While the Padres no longer appear to be under a mandate to cut payroll for the 2025 season, signs still point to the club needing to make a trade or two in order to free up space in an already-maximized budget if they hope to address multiple holes in the lineup. That’s led to plenty of rumors surrounding the club’s pending free agents, the most valuable of whom are without a doubt right-handers Dylan Cease and Michael King.
Trading a front-line starter like Cease or King might seem counterproductive for a club that’s already lacking in rotation depth, but it’s possible that the trade return for either player could involve a young starter or two while allowing the Padres to reallocate the freed up payroll space to the lineup. It’s surely under that logic that San Diego has explored Cease’s market and discussed King with rival clubs as well. The Padres have reportedly been more resistant to trading King under the belief that he’s more likely than Cease to sign an extension, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is generally open-minded when it comes to trade discussions. That the two sides face a nearly $1.5MM gap after exchanging salary figures and appear headed toward an arbitration hearing only adds an additional layer of complexity.
Cease, 29, is the bigger name of the two righties. A longtime top prospect with the Cubs and White Sox, the right-hander debuted on the south side back in 2019 and had developed into a legitimate front-end arm by 2021. Over the past four seasons, he’s pitched to a 3.52 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 3.32 FIP and an excellent 29.7% strikeout rate. Perhaps even more impressive than Cease’s strong rate numbers is his volume. The right-hander has been a workhorse by the standards of the modern game with 716 innings of work across 130 starts since the start of 2021. That’s the most starts and seventh-highest innings count of any starter in that time.
By contrast, King doesn’t offer the same level of star power or track record. The 2024 campaign was actually the first time King has acted as a full-time starter in the majors, and his 173 2/3 innings of work were not only a career high but the first time he had thrown even 105 innings since 2018. The results can’t be denied, however, and King was nothing short of excellent. He posted a 2.95 ERA (139 ERA+) with a 3.33 FIP. His peripherals are quite similar to Cease, as well; his 27.7% strikeout rate was a touch lower than Cease’s 29.4% figure, but his 8.7% walk rate was nearly identical to Cease’s 8.5%. King’s 6.2% barrel rate was far better than that of Cease.
Given that similar production and a price tag that’ll be $5-7MM less than that of Cease, it’s easy to imagine some clubs preferring King between the two. If King can fetch what the Padres deem to be a better return, moving the more affordable arm and keeping the more proven/durable righty makes some sense. On the other hand, King still seems likelier to sign an extension than the Boras Corp-represented Cease, and Cease has shown some year-to-year volatility. He posted a below-average ERA as recently as 2023.
If you were in Preller’s shoes and needed to free up some payroll space to address various holes on the roster, how would you proceed with your coveted rotation duo? Have your say in the poll below:
Only if the trade is to the Orioles
Kjersted and Mountcastle for Cease?
Hell no.
Kjerstad isn’t getting traded for a 1 year rental.
I don’t know. The Orioles have been treating Kjerstad like he is a 4th OF, which makes no sense. They don’t seem high on him.
It would probably would take Kjersted and a starting pitching prospect.
Mike Elias slow rolls prospects, even fairly elite ones like Kjerstad, but with Santander’s departure and O’Neill’s middling production against righties, he should get plenty of ABs in RF/LF this year, plus some at DH with O’Hearn starting at 1B and Mountcastle sitting.
Goose — Kjersted was 2nd over all pick, with 70 grade pop, lefty hitter, with less than 1 year of service time. IF he’s moved (and he Won’t be traded), it’s not for a one year rental.
The Corbin Burnes trade didn’t have a player close to Kjersted’s level.
Kjersted AND Mountcastle…for one year of Cease…come on.
I wouldn’t trade Kjerstad for Cease straight up, much less include our solid everyday 1B in the return.
Like when he slow rolled Adley and brought Holliday up after 155 games in the minor leagues?
with less than 1 year of service time.
======================
Maybe there is a reason why someone on the edge of 26 has less than one year of service time.
Adley is kind of a weird example for an attempted counterargument when he should have been up much sooner than midway through his age 24 season.
I think Kjersted should have been playing a lot more last year. There were stretches he never left the bench. I am going by how the Orioles used and treated him. It is odd.
He was getting fairly frequent ABs and performing very well until he got a concussion from being beaned in the head in a game against the Yankees in July, the effects of which lingered and ended up derailing what looked to be an unfolding breakout season for him.
