Luke Voit trade reaction
The San Diego Padres traded for DH/1B Luke Voit, formerly of the New York Yankees. How much does that help them this season?
If you were making a list of roster weaknesses for the San Diego Padres heading into the 2022 MLB season, it wouldn’t take long for you to figure out that the Padres were not in a position to add power to their lineup through the newly-reintroduced universal designated hitter.
They were scheduled to use DH to give guys like Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. days off from playing in the field while staying in the lineup, but we were still likely to see a lot of Jurickson Profar or Nomar Mazara in that role, which would’ve made the Padres’ DH position one of the weakest in all of baseball.
That all changed yesterday, when the Padres shipped pitching prospect Justin Lange to the New York Yankees in exchange for Luke Voit.
Voit’s main skill is power at the plate. He led all of baseball with 22 HRs during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He immediately takes over as the everyday DH, although Bob Melvin has already said that he’ll get some starts at 1B against LHP to get Eric Hosmer out of the lineup.
There’s not a lot of analysis needed here. Lange was 0-3 with a 6.95 ERA in nine starts last season for the rookie-level Arizona Complex League Padres, and A.J. Preller wasn’t going to be around to see him make his major-league debut if this year’s Padres missed the playoffs again. He had to make this move now, I don’t think he gave up much, and Voit undeniably makes the Padres offense better than it was.
Voit is also 31-years old and three years away from free agency. Much like Jake Cronenworth, he’ll probably never get a big-money long-term contract. That makes it easier to build him into plans for a roster that already includes a lot of big money players.
The only concern with Voit is an inability to stay healthy. If the trainers in San Diego can get him in the lineup for 145+ games per season, this trade will be a massive win for the Padres. Even if they can’t, I find it hard to believe this trade will come back to haunt A.J. Preller.