Padres Reportedly Showing Interest In Franchise-Altering Trade With Mets

What will the Mets do with Verlander?

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The New York Mets are going to make a very tough decision ahead of the 2023 Major League Baseball Trade Deadline.

New York already has decided to be sellers, but to what extent? The Mets dealt three-time Cy Young Award winner to the Texas Rangers but now have a decision to make about fellow star Justin Verlander. New York likely hopes to contend in 2024 and a trade of Verlander would make that task significantly more difficult. Although this is the case, the starting pitching trade market has been bonkers and New York likely could get even more in return for Verlander than it did for Scherzer.

Plenty of teams have inquired about a deal and the two most likely candidates are the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. While it's surprising that either the Astros or Dodgers could afford to make a move, both have been linked to the righty. One other team that has come as a major surprise that reportedly has shown interest in Verlander reportedly is the San Diego Padres, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman. 

"One mystery team on Justin Verlander has been uncovered: the San Diego Padres," Heyman said. "No idea how likely it is that a deal could work with Padres. No word on if there’s any real progress in talks, or if Verlander might approve SD. Interesting though that Padres would even investigate this now."

San Diego has been in a similar spot to the Mets this season. The Padres have one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball but have underachieved. San Diego currently is five games out of a National League Wild Card spot with a 52-55 record, but the fact that the club has shown interest in Verlander shows that the club at least is considering going for a postseason spot. The Padres have the talent to get hot and make up some ground in the standings, but haven't been able to string together wins this season. 

A move for Verlander may be extremely unlikely, but New York fans should be keeping an eye on the Padres.