San Diego Padres: What players will the team deal at the deadline?

The cellar-dwelling San Diego Padres don’t have much to look forward to in the short term, but there are some interesting players they can deal by July 31.

It was well-known entering the season that the San Diego Padres had no interest in competing at all. There was no more obvious sign of their tanking then when they signed veteran players Erick Aybar, Jhoulys Chacin, Jered Weaver and Trevor Cahill to roles that they really didn’t deserve.

So it comes as no surprise that the Padres sit in last place in the NL West at the moment, accumulating a less than ideal record of 21-33.

What this means is that the Padres won’t have much to play for throughout the season with the next biggest event on the calendar being the July 31 trade deadline. This will mark the next opportunity for general manager A.J. Preller to accumulate more young talent for his full-scale rebuilding effort.

Many losing teams look forward to see what prospects they can get for some of their big league talent. However, some sellers just don’t have that much to give away that would garner a significant return.

Luckily, the Padres do have some quality major leaguers that will be interesting to some ballclubs that are looking to bolster their rosters for a postseason run.

The dilemma for all sellers is that they want to make sure they get enough value, especially when players have more than just half a season remaining on their contracts. The Padres are one of those sellers who have both obvious trade chips and some players they could hang on to.

Let’s take a look at which guys you should expect to be playing on other teams come August 1.

SP Clayton Richard

Stats: 11 starts, 68.2 IP, 4.33 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.427 WHIP, 2.5 BB/9, 6.6 K/9

Contract Situation: Free agent after 2017

The now 33-year-old Richard had a resurgent 2016 campaign after he was picked up by the San Diego Padres when he was released by the Chicago Cubs. In his 11 appearances (nine starts) with his current club the soft-tossing lefty pitched to a 2.52 ERA.

This season, Richard’s stats have regressed back to what they probably should be. Although he did post great numbers last year, the Padres starter didn’t have great peripheral numbers, striking out just 5.7 hitters per nine innings in 2016, while walking exactly four batters per nine.

Still, Richard represents a solid option that starting pitching-needy teams can look toward if they want a veteran hurler to eat some innings. Every trade season starting pitchers’ values rise because of injuries to contending teams’ pitching staffs.

The injury problem has continued to hit upper-echelon ballclubs, so there could be enough competition for the Padres to get reasonable value to their soon-to-be-free agent.

Verdict: Deal

Potential Suitors: Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks

SP Trevor Cahill

Stats: 7 Starts, 41.1 IP, 3.27 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.210 WHIP, 3.7 BB/9, 11.1 K/9

Contract Situation: Free agent after 2017

The second of the Padres’ impending free agent starting pitchers on this list has performed better than his counterpart on the previous slide. The only issue is that Cahill has been on the disabled list suffering from a lower back injury.

Prior to his DL stint, the 29-year-old right-hander was in the midst of a promising opening to the season. After working primarily out of the bullpen for the previous two years, Cahill got back to his roots by signing with the Padres in the offseason because he knew that he would get the chance to start.

Cahill was successful as a starting pitcher with the Oakland Athletics early in his big league career and it looks like he’s finding that form once again with the Padres.

In his new role, his velocity has tempered back as expected, but Cahill has also been willing to mix up his arsenal a bit more to keep hitters off-balance.

Cahill is expected to be back with enough time to rebuild his value before the July 31 trade deadline. If that were to happen, the Padres could fetch a more than decent return because of how many contenders are looking for reliable starting pitchers.

Verdict: Deal

Potential Suitors: Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks

2B Yangervis Solarte

Stats: 52 games, .251 BA, .336 OBP, .342 SLG, .684 OPS, 3 HR, 22 SO, 21 BB

Contract Situation: Signed through 2018, Team options for 2019 and 2020

Solarte had somewhat of a breakout 2016 in his age-29 season. He finished the campaign with a batting average in the .280s and a career-high 15 home runs.

After getting off to a hot start at the beginning of this current season, Solarte’s play has regressed a little bit in recent weeks.

Perhaps the Padres knew that Solarte would struggle a little at the plate early on considering that he was making a position switch from third to second base. But even with some current struggles, Solarte does bring upside and a quality 22-21 K-BB ratio.

He also will be sought after because of the amount of control and affordability that comes along with acquiring the infielder. Solarte has shown a solid level of overall offensive skills and he is currently in the prime of his playing career. This makes Solarte a reasonable target for teams looking to improve their infield situations.

It could be argued that the Padres could hold on to their second baseman considering that they do have multiple years of control left, but perhaps they should just sell him while they can because of the rebuilding arc that they are on.

In addition, there have been rumors that Solarte is on the trading block, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Verdict: Deal

Potential Suitors: Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants

RHP Brandon Maurer

Stats: 22 Games, 7 Saves, 6.00 ERA, 2.55 FIP, 1.238 WHIP, 1.7 BB/9, 10.3 K/9

Contract Situation: Free agent after 2020

The Padres have continued to stick with a closer that has produced a 6.00 ERA thus far. Why is this?

Well for one, the 26-year-old right-hander’s stuff is legit for a ninth inning option. According to FanGraphs, Maurer’s heater averages out at close to 97 mph with the ability to push triple digits when he needs it to.

He also brings two other pitches to the table, including a changeup and slider, in contrast to the usual one off-speed offering for fastball-heavy relief pitchers.

In addition to his stuff, Maurer’s peripheral stats from the past two seasons signal that his ERA is probably higher than it should be. He’s bumped up his K rate by a full strikeout (9.3 to 10.3 K/9) this season and has decreased his walk rate by over a full point as well.

This leads to a predictably much better FIP of 2.55. He’s also considerably lowered his hard contact and fly ball rates in 2017.

This adds up to a reliever that is much more coveted than his ERA indicates. However, the Padres should and probably will wait for his earned run average to reflect his other numbers before they deal him. There’s no rush in receiving value for the Padres closer considering the fact that the team still has Maurer in arbitration for three more years. Plus, the Padres seem to be more focused on trading another one of their coveted relief pitchers.

Verdict: No deal

LHP Brad Hand

Stats: 25 Games, 2 Saves, 1.82 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 0.944 WHIP, 3.3 BB/9, 11.5 K/9

Contract Situation: Free agent after 2020

Hand has perhaps been the most openly discussed Padres trading chip in recent days, and when looking at the way he’s performed early on, it’s easy to see why some contenders would already be interested in discussing a deal for the Padres set-up man.

So far this season, the 27-year-old left-hander has improved over what could be considered a dominant 2016 campaign. In 25 appearances this year, Hand has allowed only six earned runs, while striking out a fairly ridiculous 38 hitters in just over 28 innings of work.

Hand’s WHIP and FIP also indicate that this success is by no means luck. Hand is truly holding his own and could become one of the most highly sought after relievers on the trade market come July, or possibly even sooner.

Hand uses an effective fastball-slider mix when he comes into a game and has made it extraordinarily difficult for both left- and right-handed hitters when he’s on the bump, with both types of batters hitting below .200 this season.

Like Maurer, Hand is controlled through 2020, but the primary difference is that the left-hander has peaked in terms of value and the Padres would be wise to capitalize on his strong performance in order to garner more minor league talent for the future.

Verdict: Deal

Potential Suitors: Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks