Saturday morning, the San Diego Padres dealt second baseman/outfielder Adam Frazier to the Seattle Mariners after acquiring Frazier in mid-July last season. The Padres acquire minor league left-handed pitcher Ray Kerr and outfielder Corey Rosier.
In 57 games played with the Padres, Frazier batted .267/.327/.335 with a .662 OPS. He played 46 games as the second baseman and five as the left fielder in San Diego, who acquired him at the trade deadline for another patient bat in their already patient lineup.
Kerr, a relief pitcher who can throw 99 mph, signed with the Mariners as an international free agent. The 27-year-old has struck out 258 batters over 244 professional innings since 2018. In 2021, he recorded 60 strikeouts in 39.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Kerr struggled in walks-per-9 in Triple-A, as he walked 4.9 batters per nine innings and his WHIP went from 0.977 in 28.2 Double-A innings to a 1.273 WHIP in 11 Triple-A innings. But as a reliever, and with San Diego’s new pitching coach in Ruben Niebla, that could be something that can be fixed with the velocity he throws.
Rosier, the Mariners’ 12th round draft pick in the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft, had himself a great month in Low-Single-A. The 22-year-old batted .390/.461/.585 (1.046 OPS) in 31 games with the Modesto Nuts, and showed off his speed with 13 stolen bases. With the farm system slowly depleting of outfielders, Rosier is a great addition that can make his mark in the big leagues in a couple years.
The Padres take an estimated $7.5-million off the books to potentially sign an outfielder.
The Padres current projected left fielder is Jurickson Profar, who is a good depth piece and bat off the bench, but he has struggled in a Padres uniform when getting into the starting lineup consistently. If the Padres get rid of Wil Myers or Eric Hosmer’s contracts, that could free up more money to sign one of the better players off the free agent market, like potentially a Nick Castellanos or Kyle Schwarber-type player.
It frees up the infield log a little, with more playing time for Ha-Seong Kim.
A gold glove infielder in Korea, Ha-Seong Kim showed tremendous defense while slowly improving with the bat. Fans knew that it would take a bit for Kim to hit well with the high increase in velocity from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to Major League Baseball, but with a new hitting coach with a new perspective, his second season in the MLB could be when he shows what he can do. The former KBO MVP will also get more playing time, and could potentially get into the starting lineup if one of San Diego’s infielders hits the injured list at some point in the season.
A 3-for-2 deal in prospects is not the end of the world.
Many Padres fans took to social media to show their displeasure with the “buy-high and sell-low” that San Diego general manager AJ Preller seemed to make at first glance, but when looked into, that may not be the case at all. When the Padres acquired Frazier in July, they gave up three prospects who did not have any room in the big league club for a while, and would be Rule-5 eligible this offseason. With the new trade, the Padres now get two high-upside prospects, one of which is almost big-league ready while the other could be ready at some point in 2023 when another starting role in the outfield becomes available.
Lastly, this trade sets up CJ Abrams for a key role in the 2022 season.
As the Padres’ no. 1 prospect, infielder CJ Abrams is almost big-league ready, with most experts expecting a big-league call-up about mid-season in 2022. His primary position of shortstop is obviously taken for a long time, but he has played second base in the minor leagues and there have been talks about him potentially playing an outfield position, although he has yet to play a professional game in the outfield. It will likely take a couple months in the minor leagues playing an outfield position if the Padres do go that route before appearing in a major league game.