The San Diego Padres have agreed to acquire right-handed reliever Trevor Rosenthal from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for outfielder Edward Olivares and a player to be named later, according to the teams.
Here's what we wrote about Rosenthal when we highlighted him as one of the 25 players who could be on the move ahead of the trade deadline (Monday, August 31, at 4 p.m. ET -- you can follow along with every MLB trade deadline deal here):
This time last year, Trevor Rosenthal was joining his third team of the season, having walked 26 batters in 15 combined innings with the Nationals and Tigers. With numbers like that, you could've gotten sweet odds on him recording, say, more than a handful of saves over the rest of his career. Surprisingly, he's already saved five games with the Royals, and he's done so without being burdened by his past control woes. Rosenthal's strategy seems to entail throwing as many of his fastballs and sliders down the middle of the plate as the opposition permits. It's working for him so far, and who knows, maybe it'll keep working for at least a little bit longer.
Rosenthal finishes the Royals portion of his season with a 3.29 ERA and a 3.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 13 innings. He also saved seven games for Kansas City. His fastball has averaged 97.8 mph on the season, and he's coerced whiffs on nearly a third of the swings taken against him.
The Padres have devoted a lot of resources to relievers over the past year, but they still entered Saturday ranked 24th in bullpen ERA. There are a few reasons for that, beginning with both Kirby Yates and Drew Pomeranz being on the injured list. The Padres have seen veterans, like Emilio Pagan and Craig Stammen, struggle this year, and lost a pair of promising youngsters, in Andres Munoz and Trey Wingenter, to Tommy John surgery before the season started.
Olivares, 24, hit .176/.222/.294 with 14 strikeouts in 36 plate appearances with the Padres this season. Those struggles shouldn't be held against him. For one, they came in a small sample; for another, he hadn't played above Double-A prior to 2020. Olivares is considered to have a well-rounded skill set, though he may lack the carrying tool necessary to be more than a reserve. The Royals figure to give him an extended opportunity heading into next year.
