The San Diego Padres have reportedly discussed acquiring Francisco Lindor, and one scenario would be to move Fernando Tatis to center field to accommodate him.
The Athletic published a story on Monday about the possibility of the San Diego Padres acquiring Francisco Lindor from the Cleveland Indians.
Ken Rosenthal and Dennis lin reported that some people in the Padres front office are interested in using their stacked farm system to “swing a trade for a star position player such as Lindor.”
“Some of the team’s baseball people would like to do just that, even if it likely would move Tatis to center field or making him a multi-position threat,” The Athletic wrote.
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Although they did mention that San Diego is interested in pitching as of now, it is still a very intriguing scenario to talk about.
A Padres official said that ‘Lindor fits on every team.” Well, he is right. The Padres wouldn’t be acquiring a mid-tier shortstop. No, they would be getting a shortstop that is on the same level as Mookie Betts and just below Mike Trout.
If they were to acquire Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. would likely move to center which would be a very ideal scenario despite him not playing a single game there in his professional career.
Tatis was injured twice last year at a very demanding position, but if he moved to center field I think the workload would lessen and he would be accompanied by a combination of Tommy Pham, Trent Grisham, and Wil Myers (at least right now).
The Padres would have an infield to dream for–Manny Machado, Lindor, Jurickson Profar, and Eric Hosmer— with Chris Paddack on the mound for Opening Day.
Another factor, which was mentioned in the Athletic article, was that Lindor wouldn’t just be in a Padres uniform but he wouldn’t be in a Dodgers one.
The San Diego Padres, of course, are entering their window of contention but a big hurdle to get over is the dominance of the Dodgers who would probably still have a better team than the Padres even with Lindor at shortstop.
A scenario that would move Tatis to center in favor for 4-time All-Star Francisco Lindor is very unlikely–if a possibility at all– but it is a move that could be done with the farm system San Diego has.