This Changes EVERYTHING For The Padres... | Major Padres Update

Major trade rumors circulating as this trade will change the whole dynamic of the Padres team. Who can they acquire? What will it cost? Is this feasible, reasonable, possible? All the ibbles out there, let's talk about it. Hi, welcome back to another episode of Padres Digest with your host, Andrew. Today, while Squire... What's the word? Scouring? Scouring the Twitters. I came across this hypothetical trade that does have a little bit behind it, apparently. We'll see. But we'll talk about it in a sec. Before that, though, let's quickly first say thank you so much for subscribing. We're getting closer to 6,000. That'd be great if we could hit it by the end of the year. Also, follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, Padres Digest, all that fun stuff. My brain is off right now. Oh, my God. Anyways, let's just jump directly into it. Yankees reportedly motivated to trade Ben Rice. Huh? Well, that's what that says. I'm hearing more. A deal is even closer than we expected as Cashman is motivated to sell high on Rice because he doesn't want to move back to catcher. San Diego is the fit. Yuki Matsui, Lamar King Jr., Eric Yost, and Francis Peña, the rumored return per at Yes Network. Trusting. Interesting, so if you don't know who Ben Rice is, he's one of the better first basemen in the entire league, still very young, still very controllable, and he can technically play catcher a little bit, so a first baseman and a catcher, that seems pretty cool, I would love that, so Rice gives San Diego a bat at first base, first and foremost, now that Ty France is gone, he can still resign obviously, but for right now he's still gone. Uh, we need someone else, right? He really controls every single at-bat. He's really a smart guy. That's what Cody Bellinger said. Uh, Carlos Rondon on Rice. He said he's a guy who's got to be in the lineup. So if we take a look, Rice versus France. Bum, bum, bum! Let me run this one. It's not working. Nope. That one. So OPS, France versus Rice last season. 897 versus 865. So Rice was a little better. Home runs, obviously 41 versus 21 is a huge difference. Walk rate, Rice walks a lot more than Ty France does. Strikeout rate, he does strike out more than France, but not by a lot, right? So obviously France, great hitter. But Ben Rice is much better, right? And I will absolutely love... taking someone like Ben Rice on this team. So this is where he hits it. I don't know if this is a big stat you care about, but if you do, he's more of a pool hitter and it makes sense. So Rice versus regular season and playoffs. So he was actually a lot better in the playoffs, but you know, he didn't last that long. So sucks to be them. So let's start taking a look at who Ben Rice is. So Ben Rice. First baseman, 27 years old, also a DH, also technically a catcher, but he is a guy. Very, very good, as you can see from all the stats, especially the Savant percentiles. But he's played mostly at first base and DH, but he does have 37 career games at catcher, which is cool. As a catcher, though, he did have negative three defensive runs saved. So he's not like a great catcher, but he's a catcher, right? So his average last year, .264, 363 OBP, 897 OPS, 41 home runs. So his batting run value is 97th percentile, which means he's one of the best in the entire league. Expected weighted on-base average percentile 96, which is one of the best in the league. Barrel percentage is one of the best in the league. Walk percentage is one of the best in the league. So overall, he is very, very good. The only thing he's kind of below average in his whiff percentage and strikeout percentage, which is fine. I mean, he doesn't chase very often, but he does miss and he does strike out. But when you're hitting 41 home runs, who cares? Who cares, right? He is a much, much, much, much worse defender than Ty France. Like, significantly worse at first base than Ty France. That's why he has a lot of DH at-bats. But we also kind of could use a DH. I don't know who would be better between him and Sheets at first base, but if they want to trade off, they can, right? But he's a career .378 expected wOBA versus .316 MLB average. Career barrel rate, 14.9. We'll say 15% versus 7.6. Strikeout rate did go up, but that's fine. Caught stealing a lot. Not a really fast guy, but, you know, we don't need him to be. He's hitting 41 home runs. Who cares? Who freaking cares? Now, the rumored return, that's a whole different discussion subject topic. So, Yuki Matsui headlines the rumored return, and I'll show you guys a graphic on that. But Yuki