Padres Release Nick Castellanos
The Padres announced they’ve released Nick Castellanos. That was all but inevitable after the two-time All-Star was designated for assignment on Wednesday. San Diego also confirmed the previously reported placement of reliever Jeremiah Estrada on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 3, with right knee inflammation. David Morgan is back up from Triple-A El Paso to replace him in the bullpen.
San Diego also reinstated righty Jhony Brito from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to El Paso. Ramón Laureano, who is likely done for the season after undergoing hip surgery, was transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move.
San Diego rolled the dice on Castellanos after he was released by the Phillies going into Spring Training. He had a career-worst .191/.221/.339 showing in 39 games, striking out 34 times in 122 plate appearances (28%). The Padres pulled the plug this week and will use a combination of Gavin Sheets and Miguel Andujar for the majority of the designated hitter work. Sheets will also be pressed into some left field reps because of the Laureano injury.
There was no financial cost for the Padres. Philadelphia is paying Castellanos’ $20MM salary, minus the prorated $780K league minimum for any time he spent on another team’s roster. The Padres paid that but would’ve needed to pay the same amount to anyone they called up from the farm system instead. It’d be the same arrangement if Castellanos finds a big league opportunity with any other team this season, though he’d probably need to accept a minor league deal if he wants to continue playing.
On the pitching side, Brito returns to the roster for the first time since last May’s elbow surgery. He was nearing the end of his rehab window after beginning a minor league assignment in early May. He has made four rehab starts at Double-A, getting up to six innings. He’ll continue his ramp-up with El Paso but could be an option for a rotation that doesn’t have much certainty beyond Michael King and Randy Vásquez. If he spends another 20 days in the minors this year, he’ll be out of options going into 2027.
Ramón Laureano Likely Out For Season
The Padres are likely to be without left fielder Ramón Laureano for the remainder of the season. He underwent labrum surgery on his right hip on Friday, relays Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The team hasn’t officially ruled him out for the year but noted that this injury typically requires a 4-5 month recovery. San Diego transferred him to the 60-day injured list this evening.
Laureano first had an issue with his right hip five years ago. He missed a few weeks in June 2021 with a hip strain while still playing in Oakland. Laureano had managed to play through any subsequent discomfort but evidently found the current issue too serious to avoid surgery.
There’s a decent chance this will mark the end of his Padres tenure. San Diego acquired Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn in a package deal from the Orioles at last summer’s trade deadline. O’Hearn was a rental, while the Padres had a $6.5MM club option on Laureano that looked like a bargain. He was one of the team’s best hitters after the trade, batting .269/.323/.489 over 50 games until a broken right index finger ended his season.
[Related: The Padres’ Problems Are Mounting]
It remained an easy call for San Diego to exercise the option and plug Laureano into the Opening Day lineup as their left fielder. He got out to a quick start, batting .288 with four homers and nine extra-base knocks through his first 19 games. It seems the hip became increasingly problematic in the back half of April. Laureano would hit .147 with three homers over his next 34 contests before going on the injured list on Tuesday.
Left field now becomes yet another issue for an already woeful offense. The Padres have been the lowest-scoring team in MLB. Over the past month, they have an unfathomably poor .191/.270/.325 team batting line. A diminished version of Laureano was a big part of that, but nearly the entire lineup has struggled. Ty France, Gavin Sheets and Fernando Tatis Jr. have been above-average hitters in the last 30 days. Everyone else who is still on the roster has been at least 34 percent worse than league average, by measure of wRC+, over that stretch.
That includes fourth outfielder Bryce Johnson, who’s in the starting lineup for the second straight night. The 30-year-old Johnson ran an inflated batting average on balls in play to some small sample success last season. That hasn’t carried over this year. The Padres called up 25-year-old Jase Bowen earlier in the week; he’s 1-8 with five strikeouts in his first three career games.
