Potential Padres trade answers 1 roster question, raises 2 more

We’re all sitting here on our Saturday morning waiting to find out whether or not the New York Mets trade rumors with the San Diego Padres will be complete. Refresh Twitter all you want. It will not speed up the process.

Here’s what the latest Mets trade rumors suggest: the Mets would trade Dominic Smith to the Padres for Eric Hosmer, Chris Paddack, and Emilio Pagan. San Diego would also eat a portion of Hosmer’s contract in the process.

Parts of the deal are understandable. There have been Mets trade rumors about Smith all winter long but nothing too specific until now. Dealing him for Paddack would answer the question as to who takes Jacob deGrom’s spot in the rotation. Hosmer and Pagan are a whole different story.

Latest Mets trade rumors involving the Padres raise more questions than they answer

What purpose would Hosmer serve on the Mets roster? Even on a lesser deal, he doesn’t fit in well with what they currently have. Pete Alonso could be forced into more DH opportunities than he would like. But this then moves Robinson Cano either to second base or to the bench. Either way, the Mets are guaranteeing themselves one very expensive bench player on a regular basis: Cano or Hosmer.

They can make it work, though. Hosmer could be a decent part-time first baseman. The same is true of Smith, of course, with him having the benefit of far more upside than the veteran Hosmer.

Hosmer’s contract has him signed through the 2025 season with an opt-out option he’s unlikely to waive after the 2022 campaign. After his $21 million this year, he is owed $13 million in each of the next three seasons. Regardless if San Diego ate up the entire salary, it’s a curious move.

Add Pagan into the mix and, well, is there any real excitement about him? Initially, I figured this was a left-handed answer for their roster. But alas, he throws right-handed, too.

Pagan is also having a rough spring, delivering a 10.38 ERA in 4.1 innings of work. Hardly enough to avoid him, it’s the 4.83 ERA performance he had in 2021 that is far more alarming. Pagan has been up-and-down in his five big league seasons. In 2019, with the Tampa Bay Rays, he had a 2.31 ERA in 70 innings and managed to save 20 games. Adding him doesn’t exactly sweeten the deal much. In fact, it kind of feels like the Mets would be better off making an entirely different trade.

Paddack answers one roster question for the Mets. Hosmer and Pagan raise two more. This is not the kind of Mets trade rumors fans were hoping to see less than a week before Opening Day to cap off of an otherwise productive offseason.