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The San Diego Padres have a solid pitching rotation, but it’s not a great unit. They could use the services of another top talent, and they might have to turn to the trade block to find their guy.
With Dylan Cease and Michael King sitting on expiring contracts, the Padres could look to trade for a pitcher with multiple years of team control left on his deal. There’s one pitcher on the trade block who sticks out from the rest like a sore thumb.
CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson recently listed the Padres as a potential landing spot in a blockbuster trade for Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara.
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“Alcántara had started to correct course after a miserable initial return from Tommy John surgery heading into his last time out, a thrashing by the Diamondbacks,” Anderson wrote. “His velocity has been there and his control, often said to be the last aspect of a pitcher’s game to be restored post-operation, seems to be almost back. Indeed, his June walk rate is more in line with his past benchmarks than how he opened the season, when he issued 29 free passes in his first 51 frames.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that teams will view Alcántara as being on the same level as he was prior to popping his UCL, when he had solidified himself as his generation’s workhorse starter, but it does mean his chances of impacting a pennant race are more favorable now than they were in May.”
Alcántara to the Padres makes perfect sense for San Diego. He has multiple years of team control left and could replace the departing duo of Cease and King if the two part ways in free agency.
But the Padres might not have the prospect capital to pull off a huge trade this season. San Diego has traded a lot of top prospects over the last two or three years to bring in talent like Juan Soto and Tanner Scott. It’s unclear if the San Diego front office will be willing to trade more top prospects to bring in Alcántara this season.
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