The Padres announced the acquisition of catcher Jorge Alfaro from the Marlins in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported the Friars’ interest in Alfaro yesterday.
As Morosi pointed out, Alfaro was originally signed by the Rangers as an amateur out of Colombia back in 2010. Current San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was a high-ranking member of the Texas scouting department at that time. Alfaro becomes the latest in a line of one-time Rangers’ players or staff members Preller has struck to bring to San Diego.
Miami had supplanted Alfaro behind the plate yesterday, acquiring Jacob Stallings from the Pirates. While Alfaro had already looked like a non-tender candidate, the Stallings acquisition made it clear his time in Miami was likely over. General manager Kim Ng and her staff looked for a trade partner in advance of tonight’s non-tender deadline, and they found one in San Diego.
The right-handed hitting Alfaro has flashed an intriguing blend of power and arm strength at times, but his combination of huge strikeout totals and well below-average walk rates have yet kept him from settling in as an above-average regular. He’s coming off a season in which he hit .244/.283/.342 with four home runs across 311 plate appearances. Alfaro hit .244 despite a huge .354 batting average on balls in play because of a lofty 31.8% strikeout percentage.
Defensively, Alfaro has rated as an average or worse pitch framer over the past three seasons, per Statcast. He has done an excellent job controlling the running game, though, including an impressive 42.8% caught stealing rate in 2021. That aligns with scouts’ long evaluations of Alfaro’s arm strength as elite.
The Padres make for a curious fit on paper. San Diego already has a capable #1 catcher in Austin Nola, and Víctor Caratini is on hand as a serviceable back-up. Top prospect Luis Campusano, meanwhile, has already appeared in the majors and is coming off a strong season with Triple-A El Paso. The San Diego front office is clearly intrigued by Alfaro’s physical tools, though. They’ll add him to the organization on a projected $2.7MM salary and can control him through 2023.
Craig Mish of SportsGrid first reported the Padres were acquiring Alfaro. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com was first to report Miami would receive a player to be named later or cash.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Nice !!! Trade time !!!
Can’t have too many catchers….?
OK, we can call him a “catcher”.
Letters must’ve been rubbed off when the Yankees read that sentence, so it read, “ Can’t have any catchers” – that explains it!
Ahhh, this will be entertaining.
Curious to see what the Padres are giving us.
A bag of baseballs and some pine tar
SCORE!
As long as it’s not hosmer you won the trade lol
We got rid of one South Florida waste (Brinson). We don’t want to add another in Hosmer.
If the new CBA brings with it a $100M salary floor, that may not be too far from reality.
Actually, if there is a change to the floor, Hosmer’s contract might not be the worst for the Marlins. Per Spotrac, this year he’ll make $20M+$1M signing bonus. He could opt out after the season, but, if he doesn’t, it’d be $40M over the following three years.
We don’t want your mistake contract.
No way, no how, is Hosmer opting out.
Not my mistake. I’m not a Padres’ fan.
Inb4 Preller gives them someone ranked in their top 30
Phillies won that trade
Sixto Sanchez says “Hello”.
Has JT made the playoffs yet? The Marlins have since that trade.
Yeah, I wanna wait to see what Sixto does when he comes back from this injury first, too. No one’s won that trade yet imo
But we made the playoffs first!
The point of that statement was that JT asked the Marlins to trade him because he wanted to be with a playoff team and not part of a rebuild. Sixto was part of our playoff team. JT hasn’t seen the playoffs yet.
@ dknight 2 JT made it to to free agency so the book is already closed on the Phillies’ portion of that trade.
I’m a Marlins fan, too, but making the playoffs first isn’t much to brag about. Imo it’s about who’s there more often with the players involved in the trade. JT was clearly wrong for not wanting to be part of the rebuild because he’d be in the thick of it right now, but there’s still time to tell.
Remind us how much Sixto contributed to that run. I’m not hating on the team or player, but aside from a few promising starts he gave that team nothing. We’ll all see going forward how he holds up, but I wouldn’t count on him.
