The San Diego Padres come into the offseason with a few holes to fill. However, none are bigger than their need to acquire a dependable frontline starting pitcher or two.
Both Dylan Cease and Michael King are on the open market, and the club will be without Yu Darvish in 2026 after he underwent elbow surgery. They could try their luck at re-signing one of them, or they could turn their attention to one of the many other starting pitchers looking for a new opportunity in 2026 and beyond.
Another hole the club will be looking to fill over the winter is depth at catcher. Martin Maldonado retired following the season, and Elias Diaz is a free agent after the club declined his option for next season.
Padres among a handful of teams gauging the catching market
At the trade deadline, the Padres acquired Freddy Fermin in a deal with the Kansas City Royals. He is expected to be the team’s starter next year, but the club needs someone to pair him with and give him breaks at times next season.
The club could call up Luis Campusano, but he has not proved to be too consistent, and their top prospect, Ethan Salas, is still relatively young and might not be ready.
This leaves San Diego to look at either one of the free agents on the open market or see what it would take to make a trade happen with another club to acquire their catcher.
According to The Athletic’s Jim Bowden, San Diego and a few other teams have already made the jump in trade conversations.
“I find the catching market interesting as the Nationals have joined the Rays, Padres, Astros, Brewers, and Rangers in making calls to improve their catching depth at the position. The teams getting the most calls are the Orioles (on Adley Rutschman), the Royals (on prospect Blake Mitchell), the White Sox (on Edgar Quero) and the Mariners (on prospect Harry Ford).”
There is a large possibility that Adley Rutchman could be dealt this winter alongside some intriguing prospects. This will be a situation that fans will want to keep their eye on as teams could get quite aggressive pursuing some backstop depth over the next few weeks.