Manager Craig Stammen said left field will feature a combination of Sheets, Johnson, Bowen and light-hitting utility player Samad Taylor (link via Kevin Acee of The Union-Tribune). Sheets is already an everyday player between the corner outfield, first base, and designated hitter. He probably shouldn’t play the outfield, but the Padres have no choice but to keep him and France in the lineup to get any kind of offense.
Jackson Merrill is locked in as the everyday center fielder and hopefully beginning to break out of his season-long rut. Tatis is moving between right field and second base. If the Padres remain in the hunt for a Wild Card spot into July, they’ll need to find a way to add multiple bats. Left field will probably be the priority in that search. Mickey Moniak, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Jacob Young are speculative outfield trade candidates who could be available closer to the deadline.
Laureano will hit free agency at the end of the season. He’ll almost certainly be looking at a one-year reclamation contract for his age-32 campaign. He’d have been well positioned for two or three years if he’d stayed healthy and hit at anything close to last season’s level, making this a particularly frustrating injury for him personally.
Padres Select Jase Bowen
June 2nd: The Padres officially announced their selection of Bowen today. Laureano lands on the 10-day IL due to right hip inflammation, retroactive to May 31st. Pivetta has been moved to the 60-day IL as the corresponding 40-man move.
June 1st: The Padres are calling up outfielder Jase Bowen, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The Friars will need to open space on the active and 40-man rosters for Bowen, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Bowen, now 25, was originally an 11th-round pick of the Pirates back in 2019. As a hitter, he has shown some pop but there have been some concerns regarding his approach. Through the end of 2024, he had over 2,000 plate appearances on the farm. He hit 64 home runs but his 7.5% walk rate and 25.6% strikeout rate were both subpar figures. He had a combined .243/.315/.406 line and 99 wRC+ in that time.
His 2025 numbers were a little bit intriguing. He missed time due to injury and only made 366 plate appearances but produced a strong .272/.353/.449 line, leading to a 124 wRC+. He improved his walk rate to 10.7% but was punched out at a 28.7% clip. His output was aided by a .376 batting average on balls in play. He didn’t have a roster spot at season’s end and became a minor league free agent, which is when the Padres signed him to a minor league deal.
This year, he has been with Triple-A El Paso and putting up good numbers, but with similar caveats to last year. He has 13 home runs, a 9.5% walk rate, a .292/.362/.600 line and 121 wRC+. However, his 26.6% strikeout rate is still a bit high and he again benefitted from a high BABIP, this time a .349 mark.
Even if his offense over the past two years isn’t totally sustainable, he can contribute in other ways. Back in April, FanGraphs ranked Bowen the #17 prospect in a weak Padres’ system. They raised concerns about his approach at the plate but noted he is a strong runner, which helps him on the basepaths and in the outfield. He stole at least 16 bases in each season from 2021 to 2025. Defensively, he’s spent time in all three outfield slots. If he can maintain any of his recent offensive numbers, that would be great. But even if not, he profiles as a decent fourth outfielder who can run down the ball and swipe a bag from time to time.
The Padres have recently had Fernando Tatis Jr. covering second base, leaving them with an outfield of Gavin Sheets, Jackson Merrill and Ramón Laureano. On the bench, they’ve got Nick Castellanos and Bryce Johnson, but both of them have been struggling. Castellanos has a .191/.221/.339 line while Johnson is at .188/.257/.250. Neither of them are optionable, so perhaps one of those two will be designated for assignment to open roster space for Bowen.
It’s also possible someone in that group is headed to the injured list with an unreported injury. If that’s the case, then the Friars could open a 40-man spot by moving someone to the 60-day injured list. Nick Pivetta would be a good candidate since he’s already been on the 15-day IL for almost two months, initially landing there April 13th. He hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment and therefore isn’t in line for a near-term activation.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Mets’ Trade Talks With Padres Involve Nick Pivetta, Ramon Laureano, Mason Miller
The Mets and Padres have been discussing the possibility of a trade that would send established talent to New York while San Diego obtained MLB-ready younger talent and some salary relief. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Dennis Lin, and Will Sammon, right-hander Nick Pivetta, outfielder Ramon Laureano, and star relievers Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are players of interest for New York. The Padres have shown interest in the Mets’ “young major leaguers and all of their top prospects, both pitchers and position players,” including Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong.
