Tom Krasovic: Trade-deadline acquisitions catching on with Padres

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Be sure to read the small print disclaimer: past performance is no guarantee of future results.

When Major League Baseball’s trade deadline arrives, no such warning goes out to Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller and his counterparts.

They know that when a player is brought onto a new team deep into a season, while it’s certain that his luggage will arrive before too long, there’s a chance his comfort level won’t. On the flip side, some struggling players benefit from an in-season trade.

No mysteries plagued Preller this summer as far as which Padres positions needed upgrades ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Left fielder and catcher were sore spots. The Padres had enough talent to still get a wild-card playoff spot if Preller didn’t solve those problems. But if the Padres were to challenge for the National League West title, gains were needed.

So far, the newbies have shored up those two spots.

Left fielder Ramón Laureano was having a career-best season when Preller got him and first baseman/DH Ryan O’Hearn from the Orioles for six minor leaguers taken in the 2024 amateur draft.

Laureano has deepened his hitting groove so far with his team. The right-handed hitter, whose home run Friday accounted for the only run off Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw during his six innings of work in the Padres’ 3-2 defeat, went into Saturday’s game with a .327 batting average and 1.022 OPS in his 13 games with the Padres.

Defensively, he’s been as advertised – mostly good.

Freddy Fermín is succeeding in an even tougher transition.

The 30-year-old Venezuelan has become the main catcher and also strengthened the lineup’s No. 9 spot. The righty batted .364 with a home run, a double and two sacrifice bunts in 10 games entering Saturday.

No longer backing up Salvador Perez, Fermín may be benefiting from regular at-bats. Defensively, he seems to have meshed with Padres pitchers. They’ve recorded a 3.36 ERA with Fermín catching them.

Variety expected

Mike Shildt made an interesting point following Friday’s loss to the Dodgers. “Every game is going to be very different,” said the Padres manager.

It was the first of six games this month between the West rivals, who each seek a first-round playoff bye that goes to the NL’s top two division winners.

Friday served up the only projection of this series that carried a solid disparity at starting pitcher (or bulk pitcher).

The Dodgers leveraged that edge into the one-run victory.

Kershaw outpitched injured Padres starter Michael King’s replacement, Randy Vásquez, the bulk-innings pitcher. Vásquez went 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs. He came in after reliever Wandy Peralta got four outs to open the game.

Padres relievers had the better game, but the Kershaw-Vásquez result was a two-run deficit. Kershaw cut his ERA to 3.01 in 15 starts.

“Ton of respect for a future Hall of Famer, Clayton Kershaw,” said Shildt, who lauded Kershaw’s “desire to compete” and “passion,” noting he’s in his 18th big-league season.

L.A.’s pitchers threw sliders more than half the time, almost doubling the staff’s season ratio.

A slider-heavy approach (51.3%) worked for Kershaw. The same tactic allowed Dodgers relievers, who’d been combustible lately, to close it out.

Jack Dreyer threw only sliders en route to the save. Alexis Díaz got two big outs with his slider. Luis Arraez swung over a Kerhaw slider that bounced near home plate, dealing Arraez just his 15th strikeout in 513 plate appearances.

A few Padres pitchers, in contrast, brought serious heat in high volume.

The game’s top 25 pitches in velocity were all thrown by Padres pitchers. Those 25 pitches, which ranged from 96.1 mph to 102.1, were thrown by Peralta, Jeremiah Estrada and deadline acquisition Mason Miller. The latter had six pitches between 100 and 102.1 mph.

L.A.’s Teoscar Hernández has taken the measure of Estrada.

On June 11, the righty slugger drove Estrada’s 98 mph fastball for a 420-foot home run in San Diego. Friday, in their first rematch, Hernandez hit the righty’s 99 mph fastball 400 feet for a home run to add to the 2-1 lead.

Fermín fared well in his intro to one of MLB’s hottest rivalries.

His A+ release and throw nabbed Shohei Ohtani trying to steal second base, preventing Ohtani from punishing Vásquez’s leg raise from the stretch. Fermín bunted two runners over, setting up a run against Alex Vesia.

There was a Fermín injury scare, though: Shildt said he feared the catcher suffered a chest injury in ramming into a camera well while trying to catch a popup. He stayed in the game.

A pivotal wrinkle to Friday’s game was Manny Machado making a sprint and dive forward for a looping sacrifice bunt try, only for it to go off his glove, loading the bases. “Great effort,” Shildt said.

Third basemen are accustomed to diving left or right. Forward, not so much.

It’s not ideal that Arraez gets a lot of chances versus lefties. The lefty’s OPS against them is .628 this year and .672 for his career.

O’Hearn is much better against them, .777 this year, and that factored into the trade.

This was interesting: With the Padres down 3-2 in the ninth, Shildt pinch-hit O’Hearn for righty Jose Iglesias (.764 v LHP this year) with two outs and a runner on. O’Hearn had homered off a lefty Aug. 4, tying the game in the ninth, leading to a win over the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

Dreyer threw him three sliders. O’Hearn hit the third one for a flyout.

Going forward in this rivalry, which will include three games in San Diego next weekend, expect Shildt’s series preview to hold up.

Get used to different.