Padres GM Expects All 4 Pitchers Acquired in Juan Soto Trade to Impact 2024 Team

The Padres are still looking to compete next season.

On Wednesday, the San Diego Padres finally decided to trade away star outfielder Juan Soto to the New York Yankees. In return, the team received four young pitchers and one veteran catcher.

Pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka were the return for the Padres. This gives San Diego a ton of flexibility within their pitching staff, especially given the fact that they are expected to lose multiple starts on the open marker.

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller gave some insight into how the Soto trade will impact the 2024 roster. He believes that all four pitchers that the team acquired will play a role in this coming season.

A.J. Preller said he anticipates all four of the newly acquired pitchers to impact the 2024 Padres, including prospect Drew Thorpe. That said, yes, "We're going to keep looking to add starting pitching," Preller said.

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) December 7, 2023

Michael King: King was the big headline piece in this trade, and he should easily slot into the staff. He posted an ERA of 2.75 last season over 104.2 for the Yankees. Expect him to be right behind Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove in the starting rotation.

Jhony Brito: Brito was a starter for New York last season, his first in the big leagues. He did alright, posting an ERA of 4.28 over 35 appearances. Look for Brito to improve this season, while he will likely be a back-of-the-rotation piece.

Clarke Schmidt: Posting an ERA of 4.64 over 32 starts last season, Schmidt has the feel of a back-of-the-rotation starter for San Diego. He could even work out of the bullpen, as well, giving the Padres more versatility.

Drew Thorpe: Thorpe isn't expected to make too much of an impact for next season, but 2025 looks to be his year. He is a strong candidate for a late-season call-up, however, if anything, just to give him some big-league exposure.

Each of these players could make their impact felt for this team next year, giving San Diego more arms to use. They wanted to build a rotation full of young pitchers that wouldn't cost them much, and that is exactly what they did with this trade of Soto.