Rumor: Padres Open to Dealing Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim

[RJA]

On the positive side, he is excellent defensively and would be a plus defender.  On the negative side, like many of the Korean players, he struggles with power pitchers.  He also is not at his best in high leverage situations.  Finally, he has been on a team where he was surrounded by great hitters, so he saw a lot of pitches.  That might not be the case in Minnesota.  On the whole, I think he would be a positive add, but I really dislike trading young guys for a shortstop as we have a couple in the pipeline already and Farmer.  

[Beast]

Wouldn’t trade a pitcher who has never been healthy enough in his career to surpass 100 innings for a 5+ WAR shortstop (and second/third baseman) under significant team control?  Because we have Kyle Farmer and a guy who may not even be a shortstop because he had 12 good games in the majors?

Some of these takes just blow my mind.  If the Padres would do that deal (Ober straight up), it’s a no brainer.

Alas, there’s no way in hell they would give up such a great asset for an injured pitcher.  No FO would be incompetent enough to trade high-end assets for a pitcher with health issues, right?

[Heistyman]

3 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

There are so few data points that being concerned about this doesn't make sense.

In fact, unless I'm forgetting something there's all of one data point on this. Byung-Ho Park. And he shared basically zero attributes with Ha-Seong Kim.

I agree and with a mid level budget we need to use every club in the bag to improve the team.  We cannot afford to ignore the Asian market just because we have had some issues.  We must comb every market and every angle to get an advantage.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Beast said:

No FO would be incompetent enough to trade high-end assets for a pitcher with health issues, right?

[Winston Smith]

23 hours ago, PseudoSABR said:

Give them Kepler, and throw in Duensing if needed.  

I don't like giving up on Duensing this soon.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Beast said:

Wouldn’t trade a pitcher who has never been healthy enough in his career to surpass 100 innings for a 5+ WAR shortstop (and second/third baseman) under significant team control?  Because we have Kyle Farmer and a guy who may not even be a shortstop because he had 12 good games in the majors?

Some of these takes just blow my mind.  If the Padres would do that deal (Ober straight up), it’s a no brainer.

Alas, there’s no way in hell they would give up such a great asset for an injured pitcher.  No FO would be incompetent enough to trade high-end assets for a pitcher with health issues, right?

Ha Ha.

[cmoss84]

I'd rather just sign José Iglesias.

[tony&rodney]

A concern of mine regarding any potential trades is whether other teams see any value to gain in return from our 40 person roster.

[Old fox]

I would rather trade our assets for starting pitching and relief pitching. I would overjoyed if the Twins cozzied up to the Marlins for Lopez or Cabrera or Meyers all pitchers with talent .. The “23” season roster will need to be up dated because of reduced # of games in the ALC replaced by more games with NL ; doing away with defensive shifts. I’m hoping that Martin sticks with the big club because he could be a good lead off hitter.

[Cory Engelhardt]

The Padres would probably want Sonny Gray and/or something else. 

 

IF the Twins get another starter, I could see Gray and something for Kim. 

[EGFTShaw]

On 1/1/2023 at 4:57 PM, Doctor Gast said:

It'd take Kepler, Martin & Miller type trade. Or maybe Ober straight up. I wouldn't do it.

He'd help, but not my 1st choice

I agree.?

[Otaknam]

I thought Farmer was acquired for this role until Lewis or Lee are ready. I wouldn’t do this unless we just traded spare parts. They have to keep their best young minor leaguers since they likely won’t be in contention this year. 

[BSLinPA]

On 1/2/2023 at 4:31 PM, Old fox said:

I would rather trade our assets for starting pitching and relief pitching. I would overjoyed if the Twins cozzied up to the Marlins for Lopez or Cabrera or Meyers all pitchers with talent .. The “23” season roster will need to be up dated because of reduced # of games in the ALC replaced by more games with NL ; doing away with defensive shifts. I’m hoping that Martin sticks with the big club because he could be a good lead off hitter.

All of us should be hoping for the best with Austin Martin who will turn 24 just before Opening Day, but its not likely that he "sticks with the big league club" in 2023.  Remember, he hit .241 BA/.682 OPS with a fielding percentage of .922 (18 errors in 67 games) at SS at AA level last year.  He is not (presently) on the 40 man roster.  Safe to say further development is needed/recognized.

All of this mentioned in the context of orig post regarding the acquisition of SS Ha-Seong Kim.

[Coach Wheels]

On 1/1/2023 at 3:36 PM, Brock Beauchamp said:

The Padres have a glut of talented infielders and their situation only grew more complicated with the signing of Xander Boegarts earlier in the offseason. Unsurprisingly, reports are now emerging that they're taking calls on young shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. The return on Kim would likely be significant. He's 27 years old and under team control through the 2026 season.

In only 267 games played, Kim has accumulated 7.1 bWAR, including 5.1 in 2022 alone. Kim was a standout player in the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization), where he played nearly 900 games while posting an .866 OPS. The Padres signed him out of the KBO only two years ago and it's not a stretch to suggest he may not be happy with a bench role given his MLB production thus far.

What would it take to trade for Kim?

 

View full rumor

 

Send them a LH hitting outfielder and an arm from the system. Kepler would love San Diego

[tony&rodney]

For some reason I think San Diego will only trade Kim for a huge gain in player resource. Since the Padres are all in for this year for sure, it is more likely they make one more trade of a future asset for a pitcher like Sonny Gray or T. Mahle. From the Twins perspective, it makes sense to talk with Preller and see if either a Kepler-Kim swap works (unlikely) or if the Friars are interested in giving up a top prospect for Gray or/and Mahle. These are the types of conversations we all hope that Falvey is both initiating and pursuing.

[Russ]

Barring contract renewals, Baldelli is signed through 2023, Falvey and Levine through 2024.