We’d have to give to get. Hall and Ortiz plus a pick is what it took for Burnes. We can’t get cease without giving up a prospect of note.
A Kjerstad and Kremer framework would be my thought.
Hey Joe, just after drafting him, a pretty significant illness kept him away from the game for a good while. Also, that beaning he took last year didn’t help his growth much either. I think Os FO gives Heston plenty of reps this season. Here’s to good health.
Goose — Injuries or tough Lefty SP were the only reason he was outta the line up. And him getting beaned in head by a fastball was right when he was really starting to grove.
I guess we watched different games last year.
Kjerstad is more valuable than Ortiz or Hall and Burnes is more valuable than Cease.
Kjerstad AND Kremer (or Mountcastle) for 1 year of Cease is a massive overpay, and thankfully has absolutely no chance of happening.
JoeBrady — Yes, there are reasons. None having to do with production or ability.
What does it matter when he was drafted? People get to hung up on previous ratings or predictions.
metsin4- Even setting aside his status as a former 2nd overall draft pick, Kjerstad still mashed his way through the minors, was considered a top 25ish overall prospect when he lost his prospect status during the 2024 season, and he has performed quite well through his first 50+ MLB games (116 OPS+).
He isn’t getting traded for a 1 year rental.
I agree with you but just stating where someone was drafted has no bearing on their value now.
If all you can get from the Orioles is Heston Kjersted there is no trade.
I think Padres should consider trading both starters but need at least two nice prospects for each. Crochet brought back four prospects, and all four are solid. Two solid prospects for a year of Cease at 15M is not out of the question. Same for King, for a year at 8M, should return two solid prospects.
Orioles fans should be happy, nobody wants Kjersted. I’d take Beavers over Kjersted but the only trade worth looking at has to include Coby Mayo.
Beavers, Honeycutt, McDermott, or Bradford…all available in trades for Cease.
Kjersted, Mayo, or Basallo are not in play for Cease.
Boston didn’t move any of their top 4 prospects for Croche and the Burnes trade also didn’t feature top Orioles prospects. Why does Cease get a greater return?
Pads are theoretically trying to move a TOR talent to save the below market price of 13 million for him. Not a great negotiation position.
History suggests Cease isn’t fetching top talent, rather a volume of fringe 100 talent.
I hope the Pads don’t trade Cease. He’s arguably more important to Pads than Orioles at this point
BW- I doubt there is a single current, former, or future MLB GM that would want Beavers (~.750 OPS in AA in 2024) over Kjerstad (~.750 OPS in MLB in 2024), but you do you buddy.
And most, if not all, of those guys would probably prefer Basallo over Mayo too lol.
metsin4- I think draft stock still matters somewhat, but actual production is obviously much more important. Fortunately, Kjerstad has both so far.
I ain’t high on Kjerstad, I like Beavers speed, and he is a few years younger. I think he can develop into a good hitter, a nice lefty bat with a little power, a good defensive OF who can run the bases.
Kjerstad has hit all through his career, in college, all through the minors, clearly the kid can hit, but like Joe Brady said, he is getting to be an old rookie. Could certainly be wrong, second overall pick for a reason.
Im high on Coby Mayo though, even with his horrible debut. Something about that kid. He hits a ton.
Kjerstad is currently 25 and Beavers is 23, so it’s not like there’s a huge gap there, and Kjerstad has legit MOO bat upside and seemed to be well on his way to reaching it before he got beaned in the head by a Clay Holmes fastball last year. Beavers is certainly an interesting prospect in his own right, but he’s not exactly looking like an impact player right now, while Kjerstad has already flashed that kind of upside at the MLB level.
And I am also very optimistic about Mayo, but Basallo is doing pretty much everything he has done, but at an even younger age and as a catcher. If an opposing GM was allowed to choose any prospect in the Orioles system who isn’t going to have a role on the 2025 opening day roster (so no Holliday), I would expect the overwhelming majority to pick Basallo over Mayo.
I’d take Mayo, wouldn’t be much of a debate. I like Basallo too, he has a nice lefty swing, he hits up and down the zone, has nice bat control, and like you said he’s a catcher, but watching Coby Mayo highlights, something special about him.
Kinda crazy that Kjerstad and Fernando Tatis Jr. are almost the exact same age.