The Athletic’s reporters made a point of noting that Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth weren’t brought up in these negotiations. This only somewhat lessens the blockbuster potential here given all of the high-profile names already under discussion, though it is also possible that the talks remain somewhat exploratory in nature. As Rosenthal/Lin/Sammon note, San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is always “weighing a dizzying number of possible moves and contingency plans,” and Mets PBO David Stearns is likewise no stranger to major trade concepts.
Pivetta’s name surfaced in trade rumors earlier this week, and Preller recently downplayed the idea that the Padres would trade any of their top bullpen arms. San Diego had an elite relief corps in 2025, but one major name from that group is already gone since closer Robert Suarez left for the Braves in free agency. The depleted nature of the Friars’ rotation also puts more pressure on the bullpen to pick up more of the run-prevention slack, and by that same token, makes it seemingly less likely that the Padres would trade Pivetta and further diminish the starting staff.
That said, Pivetta can opt out of his contract following the 2026 season. The backloaded four-year, $55MM contract Pivetta signed last season still has $51MM remaining, which breaks down as $19MM in 2026, a $14MM player option for 2027, and an $18MM player option for 2028 if Pivetta chooses to remain in San Diego next winter. The 2027 player option turns into a club option in the event of a long-term injury, but if Pivetta has the same kind of healthy and very effective season that he posted in 2025, he’ll surely trigger his opt-out.
If Preller could turn Pivetta into multiple controllable players who can still help the Padres win in 2026, that would be quite a way of threading the needle for the long-time executive. The Mets wouldn’t have much interest in giving up one of their top young talents for what might well be just one year of Pivetta’s services, and McLean might not be available at any price — the Athletic trio write that “McLean is thought to be untouchable, or close to it.” The New York Post’s Jon Heyman adds that outfield prospect Carson Benge is also considered to be virtually unavailable in trade talks.
By comparison, the likes of Tong, Sproat, and Jett Williams may be more available, though Stearns has been naturally hesitant about trading away any top minor leaguers. A trade package of Pivetta, Laureano as a short-term outfield add for 2026, and a reliever with four seasons of control like Miller or Estrada might well convince Stearns to part ways with some premium prospect talent, but on the other hand, that would be a lot for the Padres to move in a single trade.
The Athletic’s writers note that the Padres might get a greater overall return by sending Pivetta, Laureano, etc. elsewhere in individual deals, so it would take a gigantic trade package for the club to include multiple trade chips into a single swap. For Miller in particular, San Diego would want a ton back, given how much the Padres had to give up to land the closer from the A’s just last July.
Getting Pivetta’s salary off the books is one way for the Padres to shake up the roster given the team’s limited payroll flexibility, while short-term commitments to Pivetta and Laureano probably hold more appeal to Stearns than signing free agents to longer-term contracts. The sky is the limit when two creative executives like Preller and Stearns are cooking up trade scenarios, so this is certainly a situation worth monitoring as the offseason progresses.
Padres To Exercise Option On Ramon Laureano
The Padres are exercising their $6.5MM option on outfielder Ramón Laureano, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. That was an easy call coming off Laureano’s excellent 2025 season.
The righty-hitting outfielder put up a .281/.342/.512 batting line with 24 home runs over 488 plate appearances. He divided that between the Orioles and Padres, who acquired him alongside Ryan O’Hearn in a deadline deal that sent six prospects to Baltimore. Laureano and O’Hearn each continued to hit well down the stretch. Laureano posted a .269/.323/.489 line with nine longballs and doubles apiece and a pair of triples in 50 games with San Diego.
A broken index finger on his right hand kept Laureano off the Padres’ Wild Card Series roster. It’s not expected to impact his availability for Spring Training and certainly wasn’t going to lead them to reconsider a bargain option price. Laureano will be back as San Diego’s starting left fielder. He’ll slot alongside Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill in the outfield for new manager Craig Stammen.
