Looking at the Josh Naylor trade tree

Do you ever get bored and just start researching trade trees? No? Well, I do and I stumbled upon a very interesting trade tree that I felt compelled to share.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a trade tree is a link that can be made from one player to another. So, if player A is trade for player B, then player B is then dealt for player C then player A and C are the beginning and end of that trade tree.

This specific tree starts in 1985 and ends with Josh Naylor. It is by far the oldest tree I have ever stumbled upon. My inner nerd loves it. There is no better place to start than the beginning.

June 3rd, 1985 - Padres draft Greg Harris in the 10th round of the Amateur Player Draft

Harris worked his way up and wound up spending six years with the Padres, accumulating a 13.5 bWAR during that time. He wound up getting dealt along with one of his rotation partners in 1993.

July 26, 1993 - Padres Greg Harris and Bruce Hurst to Colorado for Brad Ausmus, Doug Bochtler, and a player to be named later (Andy Ashby)

The branches here don’t make it too far. Ausmus eventually turned into Chan Ho Park and Botchler led to a couple players who the Padres lost via waivers. But Andy Ashby, the PTBNL, the underdog, is who keeps this going.

November 10, 1999 - Padres trade Andy Ashby to Philadelphia for Adam Eaton, Carlton Loewer, and Steve Montgomery

The key here is Eaton. And no, it is not the same guy playing for the Nationals. Eaton spent six years with San Diego with a 5.3 bWAR. Loewer and Montgomery both led to nothing for the Padres.

January 6, 2006 - Padres trade Adam Eaton, Billy Killian, and Akinori Otsuka to Texas for Adrian Gonzalez, Terrmel Sledge, and Chris Young

If I remember correctly, this Adrian Gonzalez guy turned out to be okay. And Chris Young made an All-Star appearance. As I am sure you know at this point, Gonzalez is the man who keeps this trade tree branching.

December 6, 2010 - Padres trade Adrian Gonzalez to Boston for Rey Fuentes, Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo, and a player to be named later (Eric Patterson)

Kelly was a solid prospect at the time, and he eventually would be packaged for Christian Bethancourt and Fuentes turned into a minor leaguer named Kyle Bartsch. Rizzo is the guy who keeps this fun little trade family going.

January 6, 2012 - Padres trade Anthony Rizzo and Zach Cates to Chicago for Kyung-Min Na and Andrew Cashner

This one tends to be hard to swallow. It would be nice to have had Rizzo all these years. Na did not last too much longer stateside before heading back overseas. Cashner wound up spending five seaspns with the Padres.

July 29, 2016 - Padres trade Andrew Cashner, Tayron Guerrero, Colin Rea, and cash to Miami for Carter Capps, Luis Castillo, Jarred Cosart, and Josh Naylor

Rea got hurt shortly after this trade, and so the Padres struck up a deal to swap he and Castillo back. An act of high moral character from San Diego...Castillo woul look good next to Chris Paddack in the rotation.

So here we are, Josh Naylor is now a Padre. well, at least in the organization. The 22-year old is in his rookie year, but in a way his history with the organization runs much deeper.

This is officially my favorite trade tree, but I would love to hear yours if you have them. Leave yours in the comments!