Tatis was an international amateur signing while Kjerstad was drafted out of college, and then he immediately missed over a year with myocarditis, and then he got a pretty severe hamstring sprain while ramping back up for baseball after the myocarditis healed that caused him to miss even more time.
He didn’t make his minor league debut until almost 2 years after he was drafted. Then, just as he seemed to be breaking out as a big leaguer last year, he got drilled in the head and suffered with lingering concussion issues for most of the rest of the season.
Poor guy has had a rough go of it so far in his career.
Well one is a PED user and one is not.
I don’t think draft position matters much. Kjerstad was 2nd but extremely under slot. He was paid like the 7th pick FWIW.
But I’m perfectly fine with not making a trade now. Prices were high at the deadline last year though. You get a guy now and you can QO him. Later on and that’s not the case.
Id like to keep Kjerstad but you have to realize that a player like that is the only way to an established TOR guy unless we go the undervalued route and try to find the next Michael King. Which is obviously difficult.
A prospect like Mayo, Basallo, Kjerstad are the headlining types we have left to use. Beavers,Bradfield, McDermott etc. don’t have quite the shine to headline a package. But there’s guys in the system that could obviously shoot their way up quickly. (Vance Honeycutt is the first that comes to mind)
I’d prefer to not pay sticker but there’s still questions on Kjerstad’s D being viable. Depends what Elias thinks. I agree that he probably stays.
Particularly because he fits well with O’Neill as a platoon.
Jbigz — I mention the draft rank to indicate what the Front Office evaluated him as. He was lower on draft boards, but not wildly so.
As on Orioles fan, I’ve been dreaming of a LH power bat forever!! Eutew Street is littered with more visitor HR’s because, for some unknown reason, the Orioles have never tried to exploit thier own home park advantage in right field. Raffie Palmareo and Chris Davis…in all the years of Camden. Criminal.
Have you SEEN Heston’s bombs?! They are the closest thing to Ohtani in the League. Massive Arc!
…but he does wear #13, so there is that I guess.
They should trade them both to the Dodgers for a couple low level prospects. It’s the right thing to do. Ahahahahaha!
You made me laugh this morning.
It’s the daily (sometimes twice) Padres are broke no they’re not mlbtr article.
Geez. The writers are living inside your head.
nah, just tired of the same story daily?
Very tired.
While I have the same complaint about the daily Bregman articles, the opening line of the article was:
“While the Padres no longer appear to be under a mandate to cut payroll…”
So it is not a “Padres are broke” article (even if they are).
Well, they never were under a mandate to cut payroll this year. At least, there is no evidence to that being the case. The only statement from AJP and Erik Greupner was that payroll would likely be somewhere between 2023 and 2024.
They shouldn’t trade either
That sentiment may be leading in the poll, but it’s not click bait.
At least not in the off season. If by some bizarre circumstance they do not find themselves in contention at mid season, trade one or the other or both, then.
No they should trade both.
The people who say trade both want to see a contender randomly have a fire sale
nl west team fans would love to see it happen
I am a Dodger fan and a baseball fan in general. I want to see more good teams, not fewer. You should be more concerned about your Mariners not going all-in to field a good team.
They should trade the whole team, including the franchise. See if they can get the Dodgers franchise instead. If not, maybe see if Tampa wans to trade teams and play in a real ballpark.
You know Tampa is down after signing Kim and all
All seems to be a weird situation in SD. They claim not to be cutting payroll. But lost some people in the offseason and not made any moves or looking to make additions to improve the team. And continue to speculate on trading away players.
In which case they might as well throw in towel for 2025 and trade for prospects and save $$$.
That’s the way I’m reading it as well. STL has the same situation, but due to no trade clauses. San Diego is because the owner who was spending died and the two in control seemingly want what the club had for a long time after Jake Peavy and Bruce Bochy moved on
Not really all that weird
Seider spent like a wild man and it was unsustainable, mainly the paying taxes portion to cbt
Now they’re set to spend 200 million on payroll but have no interest crossing cbt thresholds which bit them in the butt recently costing them draft slot (14 to 24) and draft pool money and affected QO picks for Snell and Hader
Unless they are punting on the season, trading either is dumb. I see the need to restock, but trading from a thin rotation guarantees wasted money on the expensive position players.
