The Padres have acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper and minor league lefty Sean Reynolds from the Marlins in exchange for left-hander Ryan Weathers, per an announcement from both teams. San Diego designated outfielder Preston Tucker for assignment in a corresponding roster move.
Cooper, 32, will give the Padres a seasoned bench bat with a productive track record at the big league level. He’s picked up five-plus years of MLB service to this point in his career, making him a free agent at season’s end and a pure rental for San Diego, but one who has more often than not been a quietly strong offensive performer.
Although Cooper’s .256/.296/.426 batting line in 2023 doesn’t stand out, it’s only narrowly been worse than league average, by measure of wRC+ (97). Moreover, Cooper’s bat has picked up as the season has worn on. Dating back to June 1, he’s posted a far more palatable .276/.319/.468 batting line with eight big flies and six doubles. That’s good for a 115 wRC+ (i.e. about 15% better than league-average production, after weighting for home park) — which is right in line with Cooper’s career output.
Since making his MLB debut with the Yankees back in 2017, Cooper owns a .271/.338/.437 batting line in nearly 1700 trips to the plate. He’s been particularly productive with the Marlins in the past few seasons, batting .271/.352/.443 from 2020-22. Cooper has never had massive over-the-fence power but hits plenty of doubles and from 2018-22 drew walks at a healthy 9% clip.
Perhaps “healthy” is a dicey word to use in any regard when describing Cooper, as the primary knock against him as been a penchant to land on the injured list. Since 2018, Cooper has been on the injured list due to a wrist sprain, a calf strain, a lumbar strain, an elbow sprain, a concussion and an inner ear infection, among other maladies. Productive as his bat has been, he’s never logged more than 119 games or 469 plate appearances in a single season.
Cooper is healthy right now, however, and the Padres have gotten little to no production out of their bench this year. Veterans Rougned Odor (recently released), Nelson Cruz (released) and Matt Carpenter have provided no help, and the Friars have relied on a combination of journeymen and organizational depth pieces (e.g. Brandon Dixon, Matthew Batten, Taylor Kohlwey) in the other spots. Cooper’s above-average track record at the dish will be a significant boost, and he can slide in at first base if the Padres need to push Jake Cronenworth to second base to accommodate Ha-Seong Kim’s recent injury.
In addition to Cooper, the Padres will pick up the 25-year-old Reynolds — a 2016 fourth-round pick and converted first baseman/outfielder who’s emerged as an interesting bullpen prospect. The 25-year-old Reynolds made the move to the mound full time in 2021 and has found a good bit of success in the upper minors. Through 48 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, the 6’8″ left-hander has pitched to a 2.77 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and just two homers allowed. Reynolds features a four-seamer in the mid-to-upper 90s, a mid-80s slider and a changeup.
In exchange for the final couple months of Cooper’s services and a potential six seasons of control over Reynolds, the Marlins will pick up the 23-year-old Weathers — a former first-round pick and top Padres prospect who’s long looked like a change-of-scenery candidate. He’s seen action in each of the past three seasons, but other than his rookie campaign when injuries forced him to the Majors as a 21-year-old, Weathers has never received a particularly long look.
In 143 big league innings, Weathers has a 5.73 ERA. He’s fanned just 16.8% of his opponents but sports a respectable 8.3% walk rate and 42.9% ground-ball rate in that time. He’s also pitched decently in 40 2/3 Triple-A innings this season — 4.20 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate, 13.5% walk rate in eight starts — and has a minor league option remaining beyond the current year. The Marlins’ vaunted pitching depth has been thinned out by the trades of Pablo Lopez and (earlier today) Jake Eder, as well as injuries to Trevor Rogers, Max Meyer and Sixto Sanchez. Weathers will add a former No. 7 overall pick to the stockpile, and the Marlins can take this year and next to try to coax some better performance out of the lefty.
As for the 33-year-old Tucker, he’ll lose his 40-man spot before appearing in a big league game with the Padres. The older brother of Astros star Kyle Tucker, Preston was once a well-regarded prospect himself but has never found sustained success in the minor leagues. He had a nice three-year run with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization from 2019-21 and has a career .274/.353/.471 slash in parts of eight Triple-A seasons — including a .293/.433/.565 showing so far in 2023.
However, the elder Tucker brother carries just a .222/.281/.403 slash in parts of three Major League seasons, and the Padres’ acquisitions of Cooper and Ji-Man Choi have beefed up their reserve options a bit. That left Tucker without a clear role moving forward. Normally, players who are designated for assignment have a week to be traded, placed on outright waivers or released. But, since the trade deadline has now passed and Tucker has been on a 40-man roster this year, he’s ineligible to be moved. He’ll hit waivers within the next week and be available to all 29 other clubs. Even if he clears, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald first reported the trade.
What is with AJ preller and below league avg hitters haha?
We’ll Weathers this storm!
