The Padres were 11 games below .500 and 11½ games out of first place in the NL West even after a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on this date — June 4 — in 2016. But the big news that day was General Manager A.J. Preller agreeing to send the highest-paid player in franchise history, James Shields, to the Chicago White Sox for two prospects.
One was a 26-year-old left-hander (Erik Johnson) who was immediately optioned to Triple-A El Paso.
The other was a 17-year-old shortstop who’d yet to play in an affiliated game, one who required the Padres to eat roughly $31 million owed to Shields over the next two-plus seasons to ensure it was his name — Fernando Tatis Jr.