O’Hearn and Luis Arraez are both hitting free agency, so the Padres will need to find an answer at first base or designated hitter. Laureano’s presence means the Padres won’t need Gavin Sheets to play much outfield if everyone’s healthy. The lefty-hitting Sheets had a bad September but was reasonably productive overall, batting .252/.317/.429 with 19 homers. He’s not going to keep the Padres from considering alternatives at first base but projects as the starter there for now — at least against right-handed pitching.
This was the seventh and final option decision for San Diego. Laureano and Wandy Peralta are back, as the lefty reliever decided not to opt out of the remaining two years on his contract. Robert Suarez, Michael King, Elias Díaz, Tyler Wade and Kyle Hart are all free agents. Suarez and King declined their options, while the Padres bought out Díaz, Hart and Wade.
MLBTR Podcast: Mike Elias On The State Of The Orioles
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias to discuss…
- Elias’s promotion from general manager to president of baseball operations (1:45)
- Why the Orioles underperformed in 2025 (3:30)
- The club’s lack of investment in free agent pitching (5:25)
- The decision making about playing time for prospects when they don’t find immediate big league success (9:20)
- How Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo can co-exist on the roster (12:35)
- Getting six prospects from the Padres in the Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano trade (14:50)
- Trading Bryan Baker to the Rays for a draft pick (16:55)
- Seeing the potential in O’Hearn before his breakout (18:45)
Plus, Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors joins the show to discuss…
- The Cardinals going into a rebuild, which should put a bunch of interesting names on the trade block (21:50)
- The Rangers parting ways with Bruce Bochy with questions about how aggressively they will be trying to contend in 2026 (33:20)
- The Mets just missing the postseason with Pete Alonso becoming a free agent again (42:10)
- The Nationals hiring Paul Toboni as their new president of baseball operations (52:45)
- The Blue Jays putting Alek Manoah on waivers, who is claimed by the Braves (1:00:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Tigers And Astros Try To Hang On, And Brewers’ Rotation Issues – listen here
- The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage – listen here
- Talking Mariners With Jerry Dipoto – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images
Padres Place Ramón Laureano On Injured List Due To Finger Fracture
TODAY: Laureano told reporters (including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune) that his finger will be in a splint for roughly the next three weeks. As such, Laureano said he has only “delusional hope” that he’ll be able to play again in 2025.
September 27: The Padres officially placed Laureano on the 10-day injured list today, per a club announcement. The move was retroactive to September 25, and San Diego recalled infielder Will Wagner to take Laureano’s place on the active roster for the final two games of the regular season.
September 24: Padres outfielder Ramón Laureano has a fracture in the index finger of his right hand and will miss at least the first round of the playoffs. Manager Mike Shildt informed reporters, including Julian Del Gaudio of Fox 5 San Diego, after today’s game.
Laureano appeared to injure his hand when fouling off a ball in today’s game. As seen in this video from MLB.com, he was shaking his hand in discomfort after the pitch. He was removed from the game in the second inning.
Shildt sounded fairly pessimistic when asked if Laureano would be able to return after the first playoff round, as heard in this audio clip from 97.3 The Fan. “Sometimes, we come in and talk about, you know, slight fracture, hairline fracture,” Shildt said. “It’s a fracture. So I want to temper expectations but I also want to keep everything on the table. But I wouldn’t expect to see him early in the playoffs but I would hold out hope for later.”
Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn were acquired from the Orioles at the trade deadline. The Friars sent six prospects to Baltimore in one of several aggressive moves they made to bolster the club for the stretch run.
Since then, Laureano has become an everyday part of the club’s outfield and performed quite well. He has nine home runs in 49 games, helping him produce a .271/.325/.492 line and 128 wRC+. He has also stolen three bases and bounced around between all three outfield spots.
Losing that kind of player with just a few games left in the season is obviously less than ideal timing. Based on Shildt’s comments, the club will probably have to operate under the assumption that Laureano is done for the year. If they can engineer a deep postseason run and get him back in the second half of October, they can cross that bridge when they come to it.
