Steven Wilson
In my opinion the Braves should be seeking bullpen pieces more than anything else. Atlanta’s bullpen has actually been among the best in the NL, but when you are looking to add flavor to a Wolfgang Puck entree you need to get creative.
It’s been said before, but you can truly never have enough pitching. The first Padres’ reliever we will look at is Steven Wilson, who isn’t a name that’s even been floated around. However, he has a lot of good qualities the Braves would be happy to add.
On the year Wilson owns a 2.77 ERA, 3.99 FIP, and has been good for 0.6 fWAR. Not numbers that particularly blow you away, but very solid nonetheless. The interesting thing about Wilson is the pitch he does most of his work with.
Wilson throws his sweeper/slider breaking ball pitch 60.2% of the time. That pitch carries a run value of +9 on the season, which is more than Spencer Strider’s slider. He averages over 2600 RPM’s on that pitch, and hitters have a .177 expected batting average on that pitch via baseball savant data.
Unfortunately, the biggest problem with Wilson is his experience. This is just his second season in the big leagues so that means he isn’t arb eligible until 2025, and he doesn’t hit free agency until 2028.
That means the Padres won’t be super motivated to move Wilson, and if they do they should be looking for a bigger haul. So rank this potential trade as unlikely for now.