While the strategy itself can be debated, no one has disputed that the San Diego Padres did not significantly improve their bullpen at the trade deadline. The signing of Tanner Scott grabbed most of the headlines as he was arguably the best reliever available on the trade market, but Bryan Hoeing was also part of that trade and is a really solid and controllable reliever who can throw multiple innings. In addition, the Padres managed to trade some underperforming (but talented) young players to get Jason Adam.
We’ve seen teams use this tactic before with mixed results. When a transfer market is short on impact players, teams often try to simply overhaul their bullpen and hope that’s enough. The Braves have had some success with this in previous trade deadlines, but others have gone crazy acquiring relievers, only to end up feeling the effects of their other roster deficiencies.
The initial eye test has shown that the Padres’ deadline gambit has already helped the team. There were several close games that could have slipped away from them without a strong bullpen. Now that we have a larger sample size after a few weeks, it seems certain that San Diego could now have one of the best bullpens in baseball.
After the first half, the Padres’ bullpen was already pretty good. They ranked 15th in all of baseball with 2.2 fWAR in 324 appearances, with Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada and Robert Suarez leading the pack. Unfortunately, guys like Wandy Peralta and Enyel De Los Santos struggled badly, and the Padres’ signing of Woo-Suk Go was doomed from the start.
Fast forward to the trade deadline, and the picture is decidedly different. Although we only have a sample of 46 relief appearances as of July 31, the Padres bullpen ranks third in all of MLB, again by fWAR (0.9 behind the Rays and Diamondbacks). On the list of San Diego’s top six relief pitchers during that time period? Jason Adam, Bryan Hoeing and Tanner Scott (Robert Suarez leads the pack). Adam and Hoeing have made 11 combined appearances with the Padres and have yet to allow a run.
There’s obviously a long way to go before the 2024 season. San Diego still has 41 games to go the rest of the way. But with the bullpen’s current performance, the Padres’ opponents had better hope they can get a lead while their starters are still in the game.
