San Diego Padres get: LHP Tanner Scott, RHP Bryan Hoeing
Miami Marlins get: LHP Robby Snelling, RHP Adam Mazur, INF Graham Pauley, INF Jay Beshears
Andy McCullough: San Diego paid a hefty price last week for Tampa Bay reliever Jason Adam. You won’t believe this, but A.J. Preller did not stop there. Scott has been the most valuable reliever in baseball since 2023, according to FanGraphs. He has posted a 0.995 WHIP across those two seasons with a 1.89 ERA. His slider can be devastating. His Baseball Savant page is covered with red — save for one category: Walks.
Scott has struggled to throw strikes this year, although it hasn’t hampered his bottom line yet. If he can stay within the zone, he should be fine. The downside risk is San Diego bought the dip on a reliever who will be a free agent after this season.
With Dylan Lesko heading to Tampa Bay in the Adam deal, Snelling looked like San Diego’s best pitching prospect. He will take his talents to South Beach. Like Lesko, Snelling has had a brutal season that has dimmed some of his prospect status. Mazur was pilloried by big-league hitters during an eight-start cameo for San Diego this season. He may end up as a reliever. Pauley may not be able to stick as an everyday regular, but could be a useful utility player. Beshears has struggled to hit since getting promoted to High-A Fort Wayne.
As with the Adam deal, Preller seems to have given up a good deal of future value in exchange for a reliever. Yet San Diego improved quite a bit in the present. The team will enter the postseason race with a bullpen that looks devastating. Miami, meanwhile, continues to stockpile talent under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. Good deal for both sides.
Padres: B+
Marlins: A-
Stephen J. Nesbitt: Here’s a stat no one ever really talks about: hits per nine innings (H/9). I mean, it’s right there on Baseball-Reference — squeezed between WHIP and homer/walk/strikeout rates — but it rarely gets a look. Let’s change that. Scott has allowed 3.7 H/9 this season. (Paul Skenes, the walking no-hit bid, has a 6.4 H/9.) So far, hitters have been considerably more likely to draw a walk against Scott this season (27 times) than procure a hit from him (19 times).
What I’m getting at is, Scott is nasty, and that’s why A.J. Preller wanted him so badly. The Padres, who handed the baseball to lefty Josh Hader in save situations last season, now have a trio of could-be closers in the pen: Robert Suarez, Jason Adam and Scott. I try not to stoop to this type of caveman analysis, but LOOK AT ALL THOSE RED CIRCLES. Scott throws 97 mph from the left side, and chases that with one of the best left-handed sliders in the game.
As we’ve come to learn this week, the reliever market is booming. Nothing comes cheap. Even a rental. The Marlins waited until the 11th hour to make their decision regarding Scott’s destination, and they were rewarded handsomely for that approach. For Scott and Hoeing, a controllable guy who’s been strong in relief this season, Preller unloaded a haul of prospects that includes the players Baseball America recently ranked third (Snelling), fourth (Mazur), sixth (Pauley) and 29th (Beshears) in the Padres system. Granted, no prospect is a sure thing, and Preller regularly raids his farm system to pull off trades like this, but still … Bendix is having a day.
Padres: B+
Marlins: A
(Photo of Scott: David Banks / USA Today)
