Why Are The San Diego Padres Looking To Trade Star Pitchers?
In late-2022, it seemed like the San Diego Padres were set to become baseball's next best team.
They'd just traded for Juan Soto and Josh Bell from the Washington Nationals. They traded for Josh Hader from the Milwaukee Brewers. Fernando Tatis Jr. was expected to return, after a 6.6 WAR 2021 season, from his suspension for a positive test for a performance enhancing drug. They had Blake Snell, Ha-Seong Kim, Joe Musgrove, Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, Jake Cronenworth, and Robert Suarez and Jurickson Profar.
And then they beat their arch-nemesis, the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. It seemed like a sign that the tides out west were officially turning.
Fast-forward just over two years and boy have those tides turned again.
The Dodgers regrouped, signing Shohei Ohtani, then building around him on their way to winning the 2024 World Series. Instead of resting on their laurels after securing their second title in five years, they've arguably improved their team more than any other in the 2024-2025 offseason.
Blake Snell, Michael Conforto, Hyesong Kim, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates have given LA exceptional depth and talent throughout the roster. Teoscar Hernandez and Blake Treinen are back after huge postseason contributions. Tommy Edman received an extension. And Roki Sasaki chose the Dodgers over Toronto and San Diego.
It's seemed like the Dodgers, for months now, have been on a roll. The Padres, to say the least, have not.

Padres RHP Dylan Cease pitches in the first inning vs. the New York Yankees at Petco Park in San Diego. (Chadd Cady-USA TODAY Sports)
San Diego Padres Apparently Trying To Sell Key Players
Despite starting 2023 with a loaded roster, the Padres finished just over .500 and missed the postseason. Financial concerns after the death of owner Peter Seidler meant that Soto was dealt to the Yankees before the 2024 season. But to baseball operations head A.J. Preller's credit, he found key contributors at rock-bottom prices: Donovan Solano, Profar, and David Peralta all wildly exceeded expectations. Jackson Merrill turned into a star in center field. And Preller's wheeling and dealing before the season netted San Diego starting pitchers Dylan Cease and Michael King.
It paid off. The Padres won 93 games, won the wild card series over the Atlanta Braves, and held a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the NLDS. Then they didn't score for 24 straight innings. The offseason hasn't been much better.
They reportedly lost out on Sasaki in part due to a public ownership dispute between Seidler's brothers and his widow. They've done little in free agency, other than signing backup catcher Elias Diaz. Profar is gone, signed to Atlanta. Ha-Seong Kim signed with the Tampa Bay Rays. Snell is a Dodger, Hader on the Astros, Soto with the Mets. Musgrove suffered an injury in the postseason and will miss all of 2025.
READ: Padres Ownership Drama Might Have Cost Them Roki Sasaki
And to top it all off, a new report from MLB Network's Jon Morosi says that the Padres are in discussions with the Cubs to send Dylan Cease to Chicago. Jon Heyman reported that the Padres are in talks with the Mets, also on Cease. That follows previous reports that Michael King too could be dealt before the season starts.
It raises the question: what's the plan here? And how did it go so wrong?
Padres Have Few Answers For Obvious Mistakes
The Padres have budget issues, an ownership battle, and plenty of holes to fill on the roster. Their left field options as spring training approaches are unappealing for a potential playoff team, to say the least. Brandon Lockridge, Tyler Wade and Tirso Ornelas are listed on their depth chart as potential starting left fielders around Merrill and Tatis.
Even with Cease and King, their rotation is thin. Yu Darvish turns 39 during the season and showed signs of decline in 2024. Musgrove being out means other starting options include Randy Vazquez, who had a 4.87 ERA last year, Adrian Morejon, a converted reliever, Matt Waldron and Jhony Brito.
And that's assuming nobody gets hurt.
Preller's strategy has been to build the best possible team for the current year, without much thought to the future. The assumption largely being that regardless of the situation, he'll be able to deal or sign his way out of it. Had the Padres won a championship, the lack of long-term planning wouldn't matter as much anyway.
But they didn't, and now Preller's short-term mindset is coming back to bite him. San Diego made huge commitments to Xander Bogaerts, Machado, Tatis, Darvish, Musgrove and Cronenworth, cutting their available budget. They traded many of their prospects to get major league players, and now have one of baseball's worst farm systems. There's no depth behind their already-shaky rotation, and no money to find depth at the major league level.
Clearly, Preller's hope is to flip Cease and King for several, lesser, major league-ready pitchers. Pitchers who would be under team control for more than just 2025. But that's the worst of both worlds.
San Diego is built to win now; Machado turns 33 during the season, and hasn't put up a four-win season since 2022. Bogaerts had a miserable 2024 and also turns 33 this year. Darvish is at the end of his career and Cease and King are only signed through 2025. With the top end talent they have, the window is open for this season, but closing rapidly.
Entering the offseason, the Padres had to be willing or able to spend more to help close the gaps on the roster. They had to have more prospects available that were ready to be dealt for major league talent. Both of those wells have mostly dried up. The Dodgers are ascendant, and San Diego might be staring down a third place NL West finish in the face. My how the turn tables.