The Padres fortified their bullpen with their weekend acquisition of righty Jason Adam from the Rays, however they’re not carried out but. Dennis Lin and Chad Jennings of The Athletic report that San Diego is hoping so as to add “no less than” one starter and remains to be open to bringing in further reduction assist. They’ve had discussions with the Tigers about Jack Flaherty, per the report, and have certainly no less than checked in on a possible Blake Snell reunion (as was reported final evening).
Flaherty, 28, stands as one of many likeliest commerce candidates in the marketplace. He’s on a one-year, $14MM contract with a Tigers membership that faces a 12-game deficit within the AL Central and a 5.5-game hole within the chase for the ultimate AL Wild Card spot (with 4 groups to leapfrog in that hunt). The Tigers may maintain onto Flaherty and make him a qualifying provide — he’s a lock to reject and no less than internet them a draft choose it after his good 2024 rebound — however the demand for pitching ought to enable Detroit to extract a greater package deal than that potential comp choose.
In 106 2/3 innings since signing with Detroit, Flaherty boasts a 2.95 ERA with an distinctive 32% strikeout price and an excellent 4.6% stroll price. Among the many 80 pitchers with no less than 100 innings pitched in 2024, Flaherty has the fifth-best strikeout price, the seventh-best stroll price and the second finest differential between these two marks (trailing solely White Sox ace Garrett Crochet). He’s additionally conserving the ball on the bottom at a stable 43% clip, and this 12 months’s 93.5 mph common fastball is his finest since 2021. Flaherty additionally has the sixth-best swinging-strike price amongst these 80 pitchers, trailing solely Crochet, Cole Ragans, Tarik Skubal, Dylan Stop and Chris Sale — a formidable assortment of among the sport’s prime arms.
The Friars’ once-outstanding farm system has been thinned over time by president of baseball operations A.J. Preller’s insatiable urge for food for marquee trades. San Diego recouped among the worth they misplaced when buying and selling 5 prime prospects for Juan Soto within the offseason once they traded their remaining 12 months of management over Soto to the Yankees. Nevertheless, the headline prospect in that commerce by no means threw an everyday season pitch within the Padres group; right-hander Drew Thorpe was as an alternative packaged with three different farmhands in a commerce to amass Dylan Stop throughout spring coaching. Preller has since additional thinned the system with trades for Luis Arraez and the aforementioned Adam.
Catcher Ethan Salas and younger shortstop Leodalis De Vries nonetheless rank among the many sport’s elite prospects, however all indications thus far have been that each are near untouchable. Lin just lately wrote a separate piece on that topic, and usually any report connecting the Padres to a high-end commerce goal has steered that Salas and De Vries aren’t anticipated to be in play. That’s doubtless all of the extra true with regards to a rental like Flaherty (or a high-priced star with an opt-out clause, like Snell).
The Padres have been with out right-hander Yu Darvish for weeks as he tends to an undisclosed private matter. He’s on the restricted record indefinitely. Proper-hander Joe Musgrove has been out since Could on account of a bone spur in his elbow and is on the 60-day injured record. They presently have Dylan Stop, Michael King, Matt Waldron and Randy Vasquez within the rotation, however Vasquez has spent a lot of the season flirting with a 5.00 ERA whereas King has already set a brand new career-high for innings pitched. Including Flaherty or one other arm to the combination would each assist to bridge the hole till Musgrove and/or Darvish are able to return and in addition give the Padres one other impression arm for a possible postseason rotation. A theoretical group fronted by Stop, Flaherty, Musgrove and Darvish could be formidable, assuming all 4 are wholesome and energetic.
