SF Giants division rivals land All-Star reliever in trade

The SF Giants have not been totally silent ahead of the trade deadline but they have been mostly silent. However, one of their division rivals bolstered the bullpen by adding Milwaukee Brewers All-Star reliever Josh Hader in a five-player swap.

SF Giants division rivals land All-Star reliever in trade

The Padres paid a steep price to acquire Hader. They shipped Taylor Rogers, Dinelson Lamet, and a pair of prospects including pitching Robert Gasser and Esteury Ruiz. Giants fans are familiar with Rogers as he is the twin brother of San Francisco reliever Tyler Rogers.

Taylor Rogers has been on the move a lot recently. He was shipped along with outfielder Brent Rookie to San Diego from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, and Brayan Medina.

The Padres hoped that the addition of Rogers would help stabilize a bullpen unit that saw Mark Melancon depart via free agent and the expectation that Drew Pomeranz would miss most of the season after undergoing elbow surgery.

Rogers got off to a strong start but he hit a rough patch where he posted a 9.31 ERA in 10 appearances in July. In total, the veteran southpaw has registered a 4.35 ERA, 2.35 FIP, 1.11 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, and a 5,33 SO/W ratio in 42 appearances with the Padres.

He will be replaced by Hader. The six-year veteran was having a nice season, but relievers are often working in small samples and bottom-line numbers can be heavily influenced by one poor appearance.

Of course, that bad appearance came against the Giants two weeks ago. On July 15, the 28-year-old pitcher was tabbed to hold a 5-2 lead against San Francisco in the ninth inning, but Giants hitters launched an improbable comeback that was capped off by a Mike Yastrzemski walk-off grand slam.

He allowed six earned runs in 0.1 innings of work against San Francisco. His ERA ballooned from 2.73 to 4.50 in just one bad outing. He currently has a 4.24 ERA with 59 strikeouts against only 12 walks in 34 innings. 37.5 percent of the runs he has allowed in 2022 came against the Giants that night.

Nevertheless, the Padres had a need to upgrade the bullpen and they seemingly did it by adding Hader. The Giants have nine games remaining against San Diego this season, so they should continue to see plenty of Hader as the season winds down.