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MLB Trade Rumors: Padres Want to Include Hosmer in Potential Gallo Deal with Rangers
July 28, 2021
The San Diego Padres are interested in acquiring Texas Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo, but they want the American League West team to take on first baseman Eric Hosmer in a potential deal, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (h/t Outline).
Grant also mentioned that the Padres are willing to include outfielder Robert Hassell, who San Diego took No. 8 overall in the 2020 MLB draft.
Gallo, 27, is hitting .223 (.869 OPS) with 25 home runs and 55 RBI this season. The prodigious power hitter is a two-time All-Star who smacked 81 home runs over his first two full seasons (2017-2018).
Gallo is under team control through the 2022 season and eligible for free agency in 2023.
The 31-year-old Hosmer is hitting .269 (.716 OPS) with eight home runs and 48 RBI.
Per Grant, Hosmer has over $65 million in obligations left on an eight-year, $144 million deal signed prior to the 2018 MLB season.
The Padres are currently third in the National League West at 59-44, but that mark is good enough to occupy the NL's second Wild Card spot at the moment.
San Diego would obviously like to win the division so it doesn't leave its playoff fate to a singular Wild Card Game, and the team could use some reinforcements.
Adding a power bat like Gallo can only help as the Padres look to surpass the first-place San Francisco Giants and second-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the standings. San Diego is currently 5.5 games behind San Francisco.
The Hosmer deal could be a potential obstacle, however, with the team clearly looking to unload that contract.
As Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lim of The Athletic wrote, the Padres are on "pace to finish the 2021 season above Major League Baseball’s competitive balance tax threshold of $210 million."
Teams are taxed for every dollar above the limit, and shedding at least some of Hosmer's deal could help the team fall back below that level.
Hosmer is a four-time Gold Glove winner who served as one of the catalysts for the Kansas City Royals' 2015 World Series victory. He was also named to the 2016 American League All-Star team.