That will leave the Padres with an outfield mix consisting of Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets. Tatis has been ill this week but Shildt said in the comments linked above that he has been feeling better. O’Hearn has mostly been playing first base but can play a bit of outfield as well. Bryce Johnson is on hand as a bench guy. Tirso Ornelas is on the 40-man roster and could perhaps be recalled. Tyler Wade is in the system in a non-roster capacity and could be selected to the 40-man.
The Padres hold a $6.5MM option to bring back Laureano for 2026, with no buyout. This injury is minor enough that it shouldn’t impact that decision, so that option is likely to be picked up. The Friars have been working around notable financial constraints in recent years but could likely find a trade partner if they don’t have the budget space to cover that amount of money themselves.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Padres Acquire Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano
The Padres’ frenetic trade deadline continued today, as they bolstered their offense by trading for first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn and outfielder Ramon Laureano from the Orioles. Six 2024 Padres draft picks will head to Baltimore in return: Boston Bateman, Cobb Hightower, Tyson Neighbors, Brandon Butterworth, Victor Figueroa and Tanner Smith.
O’Hearn and Laureano stood as two of the more obvious trade candidates on the Orioles’ roster. The former is a pure rental earning an $8MM salary in 2025, while the latter is owed $4MM this year and has a $6.5MM club option for the 2026 season. Both are in the midst of productive seasons at the plate, and both will provide noted upgrades to San Diego’s lineup.
The 32-year-old O’Hearn was acquired from the Royals for peanuts three years ago. His stock was low enough after the acquisition that Baltimore even succeeded in passing him through waivers. O’Hearn was selected back to the majors mid-April in 2023 and never looked back. He hit .289/.322/.480 that season and has now slashed .277/.342/.454 in three years as an Oriole. Along the way, he’s radically improved his plate discipline and hit tool. O’Hearn walked in only 4% of his 2023 plate appearances while fanning at a 22.3% clip. He’s up to an 11.6% walk rate in 2025 and has fanned at a 14% clip and 17.5% pace, respectively, in the past two seasons.
O’Hearn doesn’t hit lefties well, despite holding his own in 2025, so the Friars will likely platoon him to the extent possible. Adding a right-handed bat like Laureano makes that goal easier. The 31-year-old is in the midst of a career year at the plate, hitting .290/.355/.529 (144 wRC+) with 15 home runs in 290 plate appearances. He handles lefties well enough to take some at-bats off O’Hearn’s plate, but Laureano’s production in right-on-right matchups this year (.305/.368/.563) should be robust enough that he’s in the lineup on a daily basis.
The Padres can plug Laureano in as their primary left fielder and install O’Hearn at first base or designated hitter versus right-handed pitching. O’Hearn and Luis Arraez give the Friars a pair of lefty-swinging first base/DH options with plus contact skills (though Arraez is in a class of his own in that regard). Gavin Sheets likely loses some playing time as a result of this, though pushing him to the bench with Laureano and O’Hearn in the starting lineup makes for a much deeper group of hitters all around. Sheets being pushed into a limited role probably reduces the opportunities for Bryce Johnson and Trenton Brooks.
Laureano has played primarily in the outfield corners for the Orioles this season, though he’s no stranger to center field, either. He’s drawn plus marks in both corners both this year and throughout his big league career. That’s an important element of the acquisition in and of itself; the Padres have been a roughly average team defensively in left field this year, but that’s due primarily to early contributions from the since-released Jason Heyward. Sheets has seen plenty of time in left field and posted below-average marks there. Laureano should be a boost both with the bat and with the glove.
Given next year’s $6.5MM option, Laureano seems quite likely to be more than just a short-term rental. He’ll give the Padres an option in left next year — and an affordable one at that.
For a Padres club that is bogged down by major financial commitments to Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Nick Pivetta (among others), that’s a notable perk. The Padres already have $166MM on next year’s payroll, not including arbitration raises to Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and new acquisitions Freddy Fermin and JP Sears.
