Padres exploring offseason options that could include Dylan Cease trade – San Diego Union-Tribune

DALLAS – The Padres are still planning on competing for a championship, and the circumstances still appear to be conducive to that goal.

In a league where 12 teams reach the postseason, their payroll will almost certainly be somewhere in the middle of Major League Baseball’s 30 clubs.

They finished 15th in payroll in 2024, won more games than all but four other teams, and advanced to the National League Division Series. There they lost to the Dodgers, the eventual World Series winners.

But the Padres are also conscious of a budget in a way they weren’t when late owner Peter Seidler approved spending that resulted in the franchise rising to No. 3 in player spending in 2023.

Their 2025 payroll will be above last year’s $169 million, but the goal is to be below the current forecast of around $210 million, according to people familiar with the Padres’ plans.

With that in mind, the Padres are exploring options to reduce their financial obligations while adding talent.

Among their many conversations at this week’s winter meetings were some with other teams about starting pitcher Dylan Cease.

There are no signs that a deal is imminent, but this is about more than just answering phone calls. League sources characterized the conversations about Cease as anything from “attempts to relieve Cease” to the Padres’ “openness” to a trade for the right-hander, who turns 29 later this month and is expected to die in 2025 Will earn $13 and $14 million, his final year as a referee.

Acquired from the White Sox in a trade last March, Cease finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting. Cease posted a 3.47 ERA in 189⅓ innings over 33 starts. And on July 25, Cease threw the second no-hitter in franchise history.

Given the cost of pitching on the free agent market, Cease could be an attractive trade option that could bring the Padres needed help in left field or a designated hitter and/or have a chance of flipping them in a separate trade.

Even though trading Cease would reduce the Padres’ starting pitching depth, they would still have Yu Darvish and Michael King at the top of the rotation and Randy Vásquez and Matt Waldron as their other veteran starters. They are pursuing Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki and are confident they can land another mid-range starter. A win for Cease could even allow them to trade prospects and/or young major league players for a top starter like White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet, who would be cheaper than Cease and have two years of team control compared to Cease a year before Cease hits free agency.

“It’s been active, there’s been a lot of conversation,” Padres President of Baseball Operations AJ Preller said of the Padres’ discussions about possible trades and signings. “There are a lot of things we are thinking about. Some are more of an exploratory sort of thing and go that route. Some things we can end up messing around with. … It’s that time of year when you always get incoming calls if you have good players. This year has been active on that front.”

Originally published: December 10, 2024 at 10:57 am PST