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The Padres could be on the verge of securing a future Hall of Fame to help their beleaguered starting rotation.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic announced Thursday that the club are close to a deal to acquire Max Scherzer from the Washington Nationals
A source has confirmed that the parties are working on an exchange for Scherzer, but would not say it has been done or provide further details. Another source said other teams remain on Scherzer and the Padres are working on several other pitcher trades. A third source called the report “premature”.
Late Thursday morning, the Padres continued their discussions with the Minnesota Twins regarding right-hander Jose Berrios.
The Padres have spent part of the week trying to strike a deal that would have sent first baseman Eric Hosmer and prospect Robert Hassell III to Texas Rangers for Joey Gallo. Instead, Gallo went to the New York Yankees.
If Scherzer’s trade goes through and Hosmer isn’t involved, the Padres would have kept their clubhouse leader and added a pitcher known to be as dominant on the mound as he is.
Scherzer, who turned 37 on Tuesday, won three Cy Young Awards and finished four more in the top five.
He allowed a run in six innings to clinch victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, rising to 8-4 this season with a 2.76 ERA.
The Padres have scored 11 points in 10 2/3 innings against him in back-to-back starts this month. He has a 2.04 ERA in his other 17 starts.
Scherzer is in the final season of a seven-year, $ 210 million contract and will be a free agent after that season. The Padres were not initially in the market for a rental, but their situation has changed as the expected increase in performance from their starting pitchers did not occur.
Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove were acquired to be the mainstays of what was to be some of the best rotations in the major leagues. Snell has a 5.44 ERA and has made six innings in just three starts. Musgrove kicked off the franchise’s first hitting opener in April and made eight quality starts, but he has a 6.24 ERA in his last five starts before Thursday’s outing against the Rockies. Darvish has been among the league’s leaders in many categories for much of the season, but has totaled just 13 2/3 innings and allowed 12 runs in his last three starts.
Snell’s four-innings outing on Wednesday was the Padres’ 47th start that didn’t even last five innings. That’s most, by far, of any team in contention.
The team came in July thinking on a large scale – that their championship window just opened – and that they would not part with any top prospects and trade for players not controlled by the team for at least an additional year. But after creating a sensation during the offseason with trades for all three pitchers and signing shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to a record contract but still facing the prospect of playing a winning Wild Card playoff game or home, thought of the Padres President Peter Seidler, a source said, is “for a dime, for a pound”. As in, they’re too close not to go all the way now.
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