Inside The Padres

Padres Outfielder Has 3-Word Response to Trade Deadline Rumors

San Diego Padres left fielder Gavin Sheets (30) celebrates with the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning against the New York Mets on Wednesday at Petco Park.
San Diego Padres left fielder Gavin Sheets (30) celebrates with the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning against the New York Mets on Wednesday at Petco Park. | David Frerker-Imagn Images

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Never ask a baseball player on a contending team how they feel before the trade deadline. Ask them afterward.

The San Diego Padres are trying to boost their roster on the final day to make trades of the 2025 regular season. The deadline is 3 p.m. PT Thursday.

More news: Padres Discussing Potential Blockbuster Trade for All-Star Closer

According to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, the Padres’ extreme interest in Jarren Duran, combined with general manager A.J. Preller’s “aggressiveness,” is stirring optimism the Padres can get a deal done. According to Katie Woo of The Athletic, the Padres have expressed interest in Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero.

Meanwhile, the Padres had a game to play Wednesday. They dispatched the New York Mets, 5-0, at Petco Park. While the Mets were busy acquiring reliever Taylor Rogers from the San Francisco Giants, and Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals, the Padres were busy winning their fifth straight game to complete a series sweep.

More news: Major Landing Spot Has Emerged in Blockbuster Dylan Cease Trade

Gavin Sheets hit a two-run home run in the third inning. Afterward, Sammy Levitt of 97.3-FM asked the Padres' left fielder whether he would be "locked in" to the Padres' trade deadline activity. Sheets offered a succinct three-word response.

"Whatever happens, happens," he said. "Most important thing are these five wins. We're going to keep it rolling with whatever team we've got."

It wasn't "one game at a time," but it might as well have been. The Padres don't have a game scheduled for Thursday, so there's no telling who will be in the home clubhouse when the St. Louis Cardinals come to town Friday.

If they acquire Duran, a talented left fielder, it would presumably push Sheets back to the DH position at which he excelled to begin his first season in San Diego. But doing so might require the Padres part with Dylan Cease, a trade that Robert Murray of FanSided.com deemed "a longshot" on Monday's episode of The Baseball Insiders.

"I've also had it refuted — I don't believe it was accurate at all — that he was offered with Ethan Salas for Jarren Duran to Boston, but I got a couple different denials on that," Murray said. "I don't expect a Cease trade. It's possible for sure but at this point I'd call it a longshot."

More news: Padres Targeting 2.12-ERA Pitcher From NL Contender in Major Trade

A smaller trade might be in order, but might not move the needle much for a Padres team currently in the third Wild Card position in the National League. Regardles, trades are out of the players' control, a sentiment Sheets described in few words.

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.


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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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