They should trade whichever brings back a better return. Ideally, they would trade neither. But that does not seem like an option.
Honestly, I’d move Suarez and keep both SPs. So much easier to replace you best reliever, and there are some nice arms in that bullpen.
@bobintexas. Trading saurez would make the most sense. Like you said they can add a couple cheaper options plus the bullpen is a strength. If they aren’t in contention they can trade king,arraez,cease at the TDL and do a quick reset.
They shouldn’t trade either in principle- however…. both are going to be a free agent after this season and the Padres are very clearly not “going for it” or “going all in” anymore and thus far the current team make up does not appear to be conducive toward a realistic playoff run.
Furthermore- Cease and King have incredibly affordable salaries for guys of their performance levels and would be highly welcomed bargain bin costs for plenty of teams to take on their salaries and their skillsets and San Diego could get some very cheap/cost effective players in return… and King and Cease could potentially wind up on playoff contenders, perform very well and set themselves up for much larger contracts going into free agency.
So for Cease and King’s sakes, I think they should be traded.
For San Diego? If y’all can’t afford less than $22M combined for two high quality starting pitchers, why are you even pretending to be a major league baseball franchise?
Further-furthermore: Please trade King to the Yankees. We love him.
Hyperbole notwithstanding, you bring up a point I have been concerned with.
Manny, Tatis and Bogaerts are all going to consume more than $100 million on their own per year, once the annual amounts for Tatis and Manny increase to their fullest.
If this is the payroll wall the team is going to perpetually run into, coupled with inflation on the cost of players, the rest of the roster is going to have to churn like the Rays do in order to be competitive. Forget re-signing the likes of Cease. We can probably start forgetting about re-signing the likes of Jackson Merrill.
It was a lot more fun when the franchise was larping as a big spender.
Informed – Exactly!! And to think, some people here actually believed the Padres could afford to extend Soto. Talk about a break from reality!!
It’s bizarre to see a major league team/large corporation go through what is a fairly standard action of people who know their time is coming to an end much sooner than later. Seidler spent like someone with no time left and that’s totally fine, totally understandable.
But that’s what that was- that’s not how the Padres would’ve normally operated and likely not how Seidler would’ve approached his ownership of the team if he had been healthy with a normal lifespan in front of him.
Meaning, Machado and Bogarts and Tatis are not emblematic of the Padres’ true financial flexibility or approach and this new found tightening of the purse strings, going back to how they used to operate a few years prior, is more realistic and the more likely approach going forward.
Every team has a Yu Darvish or a Tatis, Jr. whom they go and get or lock up early for big money, but a lot of their other moves were because Seidler was trying to win the world series before he passed away. Seidler is gone and they have to re-calibrate back to reality as the hail mary approach is no longer necessary or logical.
And if you’re gonna allow yourselves to be stuck with three under performing or aging players who take up $100M per year of payroll and then you go ultra cheap with the rest of the roster, then maybe just trade one or two of those guys in a manner that unburdens you financially and then get more creative with the $30M or whatever per year that you just freed up, to improve overall roster construction and drafting.
I think Tatis is untrade-able, I think Boegarts is even more untrade-able, but Machado still has plenty of stock multiple teams would buy into at full freight and he’d earn the Padres a very nice haul of more cost effective players and some cheap prospects. And Yu Darvish’s cost is actually surprisingly middle of the road and he could also be flipped for a nice haul plus some salary relief.
So yeah- they should try to flip their really expensive players who still show upside and then double down on guys like King- though, King could be looking at a guy like Patrick Corbin and think “if he could get 6 years/$140M for his mediocrity, I’m seen as a kinda high profile 4D-Chess Style Find right now and if I have an even remotely decent, durable 2025, I could be looking at topping that deal plus some salary inflation, 7 years later” and so they might offer him, say, 8 years/$160M but he’d be looking for, say, 8 years/$240M and he could easily get that on the open market or from a team who trades for him now and extends him early.
I just think the Padres need to either continue to spend or need to blow up the team as much as possible and start over- this one foot in, one foot out thing isn’t gonna work for them or for their fans.
uh, in what way is Tatis untradeable?
Same thing with Detroit and Mike Ilitch. He wanted to win before he died too. I think Tatis and Machado are tradeable for now. Not Bogaerts tho. I agree tho. Trading a massive contract seems like it’s worth a try.
