In a substantial late-night MLB trade, the San Diego Padres have reportedly acquired outfielder Tommy Pham and infield prospect Jake Cronenworth from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for outfielder Hunter Renfroe and infield prospect Xavier Edwards.
The deal sending Tommy Pham from the Tampa Bay Rays to the San Diego Padres is done, sources tell ESPN. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe and middle-infield prospect Xavier Edwards head back to the Rays. Padres will get another minor leaguer.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 6, 2019
The Rays minor-leaguer in the agreed-upon Tommy Pham trade is middle infielder Jake Cronenworth, sources tell The Athletic. Cronenworth, 25, hit .334/.429/.520 last season at Triple A. He also pitched a little. Interesting two-way prospect.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) December 6, 2019
Tampa Bay star pitcher Blake Snell was streaming live on Twitch when he learned about the trade.
“We gave up Pham for Renfroe and a damn slapdick prospect?”
Blake Snell hearing about the trade while streaming live haha its a whole new world pic.twitter.com/5azmNuIshp
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) December 6, 2019
It’s easy to understand Snell’s frustration.
Pham has averaged 4.5 wins above replacement over the last three seasons according to FanGraphs. The 31-year-old is a proven, star player with consistently solid power and on-base skills.
Renfroe has plenty of power himself (33 homers in 2019), but with just a .289 on-base percentage and a 31.9 strikeout % to go with it. He’s a clear downgrade on paper from Pham at the moment.
Edwards — 20 years old and the 38th overall pick in the 2018 draft — is a very intriguing prospect, but the Rays just won 96 games and should be trying to win championships right now, and this trade doesn’t improve their chances to do that. That’s obviously not going to go over well with veteran players like Snell, and especially when much of this trade is likely about money.
More on #Rays–#Padres: Pham, with 2 years of club control remaining, is projected to earn $8.6M in arbitration by @mlbtraderumors. Renfroe, with 4 years of control left, is projected at $3.4M. Switch-hitting 2B/SS Xavier Edwards, 20, was the 38th overall pick in the 2018 draft.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2019
And that’s not even much money in the Major League Baseball world, but it is on an annual basis for the Tampa Bay Rays.
