Phoenix - The Padres used their pitching depth to achieve a different kind of pitching.
The team completed a trade early Thursday that sent starting pitcher Chris Paddack and reliever Emilio Pagan to the Minnesota Twins for left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers and corner outfielder Brent Rooker. The Twins are also sending money into the deal, an amount enough that the Padres actually trimmed payroll in the deal. The Twins would get a minor leaguer to be named later.
Rogers is the new close of the Padres.
While the Padres are also looking for an experienced bat, they spent the spring looking for a complement to their bullpen.
Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller said. “And then also the guys who have the experience behind the bullpen. That’s why ultimately we targeted him, because he basically checked all those boxes for us, and this is another real weapon.”
Tim Hill was the Padres' only left-handed reliever, and he had no proven. Robert Suarez saved 42 games in Japan in 2021 but never pitched in the big leagues. Suarez plays an eighth-innings run that was filled by Pagan, who was highly effective for the Padres at times but had 4.75 ERAs in 85 1/3 innings over the past two seasons to allow massive home runs.
Rogers saved 30 games for the Twins in 2019 and nine games in the short '20 season. The 31-year-old has 3.15 eras and 361 strikeouts in 314 2/3 career innings. He was an All-Star in 2021, having been named to the American League roster as a replacement. He was used extensively in the seventh and eighth innings last season but he saved nine games.
He will be a free agent after this season. His twin brother, Tyler, is a reliever for the Giants, whom the Padres visit next week.
Rooker, 27, has hit .212/.299/.413 in 234 plate appearances over the past two seasons. The right-handed batsman has played both left field and right field. He was not included in the Padres' opening-day roster. The Padres had already told Jose Azocar that they had made the team and valued their defense at all three outfield spots, so they sent Rucker to start the season at Triple-A.
Rogers is owed $7.3 million in 2021, and Rucker will make a pro-rata share of MLB's minimum rate of $700,000. With the Padres receiving $6.6 million from the Twins as part of the deal, they're essentially getting two players in the major leagues, while shedding salaries of the Pagans' $2.3 million and the Paddock's $2.25 million. .
This puts them a little over $1 million under the competitive balance tax limit of $230 million, although their payroll will fluctuate as they continue to make moves. CBT is not calculated until the end of the season, and that is when the Padres must pay 30 percent tax on any age higher.
Parting with the paddock marks the end of a more difficult than expected era that began with much promise.
"Chris was great to us," Preller said. "... Tremendous rookie year. He started on day one. He started a playoff game."
The 26-year-old Paddack has a 4.21 ERA in 61 career games (60 starts).
The right-hander's brilliant rookie season saw him post a 3.33 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 2019, but he has been inconsistent since then. He was the team's opening-day pitcher in 2020 but ended the season after a disastrous start, conceding six runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Cardinals.
His disparity continued into 2021, a season shortened when he was called off in mid-September with an elbow swelling. He received stem cell injections and made a strong comeback this spring.
Still, he was of great interest to the teams since the lockdown ended. With Nick Martinez being signed off-season last weekend and trading for Sean Maneya, the Padres became comfortable trading a starter.
"Ultimately," Preller said, "we just saw an area in which we had some strength in the opening side and a chance to add to the bullpen."