The point is J.T. Realmuto was wanting to be on a playoff contender. The Marlins made the playoffs WITHOUT him. Meanwhile the Phillies still haven’t made the playoffs WITH him. Going forward I like the Marlins over the Phillies over the next 4-5 seasons. Despite the previous sentence, I think both of them will be looking up at the Braves for the next 2 years.
Brian, Sixto pitched in a playoff game the team won (and performed well). So there’s that.
If sixto wins a CY young in a Marlins uniform they win
Sixto Sanchez says “Hello” and will now require season ending surgery.
Sixto hasn’t done anything in the majors yet and is always injured, Phillies won the trade easily.
Sixto has done nothing? Ask Cubs fans.
FYI – So far, Sixto has played in more playoff games than JT.
@pinstripes17 Phillies got nothing out of the trade. All Sixto has to do to win that trade for Miami is be “OK.”
And then ask the Braves
Congrats, you were an 8 seed with a losing record in a one-off tournament. I’m rooting for the Marlins to be good, but to act like they’ve done anything noteworthy in the past 15 years is absurd. You’re acting way too cocky as a fan of a team that just finished 4th in their division with 67 wins and the 7th worst record in baseball.
Sixto says “hi” from where, the IL?
47 big league innings in the 3 seasons since the trade. Doesn’t sound like he’s done much
Myaccount, the Marlins were not the 8th seed and did not have a losing record. They were the 6th seed and lost the 5th seed in the final days. They defeated the third seed in two games. It isn’t a thing to truly brag about , but it’s the truth. JTR wanted out and to go to a playoff team and the Marlins got there first and won a series before the Phillies played a game.
No they didn’t. The Phillies got nothing out of that trade. If Sixto Sanchez can be just “OK” in the majors the Marlins win the trade.
Matt Klentak was an idiot, but I doubt even he would have traded Sixto if there wasn’t injury red flags all over the place. Sixto has never been healthy for an entire season in his pro career. I am assuming the Phillies figured Sixto’s injury woes aren’t going away any time soon, so take a chance and see if JT can put them over the top. For the Marlins, it was a gamble worth taking since JT already wanted out, and the Phillies add a guy they hoped could improve the team immediately. Both teams got what they wanted.
The problem with Sixto isn’t necessarily the injury history but the work ethic. With the Phil’s he was quite lazy. When he got traded to Miami he immediately changed. He was posting constant videos in to his training and looking better. He was doing great in 21 Spring before the injury. And now he’s back to training hard and working hard. I understand the Phillies being ok with trading lazy guy. Lucky for the Marlins he got the message and seems happier here (that’s not a knock on PHI it’s just how it looks). Time will tell if he can put a big campaign together.
Overall I think the trade was fine. Even if the Phil’s didn’t resign JTR. Everyone kind of got what they wanted. The only slight on Miami would be what else could they have got?
@ludafish Phillies signing or not signing JTR doesn’t have any effect on the outcome of the trade.
Phillies got “nothing”? Please elaborate
@AndyMeyer The Phillies didn’t make the playoffs in JT’s 2 remaining club control years and then he became a free agent. And he would have signed with the Phillies even if they hadn’t traded for him so nothing he does after 2020 counts towards the trade.
How do you know he would’ve signed with them without ever playing for them? A bit of a reach. And how does a team not making the playoffs judge who won a trade? JT has been pretty steady and, for the most part, durable during his tenure while Sixto has pitched 48 total innings in 3 seasons
Still don’t know what your explanation is for the Phillies getting “nothing”
@AndyMeyer Unless some other team verifiably offered JT more $ than the Phillies or JT publicly said “I wouldn’t have signed here if they hadn’t traded for me first” he 100% would have still signed with the Phillies without ever playing for them.
They got nothing because JT’s steady production in 2019 and 2020 was ultimately worthless to them.
