San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller will have a lot of thinking to do in the coming weeks as the trade deadline draws near. Justin Upton could be at the forefront of the trade talks, as he has expressed little interest in re-signing with the team.
Heading into Friday, Upton has a .275 average with 68 hits, 13 home runs and 42 RBIs. He is the best hitter on the team and could bring back a nice haul of prospects.
During the offseason, Preller partially depleted the farm system in order to bring in Upton, Matt Kemp, Will Middlebrooks, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, and Craig Kimbrel in hopes of being a contender, but that plan has not panned out so far.
It is still unclear what they can get for Upton but it is speculated that he has a lot of value on the market and it may be good enough to start the rebuilding process of the farm system.
What will the rebuilding process look like?
Hard-to-move players:
Kemp will be hard to move as he is only hitting .250 and has just four home runs on the year. He is also a defensive liability per the numbers and holds a -0.6 defensive wins above replacement.
On top of that, teams will have to take on the remainder of his contract. The Padres are only paying him roughly 3.5 million this year because of the trade agreement made with the Dodgers, but after this season he will be owed in excess of 18 million a year.
Players who should not be traded:
Despite having an underwhelming year, the Padres have a group of talented young players. Players like Middlebrooks, Myers, Norris, and Kimbrel should all be retained for the rebuilding process.
Players on the fence:
Starting Pitcher Ian Kennedy should be a strong trade candidate as he will be a free agent next year. He has not played well by any stretch of the imagination, but could still hold some value to teams with a depleted starting rotation.