The Orioles will receive a heavy volume of lower-level prospects in exchange for the latest pair of veterans they’re shipping out. Bateman was the Padres’ second-round pick one year ago and took home an over-slot $2.5MM bonus. He’s a huge 6’8″ southpaw selected out of a California high school and has spent the 2025 season in Class-A, where he’s posted a 4.08 ERA with a 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.
Baseball America ranked Bateman sixth in San Diego’s system. The lefty garners praise for a heater he runs up to 96 mph — which surely seems faster given the extension he can generate with his long levers — as well as an upper-70s curve with plus spin. He’ll have more work to do on his command as he continues to face more advanced hitters, and he’s still working to add a develop an average third pitch.
The 20-year-old Hightower was last year’s third-round pick by the Friars. He’s spent the season in Class-A and batted .239/.363/.314 in 190 plate appearances. BA had him eighth in the Padres’ system. Despite this year’s pedestrian output, he’s regarded as a bat-first infielder who may have to move off shortstop down the road.
Neighbors is a 6’1″, 220-pound righty whom San Diego selected in the fourth round out of Kansas State last year. He’s already climbed to Double-A and has pitched 43 2/3 innings with a 1.85 ERA, 37.6% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate in that time. Much of that success has come against younger competition, it should be noted. Baseball America calls Neighbors a no-doubt reliever with plus stuff and shaky command. He ranked 20th in the Padres’ system.
Butterworth was the Padres’ 12th-round pick last summer. The 22-year-old NC State product is having a nice year in High-A, slashing .267/.327/.455 with 11 homers, 17 doubles, seven triples and a 13-for-15 showing in stolen base attempts. He didn’t rank among the system’s 30 best prospects on BA’s most recent update. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen listed Butterworth as No. 38 among the 38 prospects he ranked in their system last month.
Smith was a 15th-rounder out of Harvard. He’s pitched out of the bullpen in the Padres’ system this year and logged a 3.46 ERA in 26 frames between the Rookie-level Complex League and their Low-A affiliate. The 6’6″ righty has missed plenty of bats but also walked 11.6% of his opponents. He’s not a ranked prospect in the system, nor is the 21-year-old Figueroa, whom the Padres took in last year’s 18th round. Figueroa is a first baseman and corner outfielder who’s hitting .318/.420/.588 between the Complex League and Low-A — impressive numbers on the surface that were primarily compiled against teenaged opposition in the low minors.
Mets Have Considered Ramón Laureano
8:48pm: Heyman posts that Laureano appears to be behind Robert and Mullins on the Mets’ priority list, presumably because of the positional fit. Heyman adds that a few other teams are more likely suitors in the event that Laureano gets moved.
8:25pm: With the trade deadline fast approaching, the Mets have already been linked to some big bats, namely Eugenio Suárez and Brandon Lowe, and a handful of outfielders, including Harrison Bader, Luis Robert Jr., and Cedric Mullins. Now, you can add Ramón Laureano to both lists. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported this afternoon that the Mets have “considered” trading for Laureano, as well as noting their continued interest in Robert and Mullins.
In his eighth big league season, Laureano is on pace for a career year at the plate. Entering play today, his strikeout rate (25.1%) had never been lower, his isolated power (.247) had never been higher, and his .866 OPS, 139 wRC+, and .369 xwOBA were all career-bests. As for the other half of his game, he’s certainly not going to win a Gold Glove, but his elite throwing arm helps him make up for poor range, and he can more than hold his own in a corner spot. He is no longer well-suited for center field, but he has enough experience out there that he can play the position in a pinch. Indeed, that could be one reason why the Mets are interested. With Jose Siri out since April and Tyrone Taylor struggling badly at the plate, the club has been asking Jeff McNeil to play more center field lately. McNeil is well known for versatility, but he had only played three career games in center prior to this season. What’s more, every inning that McNeil plays in center is an inning that either Brett Baty or Luisangel Acuña plays at second base, and neither Baty nor Acuña is having a strong year at the plate. It’s hard to know whether Laureano would be a better defensive center fielder than McNeil, but there is little doubt that New York’s offense would be stronger with Laureano in center field and McNeil at second base. Ultimately, neither McNeil nor Laureano (nor Taylor nor Brandon Nimmo) is a great option in center field, but without a good solution, at least it helps to have depth.