Still have no idea what you’re talking about. What you’re saying is completely hypothetical. Obviously he would’ve signed with a team that offered the most money. That’s how it works. Even with missing the playoffs, JT wanted to resign with Philly first and foremost. How is that worthless to them?
Let’s get down to the obvious which is the body of work. JT has 3 solid campaigns with 2 all star selections, a gold glove and silver slugger while Sixto has thrown a grand total of 47 big league innings due to injury after injury. These are the facts. As it stands, the Phillies have made out the better so far
@AndyMeyer Exactly. He would have signed with the team that offered the most money. That team was the Phillies. So he would have signed with the Phillies anyway.
Nothing JT does after 2020 counts towards the trade. They didn’t get that from the trade.
They failed to make the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 with him. They could have failed to make the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 without him. Then they could have still signed JT and kept Sixto.
Still makes absolutely no sense
So by your logic, the Indians and Red Sox both “won” their respective trades as everything both Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor do moving forward means “nothing” towards the trades. They didn’t “get that from the trade”
Teams don’t live in hypothetical narratives
When you trade for a player, the idea moving forward is to resign said player. By trading for said player, it gives a little advantage as the player has time to adjust and get a feel for the organization.
As it stands right now, in reality, the Phillies have gotten way more reward from JT Realmuto than the Marlins have gotten from Sixto Sanchez. Injuries and work ethic were serious red flags around the kid but since teams love “top prospects”, they’ll make these types of trades
“So by your logic, the Indians and Red Sox both “won” their respective trades as everything both Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor do moving forward means “nothing” towards the trades.”
Difference is the Phillies didn’t extend JT. The Dodgers and Mets did extend Betts and Lindor. And the Dodgers won the World Series in Betts’ last arb year and he was arguably the most important part of that team so they probably make the trade even if the KNOW Betts is leaving.
“When you trade for a player, the idea moving forward is to resign said player.”
You’re dead wrong bub! When you trade for a player you don’t bake in some sort of expectation that he will magically stay beyond his remaining club control years. If his remaining club control years aren’t good enough for you then what you do is wait until he’s a FA and sign him.
“By trading for said player, it gives a little advantage as the player has time to adjust and get a feel for the organization.”
That almost never provides any tangible benefit. And even when it does that benefit is worth less than the prospects trading for the player cost.
“As it stands right now, in reality, the Phillies have gotten way more reward from JT Realmuto than the Marlins have gotten from Sixto Sanchez.”
The book is already closed on the Phillies portion of the trade and all JT did for them in 2019 and 2020 was cost them money and hurt their draft position.
Bottom line, unless you can come up with a source that says some team offered JT more money than the Phillies (team name and dollar figure must be included) or that JT said “I wouldn’t have signed here if they hadn’t traded for me first” then he 100% would have still signed with the Phillies if they hadn’t traded for him.
Hip Hip Jorge!!!
Preller loves those former Rangers/Ranger prospects.
And trading for mediocre catchers in general.
Look for cash considerations. Don’t think Hosmer is here. Sets up a Hosmer/Campusano deal
Boom
Did anyone really think Hosmer would be included in a trade with the Marlins? Anyone taking Hosmer would be unbelievable, but the Marlins? Not a chance.
Per Baseball Trade Values (do what you will with their valuation), Eric Hosmer, Luis Campusano and Robert Hassell III comes out to $6.6m surplus value.
As a Padres fan HATE this move. HATE it. Means we are overpaying for a back up, average catcher just because of his connection with Preller. Guarantee we gave up a good piece that will bite us in the behind later. We didn’t freaking need another catcher. Come on!
Why do you keep calling him a catcher? Oh wait, that was the position he was sitting in all these years for his nap.
How can you hate a trade when you don’t know the players involved?
Exactly. I don’t know what the Marlins got back, but I’m loving this trade already.
PTBN or cash considerations. So basically free. Relax.
I’m happy.
Preller hasn’t made a trade for a player at a position where SD had no need since way back when when he dealt for……Adam Frazier? Planning on carrying 3 catchers next year? I don’t think any of the 3 have any options remaining, so good luck with that.
