BALTIMORE — The San Diego Padres addressed a pressing need Sunday by acquiring one of the best right-handed relievers available, Jason Adam, in a trade that required sending one of their top pitching prospects to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The overall cost of Adam’s arrival in a seller’s market: right-hander Dylan Lesko, outfielder Homer Bush Jr. and catcher J.D. Gonzalez.
Adam, who turns 33 next week, is under team control through 2026. He is ranked 24th overall and fourth among relievers. The AthleticThe Top 50 Trade Deadline Picks. He’ll join Robert Suarez, Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon in the late-inning mix for a Padres team that has lacked depth in the bullpen beyond that starting trio.
“You have to give up good players to get good players,” said AJ Preller, the Padres’ president of baseball operations, “especially guys who have control (of the team) and have been some of the best relievers in the game over the last few years.”
In 47 innings with the Rays this season, Adam has a 2.49 ERA. His 35.2 percent success rate puts him among the top 20 major league relievers, tied with All-Stars Kirby Yates, Ryan Helsley and Jeff Hoffman.
While he has some experience as a closeout player, Adam has become primarily one of the best relief pitchers in the game. He developed for years before joining the Rays in 2021 and becoming a go-to reliever, consistently productive for three seasons in Tampa Bay.
“He’s a guy that’s really going to help our bullpen. He gets righties and lefties out, so that’s definitely a bonus for the club and the ability to use him,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s pitched late in games. I expect him to continue to do that. It would be a mix of him in higher-leverage situations with Morejon and Estrada and adding to the mix there.”
We acquired right-handed reliever Jason Adam from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for right-hander Dylan Lesko, outfielder Homer Bush Jr. and catcher JD Gonzalez.
– San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 28, 2024
The Padres solidified their status as aggressive buyers with a 7-2 road trip after the All-Star break. They are firmly in contention for the top draft spot in the National League despite a bullpen that ranked 21st in the major leagues in earned run average heading into Sunday. The Padres can now focus on bolstering their starting rotation before Tuesday’s trade deadline, though they wouldn’t hesitate to acquire another reliever as well.
The additional additions won’t come cheap. Early industry reactions to the Adam deal were that the Padres paid a significant price. Lesko, 20, was the Padres’ first-round pick in the 2022 draft, weeks after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He made his professional debut last year and struggled more after the surgery with his command — this season with High-A Fort Wayne, Lesko had a 6.46 ERA and 52 walks in 69 2/3 innings — but he retains the upside of being at least a middle-of-the-rotation starter. The AthleticKeith Law ranked Lesko as the third-ranked prospect in San Diego’s system heading into this season.
The Padres selected Gonzalez and Bush relatively early in the 2023 draft. Law had them ranked 15th and 17th, respectively, in San Diego’s system before Preller traded a half-dozen prospects to acquire Dylan Cease and Luis Arraez.
Adam was briefly a member of the Padres organization several years ago. The former Kansas City Royals prospect didn’t pitch for a two-year stretch during which he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right elbow and subsequently underwent four surgeries. Then, he signed a minor league contract with the Padres in 2017. He ended up making eight minor league appearances before being released in August of that year.
“He was still battling his injury,” said Preller, who saw Adam in a pre-draft workout before he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in 2010. “I’m really happy for him (and his success) because he’s one of the really good players in this game and those guys stick with you for a long time. Hopefully he can come full circle and help us get to the playoffs here in the next few years.”
As part of this year’s playoff race, the Padres continue to search for at least one starting pitcher. Their need for reinforcements in the rotation has been evident for weeks. Michael King and Matt Waldron have already eclipsed their previous major league records for innings pitched. Meanwhile, veterans Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish haven’t pitched for the team since late May.
Musgrove is expected to pitch up to two innings in a simulated game Tuesday at the Padres’ spring training complex; if he continues to progress, he could begin a rehab assignment next week. Darvish remains on the restricted list while he attends to a personal matter. (“He’s let us know that when he feels like he’s in a personal situation where he can focus on the team again, he’ll go from there,” Preller said. “We just respect that.”) In Sunday’s 8-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, rookie Randy Vásquez was relieved in the third inning and ultimately charged with six earned runs.
League sources said The Athletic The Padres have spoken with the Detroit Tigers about starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, among other potential targets. San Diego has at least reached out to the San Francisco Giants about former Padres left-hander Blake Snell, as reported by the New York Post. Adams’ modest $2.7 million salary and the fact that Darvish doesn’t need to be paid while on the restricted list could help the Padres acquire more pitchers while staying under the luxury tax threshold.
It remains to be seen whether Preller still has enough potential to bring in another impact pitcher or two. With a limited number of star players available, Ethan Salas and Leodalis De Vries could be out of reach. A team official said De Vries, who was not in Sunday’s lineup for Low-A Lake Elsinore, was simply getting a start and was not involved in any impending trade. But outside of Salas and De Vries, and after acquiring Adam on Sunday, the Padres’ farm system appears significantly diminished.
Still, nothing is out of the question under one of the most aggressive general managers in sports.
“We know what we have internally. I think we’re doing a good job of evaluating that,” Preller said. “There’s been so many names in the last couple of days that have been considered from a depth standpoint, from a numbers standpoint. It just shows that, again, we have players that people like and a quality system. It’s fun to see. It gives me options, it gives our group options, and we’ll see what the next few days bring.”
(Photo by Jason Adam: Kim Klement / USA Today)