The San Diego Padres have been particularly proactive in the trade market in recent years; for example, instead of allowing Juan Soto to enter free agency and try to keep him by engaging in the largest bidding war the league has ever seen, they transferred him last year to maximize asset value. According to rumors, the Padres are aiming to repeat the feat this offseason, this time with starting pitchers Dylan Cease and Michael King.
However, it appears that the Padres will not make any significant roster adjustments with Spring Training already begun. According to Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, general manager AJ Preller, who is known for his bold moves, expects to be more patient this time around.
“Significant transactions during spring training are uncommon. According to Rosenthal and Mooney, San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller prefers to keep his squad together, despite conversations about Dylan Cease and Michael King.
Padres hope to finish the job in 2025.
For the second time in last year’s playoffs, it appeared that the Padres would derail the Dodgers’ World Series dreams. They lead 2-1 in the 2024 NLDS before the Los Angeles Dodgers’ arms woke up and shut them down for the rest of the series.
With the Padres posing a threat to the Dodgers unlike any other club in last year’s playoffs, it would be foolish for them to try to weaken the team in the sake of asset maximizing and safeguarding the team’s future. Cease was a dependable member of the Padres’ starting rotation last year, with a respectable 3.47 ERA in 33 starts (189.1 innings of work) – performances worth 4.8 WAR, according to Fangraphs.
Meanwhile, King had his greatest season with the Padres; in his first full season as a starter, he had an ERA of 2.95 and, most significantly, he started 30 games, demonstrating his ability to handle the rigorous workload that comes with being a part of the rotation.
Both Cease and King are eligible for free agency at the end of the 2025 season, but given their importance to the Padres, they are expected to stay with the team until the season ends, especially with this development. It’s unclear whether the Padres will have the means to keep them in San Diego indefinitely, but given their desire to win now, they can’t afford to look too far ahead.
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