Red Sox-Padres Trade Idea Sends Slugger to San Diego to Replace Luis Arraez..
San Diego Padres’ first baseman, Luis Arraez, landed on the 7-day concussion injured list after colliding with Mauricio Dubon of the Houston Astros on Sunday night. Arraez could not beat Dubon to the first base bag, attempting to leg out a single. The three-time Batting Title champion was stretchered off the field and taken to a local hospital, but he may have avoided serious injury. Arraez could return for the Padres after his injured list stint, but if San Diego feels he needs more time off his feet, they could explore a trade for a first baseman. Newsweek’s Drew VonScio believes the Padres would rather not use 40-year-old Yuri Gurriel as their everyday first baseman moving forward. VonScio listed Boston Red Sox youngster Triston Casas as a potential trade candidate for San Diego.
“There’s still some untapped potential with Casas, as he’s only 25 years old,” VonScio wrote Monday. “The Padres have become known as one of the best teams in baseball to develop young players into high-level athletes. They could certainly take a chance on Casas as well.” Casas is struggling with the bat to start the 2025 season, but it might take more than that to ship him out of Boston. In 22 games, the lefty is slashing .165/.241/.278 with a 24.1 percent strikeout rate. After hitting 24 home runs in 2023 and 13 in 63 games in 2024, Casas has just two dingers in 87 plate appearances this season. He hit his second home run of the season on Tuesday night, a three-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning in an 8-3 win against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park. The Red Sox’s upside in VonScio’s
trade idea could be acquiring prospects from San Diego’s farm system, which has highly rated players like catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leo De Vries. However, would San Diego be willing to part with either of them to wait patiently for Casas to improve at the plate? Chances are, the Padres would rather bite the bullet and use Gurriel at first base until Arraez returns from the injured list.
Padres pregame: Tirso Ornelas’ moment, Luis Arraez improving Mason McCoy avoiding IL.
Padres infielder Mason McCoy dislocated his pinky on the last play of Friday’s game but appears to be able to avoid the injured list.
Tirso Ornelas smiled wide at first base in the fifth inning Friday night, grabbed the baseball as it headed in from center field and pressed it to his lips before tossing it toward the home dugout.
Hours later, the 25-year-old outfielder was still not sure where the ball ended up. Shenanigans often ensue after a player collects his first hit, but that ball, Ornelas said, would end up with his mother.
It was she who had been with him through every single one of his 3,200 plate appearances over eight long years in the minors.
The ball belonged to her as much as Ornelas.
“The first thing I want to do is just recover it,” Ornelas said with a smile through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “It seems like those guys threw it out to the stands, but first thing I do once I recover it, I’m giving it to my mom. She’s been there with me for forever.”
Ornelas added: “Obviously it’s my first hit. It’s a moment that I will never forget and it’s something … we’ll all treasure.”
It was especially poignant that the moment came at Petco Park, with the Padres, with dozens of family members and friends among a sellout crowd to watch the Tijuana native.
Ornelas is ranked No. 11 among Padres prospects by MLB.com, easily the oldest high-ceiling player in the system after his contract was purchased from Mexico City Red Devils as part of San Diego’s vaunted 2016-17 international class.
A number of injuries derailed Ornelas at different points in his career, so much so that he reached minor league free agency after 2023 without a call-up. He quickly re-signed a new minor league deal before 2024, was added to the 40-man roster last summer and finally debuted last week in Houston after a rash of injuries at the big-league level opened up a spot.
Ornelas was 0-for-6 with an RBI, a walk and a strikeout through four games before lining a 2-2 change-up off Shane Baz into center field in the fifth inning in a 1-0 loss to the Rays.
“It means so much,” Ornelas said. “You’re playing in front of the Petco fans and being that there’s so many Mexican fans out here. My family’s out here. To be able to do that in front of them, doing it with the Padres as well, just because I’ve been in this organization so long and they’ve been able to give me that opportunity to be out here and play with them, just means so much to me.”