I think the Padres may have acquired him in anticipation of the universal DH. Either that or they’re going to move somebody.
If that were the case, Alfaro is not the guy I want as a DH.
Useless trade. We already got enough catchers. Thrice isn’t the price.
Caratini or Nola next?
That’s what I’m thinking. Preller has probably found a team that really likes one or the other and is willing to trade him something the Padres need.
Did you see how Caratini played last year?
He’s a backup catcher. Having one bad year doesn’t guarantee another one. Maybe he’s part of a trade that will involve multiple players. Not every team has the same needs or perspective on what a player might do.
Marlins are busy. Gearing up to win the division in 2022. I’m not kidding. Only took 88 wins last year, if their pitching holds up, they could do it.
If we trade Anthony Bass, we’ll have a shot.
Looks like Jeter refused to help Yankees and take Sanchez
Yeah, it seems that way. Maybe he’s hesitant after gifting Stanton to the Yankees. Heck, if he took Sanchez, it would be another gift to help them, so Sanchez would probably come over and become MVP and a Gold Glover on his way to Cooperstown the same way things worked out with gifting Stanton to the Yankees.
@mlbnyyfan, Do you think Sanchez is salvageable as a hitter? At 6.35MM before his next arb hearing, he’ll be hard to move if there’s no team out there that likes his bat.
A lot has to go right in Miami to win over 80 games. Can it happen? Yes… Would I bet on it? No. At least I can say the odds of them finishing with more wins than the 21 squad is looking very good.
They have about 7 pitchers with TOR stuff to fit in to the 5 spots (or maybe a 6 man?) And then another 2-3 guys with mid rotation stuff. If of those 7 guys four of them can pitch most of the season then the team could go somewhere. Unfortunately besides Alcantara everyone has some sort of injury history or speed bump to get over. Hopefully Stallings helps fix that.
Nonsensical move. We’re going backwards unless it leads to a dump. Myers or Hosmer?
If there’s $100M salary floor set in the CBA, it might.
Lots of potential in his bat, if someone can coax it out of him . Hope for the best for him, Jorge is a great guy
Universal DH?
With Alfrao’s defense and offense, he’ll keep the Padres opponents in the game or in the lead…even if the Padres jump ahead.
Why? A light hitting catcher that is not particularly good on defense. This is a head scratcher unless they move Nola to the OF.
Just saw he was an ex- Ranger. Preller will sign Juan Gonzalez to play LF next.
Nola has trade value.
What worries me is that Campusano has more (trade value)
@Cey Hey Well Preller already bought a guy at peak value only to flip him for 60 cents on the dollar inside of 16 months later once this offseason. Why not do it again?
That is true, but if they trade Nola they’ll be left with a tandem of Alfaro and Caratini which is worse than before they traded for Alfaro. Not sure what kind of return they’d get for Nola unless someone takes Hosmer or Myers along with him.
Nola’s actually a decent first baseman.
So, where is tonygwynn22? This obviously puts the Padres over the top.
He’s trying to figure out how he can defend Preller on this one.
Why oh why do we need an average to below average catcher? Someone explain
If Alfaro was indeed AVERAGE Marlins don’t trade for Stalling and don’t trade Alfaro
Alfaro is definitely BELOW average. Can you guess who scouted and signed him for the Rangers?
Padres will dangle Nola. A Catcher or can also play around the Infield should at least fetch a couple of minor leaguers
They didn’t pick up Alfaro to dangle anyone. Something is already decided involving Nola or Campusano.
Not many viable options at catcher. If only Jesus Montero would have stayed away from those ice-cream sandwiches
This makes Luis campusano expendable. A trade should be coming. Too many catchers now
22 year old players that dominate AAA are never expendable.
You’ve clearly never met AJ Preller. Guy is a buffoon.
A non-tender candidate makes a leaguewide top 100 prospect expendable?
DH, 1B, OF against lefties? That’d be my guess as to where Alfaro fits on the roster.
