The San Diego Padres haven’t been shy about making major moves in recent years.
Under current president of baseball operations AJ Preller, the Padres have traded away superstar Juan Soto, added Luis Arraez and Dylan Cease and made plenty of other notable moves. But among those transactions, one recent trade decision angered young star Jackson Merrill.
“We all saw it, and we’re like, ‘Wow, wow, this is crazy,’” Merrill said of how he reacted to news that the Padres were dealing outfield prospect James Wood in a package to acquire Soto from the Washington Nationals, according to MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. “And I’m sitting there, I’m mad. I’m happy for these guys, but I’m mad. I’m like: This is my best friend.”
Merrill was teammates with Wood at Single-A in 2022, when that trade occurred, and the two played youth baseball together in Maryland before that. Now, both have emerged as formidable young outfield stars.
Wood has broken out with 22 homers and a .284/.379/.569 slash line in his sophomore season with the Nationals. And Merrill signed a nine-year, $135 million extension with the Padres after an All-Star rookie campaign with the Padres.
While Soto is one of the best hitters in all of baseball, it’s hard not to imagine how the Padres might look if they had kept Wood and Merrill paired together for years to come.
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“If you could re-do the trade, knowing what you know now? Of course you undo it,” Cassavell added.
The Padres ultimately traded Soto away to the New York Yankees and landed Michael King among a slew of players in return. Merrill might feel better now that the Padres are perennial contenders, but maybe he’ll be pushing the team to re-acquire his best friend at some point down the road.
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