Dodgers: Padres Acquire Rumored LA Trade Target

Over the last couple of years, the NL West has become quite the arms race. Each of the last two offseasons have featured the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres aggressively acquiring quality pitching. The Padres continued the tradition on Sunday by trading for Oakland Athletics starter Sean Manaea. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand was the first to report the weekend blockbuster.

Full trade, per source: Oakland gets Euribiel Angeles and Adrian Martinez, San Diego gets Sean Manaea and Aaron Holiday.

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— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) April 3, 2022

According to FanGraphs preseason prospect rankings, neither Angeles nor Martinez are top 100 prospects. 

The NL West was going to be battle this year even with the Dodgers boasting an impressive lineup and a pair of arms that both finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting in 2021. San Diego adding Manaea to an already potent rotation might have just upped the ante. 

Last season, the lefty logged a 3.91 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He was also reliable. Manaea was one of seven pitchers in the American League to start 32 games last year. His 3.66 FIP suggests that he could outperform last year’s ERA in 2022.

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Manaea joins the likes Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove in a San Diego rotation that could be one of the best in the league. Watching the Dodgers lineup go head-to-head with those arms should be entertaining to say the least. 

It’s no secret that the Dodgers rotation is not the intimidating collection of talent that it was last spring. Throughout the offseason, there had been chatter that LA could explore acquiring either of the three Athletics starters that were on the trade block: Manaea, Frankie Montas, and Chris Bassitt. 

General manager Brandon Gomes and team president Andrew Friedman opted to fill out the pitching staff with veterans like Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney instead. That being said, another show-stopping in-season trade for a frontline starter is never out of the question with the LA front office. 

The NL West has been one of the most competitive divisions in baseball the last two years. Whether LA fans want to admit it or not, the Padres and Giants have closed the gap on the Dodgers. 

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