I think that’s the plan, with some spots at Catcher. If the Padres manage to cut his SO rate just a bit (say from 33 to 25-30 percent), he WILL hit 10 HR every 150 ABs.
As a fellow Colombian and Marlins fan, I wish Jorge the very best in San Diego. Padres, you might got a steal in him.
He’s gonna play second base
Campusano must not be in their plans, thus his trade is coming soon I would think
This move sets up the next move involving Nola, Caratini or Campusano. We won’t have to wait long.
Well he better get to work then, there’s going be a lockout and transaction freeze real soon
maybe today?
Caratini is Darvish’s personal Catcher so he’s probably not going anywhere. I’m thinking it will be Nola who ends up moving
Moving Nola for Alfaro would put Preller into uncharted territory on the stupid scale.
The only reasonable explanation for picking up Alfaro is if some other team was wanting a specific C from the Pads (maybe Alfaro?) to make a trade happen. If it’s Nola or Campusano then the return better be well worth it. Otherwise, I can’t fathom why he’d add Alfaro as 4th C on depth chart.
Preller 7 + years as GM has yet to find decent catcher
Preller keeps trading the decent catchers picking up bad catchers in his garbage dump trades.
This makes no sense. But … Preller.
Wasn’t it about three years ago he was trying to sign every catcher in baseball?
Alfaro has some upside. He is fast and has a strong arm.
Alfaro is a nice man. Great smile, runs like the wind. Unfortunately he can’t leave pitches that break away from the strike zone. After all the hype last spring about all the work he’d done over the winter, this season was a bitter disappointment
Another completely stupid deal by AJ Preller and the Padres.
Their top catching prospect is marooned at AAA and is projected to be a future star.
It will probably be with another team since Preller and the Padres are horrible
at developing and promoting many of their young players….
Preller probably trades the younger, better player for another lite hitting
former Ranger with a higher salary like Profar.
Preller just makes trades to shuffle the chairs on the deck of the titanic..
Preller needs a hobby like golf or surfing or maybe both.
He is tinkering with and dismantling one of the better farm systems in the league
to hoard broken down, high salaried, non producing utility and back up players
that have no value in helping San Diego win a pennant.
Take a good look at the farm system. He’s already destroyed it.
Interesting
They must be trading a catcher
Probably campusano not Nola
I can’t see them trying to compete and run the young catcher out majority of games.
But Nola can also play other positions so who knows what Prellers doing???
He’s trading Ed Whitson and Nola to the Yanks for Gallo
Whitson… Wow, a blast from the past.
He hated new York.
I met Ed Whitson at the airport with my dad when I was a kid. Super nice guy. He wouldn’t tell me how to throw a slider because he didn’t want me trying it in pony league with my 13 year old arm.
He was a nice guy, and I’ll never forget him. My first time at a brew pub at age 21, one of his last years as a Padre, he walks into the uncrowded bar and sits for a minute in the corner while my friends and I tried to figure out what we’d order. Then the waiter walks over and says the guy in the corner is offering to cover our tab. I recognize it’s him and invite him over and he accepts and we talked for 2 hours. Incredibly genuine humble regular guy… I believe it was 1990, a year he had a 7.0 WAR
Nola’s a pretty good first baseman, so cue the Hosmer rumors.
Sign Correa, put Tatis at first, Nola at second for games when Cronzone is SP, Harrell Jr in LF, use Alfaro as PR, designate Abrams as super Utility 6th IF and bring back Matt Kemp as DH
Burying Campusano?
They’ll convert him to a pitcher.
Preller is useless.
The Padres are a tough team to love… Or even like.
Oh dr, I was borne into them, it’s been 52 years of hell
watch Aj Preller trade Luis Campusano.
That would be so Preller.
Need to trade Campusano to ensure the team is completely ruined for the GM that takes his place…..
I’ve been expressing that concern for a couple of years now. Preller will leave us with a terrible farm system, a poor roster, and a locker room full of terrible contracts.