Too late this winter tho. Everyone has spent. Unless Toronto would take Machado’s deal maybe
Calling Tatis untradeable is nuts and about as far from reality as you can get. I look forward to seeing where this site places him on the top 50 Trade Value list. BTV says he has 140m of surplus value.
Dude’s the same age as prospects Orioles fans are beside themselves to consider giving up for Cease.
Tatis is tradeable. Surplus value? Different story.
Manny is not. Not even close. No one is taking on that money at his age. He’s been a 3.5WAR guy the last 2 years and he’s owed $317MM.
@Jbigz12
I agree Manny won’t find a taker for his contract.
But that 3.5 WAR (not looking it up) each year the past two years was while he was needing shoulder surgery, and post shoulder surgery, respectively in each year. The 2025 season will be a better indicator of where his performance-to-age curve is at.
@Jbigz12 Absolutely Tatis has surplus value! Idk about the $140m figure from BTV but certainly closer to that than zero.
Before I answer that question; tell me for what package of players.
Depends on the deal and if they plan to extend them
I’d like for Detroit to get one of those guys, but really SD shouldn’t. They already could use another SP and neither one of those guys is making ridiculous money that they’d save. Depends on what they were offered obviously. How much is a team willing to offer for a rental though? SD would probably be looking to fill 2 holes (like my ex gf) with whatever they got.
I’ve wondered if the two could match up on a Cease for Tork+a pitching prospect scenario. Seems about right to me..and the Tigers have the prospects..
I proposed a Tork, Mize, Montero and Manning for Suarez and Cease. Those guys are all cheap and controllable tho and have shown flashes. Montero had 2 CG’s last year. And that’s just an off the top of my head starting point. It could be adjusted to work. It’s not like that would be my final offer lol.
Yea. Both to the dodgers. I think they are looking for a 7th and 8th starter
For roki sasaki haha
They shouldn’t trade either and see where they are by June. The only way to do it now is to get prospects to rebuild with. I don’t see it at this point in the season. If they are out and the pitching injuries keep at the pace they have been going they could get a lot of capital for both.
The only way to do it at the deadline is for prospects, imo. Considering that they’ll probably be out of it if they traded them guys at that point. They’d do it now, or are looking at doing it now to fill their holes to try and contend because while they’re not cutting payroll, they can’t spend anymore money, from the sound of it.
Trading either starter is a bad move from a competitive standpoint but if they do, Cease will give them a stronger return and more salary relief ($13.7M) if they deal a starter. King only has 1 year of being a successful starter while Cease has been one of the best SP the past 4 seasons.
free – Tell that to the Red Sox fans who want to give Crochet $200M right now, with just 10 career good starts!
Any red Sox fan wanting that is an idiot. I prefer to sign him for 4×100 or 5×125 Max. Let him walk at 30ish. If he falls apart it’s just another sale extension to deal with.
Out of curiosity, how many years of control do the Sox have with Crochet? It’d have to be more than 2, right?
dsett – Nope, just two.
Sucks when owner passes away and media revenue is very little .
old – Even if he was still alive, the spending was unsustainable. Not enough revenue.
I agree. My Tigers went through this scenario with Mike Ilitch. It’s fun when they spend. Sucks when you didn’t get the satisfaction of a championship and it ends though.
They should trade the wife.
Why?
For dropping a bomb in the middle of their Sasaki pursuit and sending him straight into the arms of their rival.
He was probably going to the Dodgers anyway. Either way, the instability regarding the Padres’ ownership situation wouldn’t have been a secret to Sasaki and his agent Joel Wolfe.
1. We don’t know that.
2. He specifically called it out as a primary reason.
3. I haven’t read the briefs and am not going to. I don’t particularly care about the lives of these people, and if her allegations about the racism are true, then more power to her.
4. If I were a Padres fan, which I’m not, I would wonder why she couldn’t have waited 2 weeks to drop that bomb while having a shot at a pitcher with $200 million in surplus value and completely destroying that chance, and a lot of the chance of beating the Dodgers for the next half-decade. I’d be pissed. At her.
Waiting two weeks would have been deceptive to Sasaki and his agent. Wolfe, in all likelihood, knew what was going on. Also, there have been stories about the Padres looking to trim payroll all winter. As things stand, they’ve let Higashioka, Profar and Scott walk. Are they trying to win or not?