Matsui, he's obviously the best arm in this trade scenario. He's still good. He's 183 ERA. He doesn't cost a lot, a lot. Not cheap, but not a lot, a lot. Uh, and, you know, last year was probably his strongest year, so if we're ever gonna get rid of Yuki Matsui, which, not saying that I want to, but if we were, it would be the best time to do it, because he is the highest value he'll probably ever be in his career, unless next season he somehow does better than this, right? So, the rumored trade details. Let me go to this one. So, Padres obviously get Ben Rice, we talked about him already. But they'll send Yuki Matsui, a left-handed pitcher, age 31, 6.5 player option, 7 million player option, 2028. So very good. Lamar King Jr., who is in high A, Fort Wayne Jr., who is a catcher, which the Yankees do need another catcher. Because Austin Wells kind of sucks. He's fine. He's a fourth round pick, but he's fine. Eric Yost, who is a right-handed pitcher on AA San Antonio. He doesn't look great, but he's still young, 24 years old. 7-5 in 25 games, 18 starts. He was a 17th round pick. And in the bigger name, Francis Peña. A right-handed pitcher who has a 3.05 ERA. And so far in the Arizona Fall League, he's doing his thing. We talked about that a few times in a couple of videos. But in 2024 in AAA, he had a 5.0 ERA. But remember, AAA is a hitter's paradise. So take it with a grain of salt. But the two big names would be Yuki and Francis Peña. Lamar King Jr. is nothing to scoff at. And Eric Yost, whatever. But them four for Ben Rice. And honestly, I would be willing to give up Freddy Fermin. If I was desperate, Campusano, definitely not. Ethan Salas, that is, I feel like a very fair trade. Maybe a little too lopsided for us. So what a Rice trade does to the Padres roster? So like I said, we can put him at first base, obviously. That one's not loading. That's okay. We'll put him at first base. Maybe he can play a few games at catcher. We do have a lot of catchers. So that's why I'm saying if we want to trade Freddy Fermin to the Yankees, why not, right? Oop, oop, oop, oop. There we go. I guess it worked. Laureano's a free agent, so ignore that. But Ben Rice playing first, Cronenworth, Bogarts, Machado, that's a really good infield. Besides Jake Cronenworth. And kind of besides Bogarts. But still, pretty good infield. Right? So he would make a huge impact, and I would absolutely love to see it. And you saw his season line already. So I don't know why we wouldn't want to do it. I just don't know if this is enough for the Yankees to want to trade him. I feel like they would want to ask for more, which is why I'm a little confused by the package. Uh... I would have expected them to get a lot more for Ben Rice. But, I mean, if Cashman's motivated, who are we to say no? Who are we to say no? So is it realistic? I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, it's not like it's unrealistic, but I feel like it would cost us a bit more to get Ben Rice. Is it realistic the Yankees might want to sell Ben Rice? I don't know. I'm not Yankees Digest. I'll ask Yankees Digest for you guys, but I don't see it. But if it's really reportedly an actual thing that might happen, this is great. I would love this. And there's no... We can still re-sign Ty France. You know, like, Ben Rice is cheap. I'm pretty sure he's still pre-arbitration. Let me double-check that. Yeah, he's pre-arbitration, not eligible for arbitration until 2028, and he won't be a free agent until 2031. So that's why I feel like he's going to cost a lot more. But, You know, how about this then? Would you guys be willing to give up Ethan Salas to get Ben Rice? Because I feel like that's honestly what might need to happen in order to make this deal work. Maybe, right? So I guess I'll just ask you guys the question. Matsui plus three prospects for Rice? Yes, do it. No, not too much. Or no, too much. You let me know. I feel like, A, yes, do it if this is the deal, but I don't think it will be. But how about we add Salas to it? Because I feel like that's what it would take for it to happen. Would you add Salas to this deal because we already have two other catchers and Campasano might be legit? Or no Salas, no Rice? You let me know in the comments down below because I am very curious to see how you guys feel about this. But yeah, thank you guys so much for watching. Please subscribe, as always. Follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, Padres Digest. Thank you to our channel members. Remember, share this video with your friends. Have a fantastic, wonderful rest of your day. I'm getting faster with that every day. Okay, bye.