Trade Review: Padres acquire Josh Hader

The MLB trading deadline is in a few hours but the Padres got started early by adding the best closer in baseball to their bullpen.

The MLB trade deadline is a little later today, but A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres got things going yesterday by trading for the best closer in all of baseball. Let’s review that trade before we get into everything else.

Padres get
LHP Josh Hader

Brewers get
LHP Taylor Rogers
OF Esteury Ruiz
RHP Dinelson Lamet
LHP Robert Gasser

There were rumors that the Padres and Brewers were discussing a deal for Hader before the season started and, at that time, the price included Robert Hassell III and/or C.J. Abrams. This is far from that in terms of cost.

I like Esteury Ruiz and will miss having him as a backup plan in case of an injury to Trent Grisham this season, but Jose Azocar still exists, so I’ll live. The rest of these guys were plenty expendable and it’s incredible that the Padres got the best closer in baseball while not parting with any of their top 9 prospects.

Gasser is the big win here for the Brewers, as he was previously the Padres 10th best prospect, but he’s also a pitcher who is a long way away from the majors. Lots could happen between now and him making it to the Milwaukee Brewers. The chances of him ever being a San Diego Padre were probably small.

I saw a lot of reaction to this trade that said the Padres must’ve been freaking out about their bullpen to go and trade for Josh Hader, but that’s not how I view it. I think the Padres were looking for a reliever and were surprised to see that they could get Hader for such a low cost.

The Padres didn’t touch a single prospect that they were discussing dealing to the Nationals for Juan Soto, so that one is still alive (more on that in a second), and Hader erased a lot of concern about his poor July after the all-star break. Oh, and did I forget to mention that Hader is signed through next season? There’s almost nothing to not like about this trade.

Grade: A