Starling Marte and Mark Vientos have both come up in trade rumors recently, and if either one is dealt, that could also allow the Mets to slot in Laureano as their designated hitter as needed. Prior to this year, it would have been strange to suggest Laureano play DH; from 2020-24, he produced a perfectly mediocre .709 OPS and 101 wRC+. However, it’s impossible to argue with his production so far in 2025. He ranks 11th among AL batters (min. 200 PA) in OPS and 12th in wRC+. His hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and xwOBA all place him within the top quartile of Statcast qualified hitters. Perhaps most impressive, the righty-batting Laureano has done most of his damage against same-handed pitching. He has a 111 wRC+ against southpaws this year compared to a remarkable 154 wRC+ against right-handers. He’s likely due for some regression against righties, but that wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Mets, considering they already rank fifth in MLB with a 115 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. Conversely, they rank 17th with a 91 wRC+ against lefties. Laureano, who has a career 122 wRC+ with the platoon advantage, could help boost that number.
While payroll is obviously not a huge concern for the Mets, they are third-time luxury tax payers in the top tier of penalties, which means there is a 110% tax on all salary they take on. So, they surely like the fact that Laureano’s $4MM contract is significantly cheaper than those of other impact bats like Suárez and Lowe. His deal also includes a $6.5MM team option for 2026, which would be an absolute bargain if he keeps hitting like he has been for the rest of the year.
Laureano is not a perfect fit for the Mets’ roster. He is primarily a corner outfielder, and the team already has fixtures in both corner spots: Nimmo in left and Juan Soto in right. Still, he’s enjoying a tremendous season, and there is little doubt that the 2025 Mets would be a better team with Laureano in their lineup than they would be without.
Padres Interested In Luis Robert Jr., Ramón Laureano
The Padres have been looking for left field solutions for a while. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that they are interested in Steven Kwan of the Guardians, Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox and Ramón Laureano of the Orioles. Their interest in Kwan was reported earlier this week.
Robert has been one of the clearest trade candidates for a while now. The Sox have been aggressively rebuilding and he’s not in their long-term plans. He’s in the final guaranteed year of his contract. There are a pair of $20MM club with $2MM buyouts. However, his mercurial production and frequent injury issues have made those seem less attractive.
He is at least in a good stretch now. In early June, he sat out a few games to focus on some adjustments to his approach. He had a .177/.266/.286 batting line at that time. Since then, he has hit .266/.349/.457 for a 122 wRC+. Even when he was struggling, he was still hitting lefties, stealing bases and fielding well. His improved offense of late won’t totally erase the memories of his slumps but it should help somewhat.
There have been some rumblings that the Sox could hold Robert and exercise the option if they don’t get an offer to their liking but that feels like an unwise path. They have already missed chances to sell him when his value was presumably higher. He had a great 2023 season but the Sox didn’t trade him at that time, when they could have felt they had four affordable years of club control. But in 2024, he was largely hurt and underperforming, which cut into his value. Holding him at that point and hoping for a bounceback was defensible, but then he his struggles carried over into the early parts of 2025.
Though he’s been better lately, he’s been inconsistent enough that it would be a real risk to hold him. It’s entirely possible that more injuries or slumps pop up in the second half, which would make it harder to justify picking up the option.
Laureano is also a logical candidate to move in the next week. The Orioles are in the midst of a disappointing season and are clear sellers. They’re not going to move controllable core pieces but general manager Mike Elias has admitted they will be looking to move guys who are “coming towards the end of their contracts.”
That should include Laureano, though he’s not strictly a rental. His one-year deal contains a club option for 2026. The O’s could keep him but he’s not a foundational piece for them, so they should be open to offers.