This makes the most sense. Trade her now. Keep them both and pick up another SP.
After that, make a run for the playoffs. LFGSD
They were not getting roki
Butter – Agreed! I had a hunch he would go to the Dodgers.
She’s probably untradeable. Seidler more than likely signed her to a half his fortune contract. She’s probably got opt outs too. She just hasn’t used them cuz this’ll be her biggest contract at her age. They have insured her no doubt. So you can only hope she pulls a hammy, goes home and stops poisoning the clubhouse.
They should trade AJ Preller.
I’m a Tigers fan, but in his defense, looking from the outside, he’s the one you’d want to figure out a blockbuster trade to make that team come together somehow. Maybe I’m not informed enough, but he’s definitely not afraid to pull the trigger compared to most of the others. That’s what I liked about Dombrowski when he was Detroit’s GM. DD could not build a minor league system worth a crap tho.
Obviously they’d ask for SP or SP prospects in return but that’s putting a lot of stock on someone like Cruz, Krob or even Bergert to step up
Padres should not trade Cease or King unless they are out of the wild card race by the trade deadline. Padres should be open to trading Suarez or Arraez for a healthy cost-controlled young #4 or #5 starter.
Either keep them both to contend for a playoff berth this year or trade them both for the future.
If the new Padres ownership breaks down this roster and cuts the payroll anymore the fans should organize picket line protests in front of the ballpark on game days and target local news broadcasts who do not back them when the team is away.
The baseball media effectively works for the team the same way CNN works for the Deep State. The “private” part of it is just a screen.
Some people make it easy to click the mute button.
Trade both season over b4 it even starts
Neither. Flags fly forever
Don’t we need to see what the return is to really vote on this? I think you have to gauge the interest that other organizations put on both pitchers. And if you have to trade one of them, figure out who can give you the best balance between payroll flexibility and talent being offered.
You beat me to it. If I were the SDP, I don’t think I’d trade either, and hope they get lucky next season.
But without knowing the return, this is an exercise in futility. It is like asking if I should take job A or job B, without knowing the salaries of either.
I wouldn’t trade either if they have the ability to raise payroll and sign another starter and an outfielder.
If they cannot—you’d have to kick around the possibility. Potentially letting Cease and King walk at year end would leave them with Darvish and a rehabbing musgrove as their 2026 rotation. They really don’t have anything in the minors/majors that is close to ready to be anything more than a #5.
I was going to mention the payroll elsewhere. You’re right. If they are going to go back to $270-280M, then you have a much better case to keep both.
If they are going to stick with a CBT budget, it might be better to trade one guy away and aim for 90 wins a year.
Yawn this again?
Dude. Don’t read it. It’s on you.
How about sending Tatis Jr to Boston
Sure. For Casas, Houck, Anthony, and Rafaela. I’d even throw Cease and Cronenworth in with Nando to sweeten the pot if the Sox throw in 20 mil and add Yoshida to the deal.
Swap Anthony for Abreu and you got a deal
Then I’d want more pitching if that was the case. Add Whitlock and I’d shake on that. The Sox lineup would be ROUGH after the top 3 though if that was the case. They’d almost have to sign Alonzo or Bregman.
They aren’t a rebuilding team, they should keep them and try to extend both. But I guess the Rumors are they are on a budget.
And Cease is a Boras client. He’s testing FA, no doubt
The team has no money to spend because Mr. Seidler allowed AJ to make very bad salary decisions on several players & trading away very good prospects to try & win a WS before he passed now trying to win this year is near impossible , must start rebuild now when they can get more value for talent going to FA this next year.
King should be traded, he is coming off his best year and will be a free agent at the end of the season! Cease has more upside!
What would it take for the Mets to get King and Arraez?
I don’t think the Mets match up on that deal, but it’d probably need to involve Vientos (which I’m sure the Mets wouldn’t do).
Vientos would be a huge overpay. This is a kid with tremendous power very early in his career.
The Padres, on the other hand, have been rumored to want to limit payroll while filling numerous holes. In addition, the batting champ is great at making contact, but nothing else.
Peter Seidler hamstrung the Padres future. His widow may have just put their neck in the guillotine.
At this point, with Peter’s widow suing the club and trying to extort them ($20M a year), including directly affecting the signing of two free agents and possibly more, stick a fork in the season. Stick a fork in this whole maintaining the team and recovering from their roster losses process.