Dudes mashing lefties this year in a small sample size but has been effective against lefties in his career. He clearly hits lefties well based on career stats
2023 – .349/.386/.485 in 70 PA
Career – .287/.336/.466
Sounds like padres will platoon 1B with Choi and Cooper. Against righties choi has
Choi 2023 – .224/.237/.552 in 59 PA
Choi career – .246/.351/.459
Maybe not at 1B as much, but possibly DH and as a 1B option. They’ve got $80m in Cronenworth
Cronenworth stinks.
Whatever you think about him, he won’t be supplanted in the first year of his extension
Gary
Best trade of the day let’s mf gooooo!!
Good deal I’m surprised they didn’t do it last off-season
And in Padres fashion, Weathers will right the ship and become an All-Star with the Marlins and Garrett Cooper will do nothing for the Padres. That’s just great.
more than likely
With Miami’s pitching development, he just might
Who are all the other players the Padres traded that suddenly became all stars again?
Ty France for one
A star? He is batting 7th in their order with 7hr and was on the block with no takers today.
“No takers” isn’t accurate. All 30 teams would have taken him. Just none offered anything that the Mariners felt was worth parting with him.
Among players Preller has drafted he has the most WAR. So far at least.
Well let’s see, Anthony Rizzo, Corey Kluber are some of the bigger names but if you go back there’s also Derrick Lee. Then there’s Ty France who was an All-Star last year, Andres Muñoz who will probably be one soon. Oh yeah there Davis Bednar, I mean should I keep going or are you going to eat your foot now? Lol
Jack Suwinski
You forgot Hosmer
Wait until after Weathers pitches a few games before assuming this.
Who are all the other prospects Preller has traded that suddenly became all stars again?
Uhhh Trea Turner, Clase and Kloobs come to mind…
Aj Preller didnt trade Corey Kluber.
Funny, I don’t remember saying that he did. I said Padres meaning the team, not just trades Aj Preller did. Maybe pay attention in class next time before commenting there bud.
Funny. Wasnt replaying to you bill. I now.
Funny, it’s under my thread from my original comment. You get called out and all of a sudden it wasn’t for me. Ok there princess, whatever let’s you sleep at night.
Funny, this comment is also in your thread.
“Uhhh Trea Turner, Clase and Kloobs come to mind…”
Wanna guess which one I was replying to?
Maybe read the thread before trying to be the tough guy at a John Mayer concert.
This is all so funny
You obviously have not heard the John Mayer Trio do their Hendrix set .
Max Fried, Trea Turner, Yasmani Grandal, Ty France, Emmanuel Clase, David Bednar, Luis Castillo. And while not exactly an All-Star, you can’t tell me Jack Suwinski isn’t an upgrade over Trent Grisham. Josh Naylor should’ve been an All-Star this year and would be one of your top 4 bats this season. To name a few.
Padres never traded Luis Castillo. Miami traded Luis Castillo.
They undid a portion of a trade because Colin Rea got hurt pitching 3 innings for Miami.
Ah ok but the rest still stands
serious question. Would you rather trade Weathers and have him do well, or keep him and have him suck?
good point Brew
Sup Brew! To answer your rhetorical question, you trade him for a need and never look back. If he gets good, well, good on him. If you keep him and he sucks… then what’s the point? Just wasted space on a limited roster losing games in his wake.
like a trophy girlfriend, i get it
Yea, trash take here! Weathers is DFA’d in about a two weeks.
Tell me how this is “Padres fashion “ you don’t know what you’re talking about
Bloom should really start taking notes from Kim Ng
Does adding Choi and Cooper mean the Carpenter experiment is over?
I think so…
God I hope so
This actually seems like an interesting trade for both sides.
LOL Pobres
Marlins reshaped the infield today. Could work.
Well this is a fine howdy do…
He’s gone! He’s finally freaking gone!
Finally finally finally! This is at least two years overdue!
Good freaking riddance!
I said it yesterday that I couldn’t wait for Garrett Cooper to be a former Marlin! This is that day!
Newsflash: you’re getting Ryan Weathers. You might wanna temper your enthusiasm for this swap…
I don’t care if it was a box of popcorn that was from a locker in a test zone in the desert during WWII, and it just fell in a toilet bowl, I’d still take it to just be rid of Cooper.
Padres traded for 349/.386/.485/.871 vs LHP and about league average overall.
On the Marlins Cooper has to be a starter. On the Padres hes a platoon DH.
They can non-tender Weathers if he’s really a problem.
Nah, I’d rather see if we can turn him into something of value.
I said “if” he’s really a problem. Not saying he is or isn’t.
Your issue with cooper is so weird, but I’m not going back down this road.
It isn’t just my issue.
You know that the majority of our fanbase are not impressed with Cooper and many of us have been wanting to move on for at least the last couple of years – some fans even longer, because I remember myself defending him the first couple of years.
3rd time around for a weathers in Miami
Coop…I’m going to legit miss. Plays the right way, standup guy. Clutch player. Carried the Marlins through a lot of frustration offensively as the only somewhat guiding light
Marlins needed pitching, but I really dont see how these series of moves they made actually made them any better, while also giving away significant waning assets
Marlins going back in their history with Conine first and now Weathers.
