If The Padres Want To Keep Pace In The Division, They Need To Do Something About Left Field & Catcher

[Dan Rosaia]

The San Diego Padres have evident production holes at the left field and catcher positions. With the trade deadline approaching, the team will need to address the lack of production through trades.

Approaching the halfway point of the season, the Padres have had four players play a significant amount of games in left field and two play significant time at catcher. The left fielders are Jason Heyward, Brandon Lockridge, Gavin Sheets, and Tyler Wade. The catchers are Martin Maldonado and Elias Diaz.

Left Field is the bigger issue of the two, with Heyward, Lockridge, and Wade all having negative Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and below-average On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) and On-base Plus Slugging Plus (OPS+) values. All four players are posting neutral or negative Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) scores.

WAR is a metric that measures a player’s value by showing how many wins or losses they contribute to the team compared to a replacement-level player. OPS is a statistic calculated by combining a player’s on-base and slugging percentages, used to assess a player's productivity at the plate. OPS+ takes the OPS score and adjusts it to factor in more elements of the game. This score is placed on an adjusted scale, where 100 represents the league average, making it easier to compare a player's production to that of an average player. DRS measures a player’s defensive performance, taking into account various elements of defensive play. This score shows how many runs a player’s defense has saved or cost their team. All metric and statistical definitions are sourced from MLB.com.

The Padres' lack of production in left field is something that can be fixed. They could address this by moving Sheets to the full-time left fielder position, then making a trade for a designated hitter. This move would not affect the team's defense in any way, as nobody has been spectacular defensively in left field in 2025. Heyward leads the team with a +1 DRS while Oscar Gonzalez trails the pack with a -1 DRS. Everyone else is neutral with a +0.

Offensively, this move would make the outfield formidable, with Sheets in left, Jackson Merrill in center field, and Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field. In 64 games in 2025, Sheets has a .251 batting average, with 11 home runs, a .762 OPS, and an OPS+ of 110. He has played to a WAR of 0.3. Sheets would be a significant upgrade offensively, as he has significantly better numbers in all those categories than Lockridge, Wade, and Heyward. All statistics are sourced from baseball-reference.com. 

Because Sheets plays more games at designated hitter than at any other position, his move would leave a hole at the position.

One way to do so is to find a player that would fit well with the team, put together a package, and make a trade. The team could also move Luis Arraez from first base to full-time designated hitter. Arraez, the three-time reigning defending batting champion, has played designated hitter in 12 games with a .286 batting average and a .681 OPS. The numbers aren’t anything special for Arraez this season, but over his career, he has a batting average of .304 and an OPS of .735. Moving Arraez to full-time designated hitter would create a hole at first base, and the team could fill it by making a trade for a first baseman.

Another option to address the lack of production in left field is to simply make a trade for an outfielder who is productive on offense and serviceable on defense, leaving Sheets and Arraez in their respective positions.

Similarly to left field, the lack of production at catcher can be addressed. According to MLB.com, as the Padres' depth chart sits right now, the Padres have three catchers. They are Elias Diaz, Martin Maldonado, and Luis Campusano. The two who have played the most games are Maldonado and Diaz.

Offensive production from the catcher position has been an issue regardless of who is playing the position. In 52 games in 2025, Diaz has a batting average of .216, three home runs, an OPS of .592, and an OPS+ of 66. Maldonado has played 52 games this season and has a batting average of .187, three home runs, an OPS of .537, and an OPS+ of 48. Maldonado has been slightly better according to WAR, posting 0.1 WAR compared to Diaz’s -0.2.

Diaz has been better offensively, but Maldonado has been better defensively. Maldonado has saved the team four runs with his defense, while Diaz’s defense has cost the team 4 runs.

Whether the team wants to address the catcher position or not is a tricky decision because they have Ethan Salas in their farm system. According to MLB Pipeline, Salas is the 26th-ranked prospect in baseball with an expected arrival of 2027. This gives the Padres flexibility to trade for a catcher who is due to become a free agent soon, with the expectation that Salas will hold down the position as early as two seasons from now.

If the team decides that the season is going well enough and they want to make a move to give themselves a shot at making deep postseason runs in the upcoming seasons, trades like these could be on the table.

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