Padres Shopping $387 Million Worth of All Stars This Offseason: Reports

Gabe Smallson | 14 Hours Ago

Oct 5, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) hits a double in the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game one of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres have yet to make a major league addition this offseason.

Potential bats and potential pitching help keep coming off the market and arriving in different cities. The cash flow problems in San Diego are not to be taken lightly, and they have taken necessary steps to ease this — but to compete with the way the rest of the league is shaping up, a few tweaks are necessary.

On paper, things seem much worse than they are. The team being discussed won 93 games and made it to Game 5 of the National League Divisional Series last season. Not to mention, they set a new attendance record at Petco Park selling over 3.3 million tickets.

A free agent name that will not break the bank by any means is a pitcher who has yet to throw an MLB pitch: Roki Sasaki.

Sasaki has been linked to the Padres as he was teammates with veteran pitcher Yu Darvish on the World Baseball Classic-winning Japan national team. Darvish is also seen as someone who is a "godfather-like figure" with the young phenom.

Even if San Diego continues to not sign any free agents before spring training, there is still tons of talent on the current roster, and general manager A.J. Preller knows this all too well. That is why he is reportedly shopping around some of the best-performing Padres and hoping to make a deal to compete with an ever-changing MLB landscape.

Despite being acquired by San Diego at the trade deadline last season, Luis Arráez is part of this group. Reportedly, the New York Yankees "continue to discuss" acquiring the 27-year-old, per MLB insider Jeff Passan.

The defending National League batting champion finished 2024 slashing .314/.346/.392. His 200 hits in 150 games last year helped him secure a third consecutive batting title with a third consecutive team. Arráez is set to be a free agent at the end of 2025.

Two more Padres that the team has "recieved inquiries" on, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, are Xander Bogaerts and Dylan Cease.

The 32-year-old Bogaerts had a slightly above league-average .264/.307/.381 season with a WAR of 1.2. His $280 million contract also contains a no-trade clause.

Cease, the 29-year-old right-handed pitcher, saw a pretty successful first year in San Diego. He tied his career-highs in wins (14), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.45), innings-pitched (189.1) and had his lowest ERA (3.47) since 2022. If the calls for Cease keep coming in, he would garner some serious trade value.

Whether the checkbook is opened or not this offseason, deals need to be made, and they need to be made in somewhat of a hurry to get over the championship hump and get San Diego back to October baseball.

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