Padres Rumors: Writer Proposes San Diego Trades Ha-Seong Kim for Young Starting Pitcher

The San Diego Padres enter Spring Training with an influx of shortstops. The team signed shortstop Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million this offseason. He joins a roster that already had Fernando Tatis Jr. — who's mostly played shortstop in his MLB career — and Ha-Seong Kim. Heck, even Many Machado is technically a shortstop, although he's thrived in his role in San Diego as a third baseman.

It seems pretty clear that Bogaerts is going to play shortstop for the foreseeable future, and Tatis Jr. is going to move to the outfield. However, what does that mean for Kim?

Kim had a breakout season last year, especially on the defensive side of the ball. He was a finalist for the Gold Glove Award in the National League, finishing with 10 defensive runs saved above average in his 131 games at shortstop.

The Padres could move him to second base this season, however, that takes away his excellent defense, and he's at best a slightly above-average hitter — last year, he had a 107 OPS+.

So, if they felt like they had too much of a logjam in the infield, they could elect to trade someone — and it's not going to be Bogaerts, Tatis or Machado. So, Zachary D. Rymer at Bleach Report cooked up a trade package to get Kim out of San Diego, and bring in a young starting pitcher from the Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta gets SS Ha-Seong Kim, LHP Adrian Morejon; San Diego Padres get RHP Ian Anderson

Here's a part of his reasoning:

"

Dennis Lin

of The Athletic reported in December that the Padres could be open to moving Kim or center fielder Trent Grisham for a starting pitcher. Kim seems like the more logical choice to go in our eyes, as it just seems like a waste to play him at second base after he was a

Gold Glove finalist

at shortstop last season.

"A swap of Kim for Anderson, who

fell out of favor

with Atlanta in 2022, would be reasonably fair talent-wise, but less so the extent that Kim is signed through 2024 while Anderson is controlled through 2026. Thus, Morejon would also go to Atlanta to balance things out."

Ian Anderson had a strong start to his MLB career in Atlanta, however, has struggled as of late. The 24-year-old burst onto the scene in 2020, sporting a 1.95 ERA in six starts. Then, in 2021, he had a still respectable 3.58 ERA in 24 starts. However, last year, he came back down to earth.

Anderson started 22 games for Atlanta, and had an ERA of 5.00, with his lowest strikeout rate and highest walk rate. He'll be up for arbitration in 2024, and is under team control through 2027.

The Padres just extended RHP Yu Darvish, but LHP Blake Snell will still be a free agent at the end of this season. If they don't want to pay him, they could look to bring Anderson in, which could then keep Nick Martinez in the bullpen this year.

As for the rest of the trade, Adrian Morejon struggled last year, sporting a 4.24 ERA in 26 appearances. The Padres have more than enough bullpen depth to replace him, if they felt like they needed another long-term, inexpensive option in the rotation.

I don't see the Padres going this route, but hey, it's always an option.