Public comments by Profar and Sasaki indicate that this was a real problem, the widow’s lawsuit and publicly released comments.
How she came around to become the bearer of Peter Seidler’s heirs may offer some explanation about why she’s hell bent in breaking her piggy bank, the Padres and his estate…
I don’t know if this is going to be the big fire sale of the early ’90s where Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff found themselves traded away, although Trevor Hoffman came in one deal. The Padres contracts are not tradable.
The anchor around their neck can only be solved by non-baseball injuries, retirements, arrests or grim reaper-related activities.
I think the Padres should trade Cease and use that money to Verdugo on a one year deal. Cease should net a ML ready pitcher and a highly regarded prospect.
Not that I would do it I were Chicago but Cease for Assad and Caissie or Alcantara, then sign Verdugo
That’d certainly be a come full circle moment if cease is dealt to cubs for a deal including caissie cause wasn’t cease once a cub prospect and caissie was originally drafted by the padres.
Verdugo is a glove-first outfielder at this point of his career. If the Padres are going to reallocate Cease’s salary, there are better ways to do it.
If the Cubs would do that deal, I’d do it now as a Padres fan.
Front of the rotation starters are difficult to come by. Padres would have to be blow away. Maybe better to wait to trade at the dealine should Padres not look like a post season entry.
Keep them both.
Party’s over.
First, we gotta fire AJ & bring someone in to clean up his mess. Since we have no clue how to win the west, I propose Brandon Gomes or Farhan Zaidi. Mike Hazen ain’t going anywhere.
Once we have somebody more qualified than a trumped up area scout running the show, we’ll be ready to move forward.
Ship out everyone but Merrill, Salas & deVries & plan on competing after the lockout in ‘27
LFGSD!!!
I do not think he’s the guilty party, feuding family is the problem and you can not fire them. The Padres play in the West with the Dodgers who have an endless supply of money and your Padres had the Dodgers on the ropes. I am a Braves fan and whoever is playing for the Dodgers. I just wish MLB had some way to make it an even field for every team. Every team had the same amount of money to work with each year. I would hate to be a Miami or Oakland fan
Zaidi took a job with the Dodgers. I don’t know what makes you think he would do a better job than he had with the Giants. The way he handled the JD Davis situation was atrocious. It also took an inexperienced Buster Posey to step in to give Matt Chapman an extension.
I made two mistakes on my post, I meant the Padres had the Dodgers and forgot to score and I’m for whoever is playing against the Dodgers.
Yes. Both to Detroit for Maeda and Baez… I’ve seen shooting stars before.
That would be awesome as a Tigers fan, lol. I’d definitely propose that on a video game if I played em.
Relegation might be the best course of action for the Padres.
Just hand them over to Mets for Marte and McNeil.
I know you’re kidding but that does exactly the opposite of what San Diego would want
To Detroit for Baez and Maeda then. Lol, jk, jk.
If payroll is going to be a significant issue going forward, go really big. Package one of the big-contract stars with either Cease or King and see if you can off-load the salaries while getting some young, controllable talent in return. It might not be a talent parity, but SD should adapt to present circumstances
They need both to compete this year, but their minor league system is in dire straights. They also need some future upside in the rotation. Probably best to trade Cease to help their prospect pool and try to extend King on a reasonable deal. Cease is a Boras client and unlikely to take an extension, let alone a team-friendly one for the suddenly cost-conscious Padres.
I think they should trade one on one condition, as long as either one goes to the Braves
I thought this was a joke, as in I thought Padres fans would overwhelmingly pick Cease for the “win now” sentiment, but apparently I’m very wrong, like, 3 to 1 in favor of King staying over Cease. Wow.
Actual Padre fans only voted for not trading either.
King makes 7 million cease makes 14 million. He clears more payroll by trading him than King does.
Better chance King signs an extension. Cease is a Boras client so he’ll be a FA. Cease has a longer track record for a better return and makes more money than King.
Tampa got Kim for nothing. They want to trade Arrez. Now Cease or King. There must be someone very specific they are wanting. Power im assuming cause Kim and Arrez are hitting machines. I’d lock those 2 sp’s up if possible and hope for the best with offensive moves. Those guys are Cy young possibles.
You are thinking with a baseball mind. They are thinking with their wallet.