Do any of our former players have sons that can actually play?
It’s ok guys if Preller had drafted Brady Singer instead of Ryan Weathers he wouldn’t have been able to afford to sign Xavier Edwards!
Well, the ol’ slapdick netted us Snell, so I’ll scratch out a W for Preller there.
Crone I thought? With Pham.
You’re totally right, Dream. I got my Preller W trades against the Rays mistaken. Cheers!
I probably should have put /s at the end of that comment but I thought it was obvious.
And as Dream said, Edwards was in the Pham/Crone trade not the Snell trade.
Conversation between Ng and Preller:
Preller: “we’ll give you Weathers for Cooper”
Ng: “well, we’re be winning this trade and I don’t want to rob you, so how about you take a solid relief pitching prospect Sean Reynolds from us”
Preller: “you sure”?
Ng: “yes!”
Great trade, miss Coops, but could have gotten Weathers for Coops straight up.
You do realize that Reynolds is a 24-year old in Single A right?
He’s going to be a solid reliever. It was unnecessary to add him to the deal.
Hes 25 and he’s in AA.
So bye bye Carpenter? Hope the Yankees get or got him. Probably a waiver claim.
So Cooper and Choi seem to be better offensively than Cruz and Carp so, I’ll have to call it an upgrade for the DH spot. In both additions they are better defensively as well.
Needle mover – maybe as opposed to a no. A few more hits from DH in the first 100 games and Padres are probably in the WC right now so, keep it all in perspective guys.
Choi Cooper could be all star tandem.
Sorry to see Coop leave, a fan favorite. Wish him all the best hopefully it works out. Haven’t seen the Fish this active on the buy side in 20 years. Wowsers
Weathers’s mom will be so happy!!! (later Karen)
Great, let’s continue to sell off the remainder of the non-existing pitching depth because the Pads have no idea how to develop minor league pitching.
TDR, I think Weathers has had his shots and didn’t make it. He is still young but needed a change of scenery to improve his odds.
Depth is only a problem if someone gets hurt (yes I remember 2021 when everyone got hurt).
Our 5, assuming Wacha rebounds, is as strong of a 5 as you could want. Bill can hold down the fort in the 5/6 spot, allow Lugo to fortify the pen at some point.
We could see the same group next year. Padres control Wacha (or could do the negotiate thing); Snell and Lugo both likely want to return.
Padres actually have some guys that should be there in 2025 so, not as bad a picture as you are painting.
Absolutely, if 2 or 3 go down it’s all crap right now but that can be said for most teams.
I don’t think the trade hurts this year much, this SP group is solid and with addition of Hill shouldn’t see much more AAA spot start call ups. But I do think it’s the type of move that hurts us down the road and these types of trades are the reason we’ve had to call up the likes of Khner, Wolf, Avila with bad results. They only have Darvish, Musgrove and Wacha under contract next year and would be skeptical paying Wacha $16 per with his constant shoulder injuries. I think Lugo has been really solid and think he makes sense to resign for maybe something like the Wacha contract at $16 per for 2 years. Snell is going to be overpaid and don’t think the Pads will be able to afford that. Just concerned if they run back a rotation of Darvish, Musgrove, Wacha , Lugo very injury prone staff with little depth in 2024 which is another must win year.
The call ups of Wolf (5 ip 3 er) and Avila 5.0 over 2 app with 0.00) have not caused a problem. Hope that still applies for Avila after tonight.
Now, the piece that started the conversation – Weathers – well, his call ups haven’t been so hot and he has had a few.
Snell will get paid for sure. The good Snell is worth it. He may have FINALLY gotten out of his own head and settled in with SD.
Wacha at option – no probably not but a good negotiation for a middle ground built into that contract.
Lugo – he got a shot in SD – a fair contract may keep him at this stage if it comes with a spot in the rotation.
Getting rid of Weathers is the win there
I get Christian Walker and Garrett Cooper mixed up for some reason.
Gonna miss Garrett coopers “putting on the Ritz” at truist field all the time
MLB Network had a segment today on AJ Preller’s five best trades.
They listed the trades for Snell, Musgrove, Hader, Soto, and Tatis.
Not bad. All GMs have good and bad trades.
Darvish was snubbed.
He has definitely improved from early years but had wins then as well.
Soto trade is TBD. If they don’t win the WS this year or next that trade goes in the same category as the Myers, Kemp and Upton trades.
I would also include the two trades they made with the Marlins at the 2016 trade deadline (even with them having to give back Castillo) and the Crone-Renfroe trade in Preller’s best trades.
A plus SD. Got a all star 1b platoon. Set themselves up to make a run. Weathers wasn’t doing anything for them. Maybe Miami can improve him but nothing lost for SD.
Good trade. All the best to Weathers. Wish him well. All of the other young “hot lava “ pitchers the Padres have traded in the last few years have not faired well. I’ll pay the fare for Carpenter to catch the next train to Palookaville