Padres Rumors: Insider Proposes Blockbuster Trade to Send Juan Soto Out, Bring Cy Young Winner to San Diego
Anyone who watched the San Diego Padres in 2023 knows it's a club may be in need of a slight overhaul to be competitive in the National League Western Division in 2024.
MLB insider Jim Bowden of The Athletic believes the Padres could benefit from trading Juan Soto to the Cleveland Guardians for the former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber as well as 2022 AL Rookie of the Year runner up Steven Kwan.
The Guardians could potentially swap their ace, Shane Bieber, and left fielder Steven Kwan for Soto. Bieber is also a free agent after next year and could help the Padres fill the void left by Snell in their rotation and Kwan, a Gold Glove Award winner, would give them improved defense in left field and another high on-base percentage player for the top of the lineup. Of course, from a Guardians standpoint, if they aren’t in the race come July, they could always turn around and deal Soto at the trade deadline.
This offseason, the Padres may lose Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, and Michael Wacha to free agency. However, the Padres have both Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish still, and they are good starters. While the Padres want to save money, they can re-sign either Lugo or Wacha.
They can also look to pick up an inexpensive free agent starter to bolster the rotation depth.
While Bieber in particular would be a terrific addition to the pitching staff, it was the offense that struggled for the Padres in 2023.
The vaunted lineup scored the 13th most runs in the major leagues, and they had the 20th highest batting average. The Padres need to improve their offensive production to match the hype the club had entering the season in 2022.
Their main offensive producer in the past, Manny Machado struggled because of an elbow injury. Immediately after the season, Machado underwent elbow surgery to resolve the problem. He may not be ready for either spring training or Opening Day.
The Padres must replace Machado’s offense for a few weeks and it would only get more difficult without Soto in the mix. Soto is the logical choice because he is coming off a great offensive season when he had a .275 batting average, 35 home runs, 109 RBI, and a .930 OPS.
Soto’s defense in left field is easy to replace, but his offensive production is difficult to replace. While good teams have good starting pitching, teams must outscore their opponents to win.
