The San Diego Padres have acquired infielder Adam Frazier and cash from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for IF Tucupita Marcano, RHP Michell Miliano, and OF Jack Suwinski.
The Padres were major players in the offseason and last year’s Trade Deadline. The 2021 edition may not be that much different for San Diego. GM AJ Preller has made the first of what could be many moves in the next few days. As a good player on the awful Pirates, Frazier was destined to be moved. He has one more year left of control after 2021. The Pirates also sent $1.4 million to the Padres for better prospects. The main return here is Marcano, who MLB Pipeline rated as the fifth best player in the Padres’ farm system. His discipline led to him rising quickly through the San Diego system, as Marcano earned a call-up earlier this season. However, he did not do much. He can play all around the infield and has good speed. A 2016 15th round pick, Suwinski struggled in his first few minor league seasons but his offense has come along in AA this year. Miliano is a young Dominican reliever with a ton of strikeouts this year. Walks have been an issue for him. The return is fine, although they likely could have received more since Frazier has an extra year left of control.
Marcano, 21, hit no home runs with a .280 OBP and a .485 OPS in 50 Plate Appearances for the Padres this year. In his minor league career, Marcano has hit nine home runs with 44 stolen bases, a .359 OBP, and a .720 OPS in 199 Plate Appearances.
Suwinski, who will be 23 next week, has hit 15 home runs with seven stolen bases, a .398 OBP, and a .949 OPS in 267 Plate Appearances for AA San Antonio this year. In his MiLB career Suwinski has hit 46 home runs with 25 stolen bases, a .328 OBP, and a .715 OPS in 1834 Plate Appearances.
Miliano, 21, has a 3.60 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 25 walks in 30 innings for Single-A Lake Elsinore and High-A Fort Wayne in 2021. In his minor league career Miliano has a 6.11 ERA with 146 strikeouts and 78 walks in 98.1 innings pitched.
The Padres are always looking to improve, and they do accomplish that here. Frazier is a second-baseman who can play left-field and third-base among some other positions. He will likely start at second with the Padres, as Jake Cronenworth can move to first-base, giving San Diego four all-star infielders. Eric Hosmer has just a 100 OPS+ and will move to the bench. He joins Ha-Seong Kim and Jurickson Profar there. All can play in the infield. Frazier has been an average left-handed hitter for most of his career but has exploded in 2021. He leads the league in hits and has dropped his K-rate to 10.6 percent. He is batting an amazing .335 against fastballs and .423 versus offspeed pitches. Frazier does not have much power. That is shown by an 85.7 mph average exit velocity and a 26.3 hard hit percentage. Those are concerns against Frazier, but his .300 xBA shows that he at least deserves a high batting average.
Frazier, 29, has hit four home runs with five stolen bases, a .392 OBP, and an .844 OPS in a major league leading 424 Plate Appearances this season. In his MLB career, all in Pittsburgh, Frazier has hit 39 home runs with 25 stolen bases, a .347 OBP, and a .767 OPS in 2228 Plate Appearances.
CarterHud 