The San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox pulled off the biggest trade deadline deal so far this year, and it was a no-brainer for both sides.
The MLB trade deadline is built for one purpose: Contending teams dealing assets to sellers looking for top return on stars that no longer benefit them.
It’s a beautiful thing when the trade stars align, and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday when the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres struck perhaps the best definition of a win-win trade.
Boston sent first baseman Mitch Moreland to San Diego for prospects Hudson Potts and Jeisson Rosario. Boston gets to reload with some top young talent while the Padres get to further indulge themselves in what has turned out to be a miraculous coming-of-age season that seemingly has no end in sight.
Padres Get
1B Mitch Moreland
Red Sox Get
3B Hudson Potts
OF Jeisson Rosario
Red Sox: B
It quickly became obvious that this was not the year the Red Sox were going to do much of anything. The AL East is dominated by the Yankees and Rays, and Boston’s lack of talent is both an issue this year and in the future. There are pieces the team can build around, but the Red Sox are in an in-between moment where they can’t compete but don’t have enough to rebuild.
Trading Moreland and plunging their cup into the Padres’ deep farm system is the biggest win Boston will get all season.
Potts is a former first-round pick, was the Padres’ No. 16 prospect, while Rosario was No. 19 meaning the Red Sox just added two elite young players to its future plans. It remains to be seen what Boston will do with its current crop of stars such as Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and Alex Verdugo, but smart money is on the team using that core to build around in the coming years.
Prospects are investments, so we won’t know how much the Red Sox won in this trade for at least a year. But the immediate reaction from fans should be excitement, as the Padres have proven this season what type of talent exists in their farm system and Boston just landed two potential studs down the line.
Padres: A-
The Padres had already captured our curiosity over the last month, but after trading for Moreland they have the entire league’s attention. The team dubbed Slam Diego has a clear cut face fo the franchise in Fernando Tatis, but it’s the talent around him that has everyone excited for what the Padres can do in the coming years — but more immediately this year.
Tatis is supported by Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado, and now Moreland who form an infield that could be as good defensively as it seems it will be offensively. Lest we forget the team went out and acquired Trevor Rosenthal mere hours before striking the deal that landed them Moreland, which signals that this young Padres team is not interested in waiting to slowly simmer to a boil and compete in the NL; instead they’re dragging a sledgehammer with the intention of swinging it at a league that now needs to take them seriously as a threat.
Much like the Braves last year, the Padres have a young team stacked with talent to not only compete this year but in the coming years as well. Making a move for Moreland solidifies a roster that was already bustling, but also signifies that the team is looking to become a destination for free agent talent that wants to join rank and become part of something special.
No one has been awarded a World Series ring simply for making a trade, but the Padres may finally be seeing the light as they crawl out of baseball obscurity and into the nightmares of teams that have cast them off for far too long.