Dodgers’ Matt Beaty trade somehow gets even worse for Padres

The Los Angeles Dodgers have owned the San Diego Padres on the field over the two years. While San Diego makes big move after big move to escape the shadow cast on them from Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers continue to take care of business.

Despite the Padres viewing their LA counterparts as bitter rivals, AJ Preller decided to do business with the Dodgers earlier this season when they decided to trade River Ryan for Matt Beaty.

That deal quickly became a fleece job for the Dodgers, as Ryan excelled in the minor leagues and Beaty offered next to nothing for the Padres.

Well, if it wasn’t bad enough already, it somehow got worse for the Padres on Wednesday. San Diego removed Beaty from the 40-man roster. Instead of going to Triple-A, Beaty elected free agency.

And that’s a wrap, folks!

Beaty’s Padres career did not go as expected for either side. Appearing in just 20 games, Beaty hit .093 in 47 plate appearances. He has the fifth-lowest OPS+ among position players with at least 40 plate appearances this season.

This is not the first time the Padres have had to release a former Dodgers player this season

Back in May, the Padres had a very similar thing happen with Trayce Thompson, who was in Triple-A at the time. He designated for assignment and, instead of accepting his assignment, he opted to be a free agent like Beaty did.

The rest is history. Thompson signed a minor-league deal with the Detroit Tigers before eventually being traded to the Dodgers. In LA, Thompson has been one of the most surprising storylines of the entire MLB season and could earn a spot in the starting lineup in the postseason.

San Diego has to be hoping that the same thing doesn’t happen with Beaty. There isn’t enough runway for Beaty to find a new team and get hot in 2022, but knowing the Dodgers, they could bring him back in 2023 and unlock something that wasn’t even there the first time he was in LA.

Even if that doesn’t happen, Andrew Friedman and Co. have to be happy with how this trade panned out. Los Angeles received a quality minor league pitcher and the Padres got 20 bad games from Beaty while the Dodgers improved their depth anyway. Win-win win.

3 Dodgers pitchers who will be most important to postseason success

The Los Angeles Dodgers are dealing with a lot of pitching injuries/issues. If these guys can step up, though, the postseason could be a smashing success.