseball teams this season, entering MLB games today in the playoff hunt. As the trade deadline approaches, San Diego is now focused on making a key upgrade to its everyday lineup.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that San Diego is hoping to improve its production at catcher this summer. However, that effort is being made complicated by a thin trade market.
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According to FanGraphs, San Diego’s catchers entered play on July 4 ranked 26th in OPS (.596) and 29th in fWAR (-0.4). The club has tried to make it work with Elias Díaz (.598 OPS) and Martín Maldonado (.528 OPS), but both catchers have essentially been automatic outs in the Padres’ lineup.
As Rosenthal notes, though, the trade market at catcher isn’t exactly appealing. The most productive backstops in baseball are all playing for contenders. The exceptions—Hunter Goodman (.965 OPS) and Drake Baldwin (.834 OPS)—are building blocks for their clubs moving forward.
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The Athletics are highly unlikely to move Shea Langeliers (.744 OPS), and the Atlanta Braves reportedly won’t move Sean Murphy even amid Baldwin’s breakout season. Likewise, the Boston Red Sox will presumably hang onto Carlos Narvaez since he is under club control through 2030.
Perhaps a team like the Cincinnati Reds (Tyler Stephenson, .713 OPS) or the Baltimore Orioles (Gary Sánchez, .857 OPS) would be willing to move their catchers, but that’s far from a foregone conclusion.
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