Leading up to the trade deadline, the Padres objectively had the worst catching tandem in the league. Elías Díaz and Martín Maldonado, through July 30 had combined for an OPS of .574, and neither showed any signs of heating up.
It was evident to A.J. Preller that if the team wanted to contend, it would need an offensive upgrade at catcher. This led him to acquire Freddy Fermín from Kansas City in exchange for two pitchers, Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek.
At the time of the trade, Fermín wasn’t exactly the best catcher on the market, as he was slashing just .