It also makes sense to sell him now since his career has been up-and-down but he’s been hot lately. He has 14 home runs and a .277/.337/.521 line this year, which translates to a 137 wRC+. He was sitting on a tepid .188/.216/.438 line at the end of April but has gone off since then with a .300/.366/.542 line.
For a few years now, the Padres have been dealing with a tight budget and various roster concerns. They traded Juan Soto ahead of the 2024 season, saving some money and adding rotation depth. They backfilled some of Soto’s production by signing Jurickson Profar for $1MM, which worked surprisingly well, though that also priced him out of San Diego’s range for this year.
The Friars tried to find low-cost solutions again. The first plan was a platoon of Jason Heyward and Connor Joe, who both got $1MM deals. However, both struggled and were off the roster before the end of June.
Another low-cost move is working out well. Gavin Sheets signed a minor league deal with the Padres ahead of this year. He has 14 home runs, a .253/.314/.424 slash line and a 109 wRC+. However, he’s not a strong defender in the outfield and would be better utilized at first base or in the designated hitter slot.
The trio of Sheets, Luis Arráez and Jake Cronenworth could cover first base, second base and DH if Sheets is no longer needed in left field. That would mean fewer plate appearances for Jose Iglesias, who is hitting .238/.297/.277. Tyler Wade and Trenton Brooks aren’t playing as often as Iglesias but are hitting .206/.309/.252 and .150/.190/.275, respectively.
Laureano has experience at all three outfield spots. Robert has only ever played center field. The Padres have Jackson Merrill in center, who is a strong defender. Since he’s signed through 2034, the Padres presumably wouldn’t move him for a short-term addition. Center fielders usually move to a corner spot with ease, so there shouldn’t be any real concern about Robert’s lack of experience in left.
With the Padres, the budget is an ongoing concern, as mentioned. Their offseason moves clearly showed a lack of financial wiggle room. In addition to Heyward and Joe, they gave small guarantees to Elias Díaz and Kyle Hart. They did give Nick Pivetta $55MM over four years but that deal is heavily backloaded, with the righty only making a $1MM salary this year, in addition to a $3MM signing bonus.
In addition to the financial concerns, the Padres have traded away a lot of prospects in recent years and their farm system isn’t well regarded. They have two strong pieces in Leo De Vries and Ethan Salas but all reporting has suggested the Friars want to hold those two.
It seems that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is considering all kinds of scenarios in order to work around his constraints. Despite a questionable rotation, there have been a number of Dylan Cease rumors recently, though the Padres have also been connected to other starters such as Sandy Alcantara. It’s possible that Preller engineers a sort of musical chairs approach where he could trade Cease away for prospects or big league talent while saving some money and also bringing in other players. There have also been rumors that the Friars could subtract from or add to their bullpen.
That’s not unprecedented for the Friars. As mentioned, they flipped Soto ahead of last year for younger players, one of them being Drew Thorpe. Shortly thereafter, they used Thorpe as part of a package to get Cease. It’s possible that Preller again cooks up a number of trades that relate to each other.
Robert is making $15MM this year. About $5MM of that will be left to be paid out at the deadline, plus at least the $2MM buyout on his option. The Sox are reportedly willing to include cash in trading Robert, though that would be a way to extra prospect capital. The Padres would obviously welcome that financial arrangement but may not have the prospects, unless they get some in a Cease deal or some other trade.
Laureano is far more affordable, as he’s only making $4MM, which will leave roughly $1.33MM left to be paid out at the deadline. His 2026 club option is for $6.5MM with no buyout. If he stays hot through the end of the year, it’s possible that option looks like a good deal. In that scenario, the Padres could keep him for 2026 or flip him to another club in the winter.
The Padres have also been connected to Kwan and Jarren Duran of the Red Sox, though those are more long-shot candidates. Both of those players are affordably controlled beyond this season and their respective clubs are both still playoff contenders. Still, the Padres seem to be going over dozens of different trade permutations, so there are lots of different ways things could play out in the next week.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images