Before the 2025 trade deadline, we couldn’t say enough about how the Padres needed to upgrade their catching room, as the position provided nothing at the plate, with only average at best defense to back it up.
Manned by Elías Díaz and Martín Maldonado, the two combined for a 63 wRC+, which is 37% worse than the league average hitter. President of baseball operations, A.J. Preller, knew this and made a trade to fix the issue.
In exchange for a pair of pitchers in Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, the Padres acquired Freddy Fermin from the Kansas City Royals.