Tricky situations in both San Diego and Seattle. Multiple holes with no money allowed to be spent
Is this going to happen every year for the Padres until the Darvish and Musgrove contracts come off their books? It’s frustrating to see a team that can legitimately contend for a WS have to constantly consider trading their high quality FA with one year remaining to recoup some prospects and ML ready help. It worked last year with Soto, but won’t always work as well.
Issue is cbt tax threshold
Long as they’re not crossing it they seem content running a decent payroll.
Just so happens they were over last year and over this year. So goal is get under.
Dealing cease makes the most sense cause he can bring back a LF and rotation option to replace him and other assets.
I think Twins make the most sense
Cease for Vasquez contract, Keaschall OF, RHP Morris and RHP Lewis and ss/2b Eeles for taking Vasquez.
I’m fine running a Vasquez Diaz catching tandem. Morris and Lewis provide rotation options, Keaschall seems ready, and they pick up some infield depth in Bogaerts gets hurt at ss. And get under the tax line
That’s what happens when you sign a mediocre shortstop to stupid money
Bogaerts contract was one giant albatross too many.
Best option: trade Suarez, keep Cease, extend King
2nd Best option: no trade, cheapFA/rookie LF Morejon 5th SP, extend King
3rd Best option: trade Suarez, trade Cease, extend King
In my humble opinion…
Tatis is the best trade for the team
2 guys who could pitch for a Cy young and a hitter who wins batting titles…. must be nice having problems like that SD.
Should they? Absolutely not. The question is, do they have to?
Cease, 29, is the bigger name of the two righties.
Because King only has 4 letters.
Of course not.
This organization is confusing. Do they want to win or not? If yes, keep your studs. If no, trade em away like you did Soto right before he had his best season.
I saw a thing. Made some sense. Pitching of that quality is too valuable to trade. Keep the pitchers and rid yourself of Bogaerts Machado or Tatis. Tatis being the only feasible possibility. Better for their books, better for their top heavy balance but absolutely awful for the fans. It would take a brave man.
If they want to stay under the first tier of CBT, they need to drop $1.5M, not trade Tatis to save $27M (which is sweet AAV deal). They can do that and then some by trading Suarez or Arraez, or even Matsui (though I don’t know if he’s tradeable).
I think it was more about a balanced roster than a CBT number. Whatever the semantics of the budget number is, as it stands financially, they can’t have a balanced roster with those 3 in it.
While the Padres still have their core (Tatis, Bogaerts, Mercado) they should keep assets and make a run.
Both and Suarez
Goal should be bring back a controllable LF, 1B, young rotation options, and some LHP pen help to gear up for 2025 and beyond.
I wonder how much of this has to with what the Dodgers have done this off season…
The Padres are going to be looking at a LONG rebuild before too long. They might as well keep everyone and go for it. Maybe they will get lucky in the postseason and actually get a WS title in the next year or two. After that it is going to be decade or more of losing baseball. That market just cannot support such a high payroll for a long period of time.
100%
Imagine going to work every day and knowing that most of your customers hate you. This is the life of Seidler brothers.
They may not be cutting, but they certainly aren’t adding…so they need to do SOMETHING!
(My profound thoughts on the natter, you’re welcome)
Depends on what their creditors have to say.
No, no way no how , this teams long been in for a penny in for a pound
You don’t pull the plug today, wait until trade deadline at minimum in case they have an off year then sell.
Still plenty enough talent with some SP (non) inj luck to be a top 5 team in the entire league. I’m almost appalled by the question
Detroit is where Preller should look. There’s multiple matches there somewhere. Lots of Tigers prospects at or near ready and Detroit could use a #2 SP, closer or even a 3B. Although Bregman would probably be cheaper than Machado.
Cease back to the Cubs where he belongs and should never have been traded from in the first place. Steele and Cease as a 1-2 in a rotation would be top notch. They were drafted in back to back rounds by the Cubs in 2014.
This is where ownership is important, are they in a rebuild? They have given so many no trade clauses in contracts that I don’t see where they can possibly rebuild. They will have to let those contracts run their course. So if ya forced to have a high payroll because you can’t move people you may as well compete. Maybe they can convince players to waive the no trade but unless they get that they shouldn’t trade affordable players.
Acuna, Butto and Houck for Cease.
A comma before “as well” is unnecessary.