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ORLANDO, Fla. — As he embarks on his 12th Winter Meetings as a general manager, A.J. Preller seemingly has to move money to address the San Diego Padres’ needs for multiple starting pitchers and a bat. The list of possible trade candidates includes the top starting pitcher in a thin rotation.
The Padres have shown a willingness to entertain offers for Nick Pivetta, league sources told The Athletic. A deal involving the right-hander is not considered likely — San Diego would require a steep return in exchange for losing Pivetta — but the team’s options for rebalancing its payroll are limited.
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Pivetta’s heavily backloaded contract will pay him $19 million in 2026, up from just $1 million last season. (Pivetta, 32, also received a $3 million signing bonus.) Next November, with two years and $32 million still owed to him, he can opt out of the deal and seek greater compensation in free agency. Another productive season might render such an outcome inevitable; Pivetta is coming off a career year in which he delivered a 2.87 ERA and finished sixth in National League Cy Young Award voting.
Meanwhile, FanGraphs projects the Padres’ payroll at $201 million. Amid a pending lawsuit and the exploration of a sale, team sources indicate the target for Opening Day is not far above that number. Trading Pivetta would weaken San Diego’s area of greatest need — Joe Musgrove, who is returning from Tommy John surgery, and Randy Vásquez, who has struggled to miss bats, are penciled in behind him — but the potential pending free agent stands out as an intriguing chip, especially as the leaguewide demand for starting pitching continues to soar.
In theory, trading Pivetta could give the Padres flexibility and resources to pursue multiple controllable starters. Or, San Diego could attempt to approximate its two-year-old trade of Juan Soto, surrendering an expensive free-agent-to-be in exchange for less prominent big leaguers. One of the players the Padres landed in that deal, starting pitcher Michael King, largely excelled in San Diego and is now expected to sign a lucrative free-agent contract elsewhere.
If not Pivetta, who could the Padres move for both financial relief and prospect capital?
San Diego continues to field interest in second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who has five years and $60 million left on his contract. Still, his potential departure would result in another roster hole, the free-agent market for middle infielders is thin, and a few other trade candidates — including Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe and the New York Mets’ Jeff McNeil — have similar or larger salaries.
Like Nick Pivetta, Jake Cronenworth is a trade candidate for the Padres as they look to rebalance their payroll. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Executives around the sport believe the Padres eventually will be forced to consider trading Fernando Tatis Jr. The right fielder is far more movable than San Diego infielders Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, and the trio will combine to make more than $90 million annually beginning in 2027. For now, though, the Padres plan to keep Tatis — who, like Machado and Bogaerts, wields full no-trade protection — for the foreseeable future as they seek to maximize what could be a shrinking window of postseason contention.
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None of the other Padres with nine-figure contracts is likely to go anywhere. Musgrove last pitched in October 2024. Yu Darvish, 39, underwent elbow surgery this October, and it remains to be seen if he will pitch again. Center fielder Jackson Merrill, 22, is signed to a long-term but team-friendly contract.
The Padres’ other trade possibilities could include such relievers as Jeremiah Estrada, Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta. In terms of payroll, the cost savings would be modest or, in Estrada’s case, negligible. San Diego also has an incentive to retain some bullpen depth, with David Morgan, Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon seen as candidates to convert to starting pitching or at least provide more frequent multi-inning appearances.
Their relative lack of starting experience is another reason the Padres would be reluctant to move Pivetta, the clear favorite to take the mound on Opening Day at Petco Park. Still, the cost of starting pitching keeps climbing, as does the hypothetical return for trading it. It was just last week that Dylan Cease agreed to a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Blue Jays — this after logging a 4.55 ERA last season for San Diego.
And it was just two years ago that the Padres traded Soto and went on to record consecutive 90-win seasons without the star outfielder. As always, Preller is liable to consider anything. That includes what he might be able to get for his best starting pitcher.
“It’s AJ being AJ. He talks about everyone but who knows who/what he will actually do?” a rival executive said in a text. “I’m not sure he knows at this point.”
—The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Britt Ghiroli contributed to this report.