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12:01pm : President of baseball operations A.J. Preller was asked about the Cease rumors today. Hes a very big part of our club, Preller said, per . The additions the last couple days supplement whats a really good rotation. Thats our focus here going forward having that strong rotation. 10:30am : Rumors have swirled all winter about the Padres trading a starting pitcher such as or . Yesterday, they added to the rotation by with . They made another modest rotation add today by lefty . It would be fair to wonder if those signings were precursors to a trade but reports that the club is inclined to keep their starters and open the season with a rotation of Cease, King, Pivetta and . That report came out before the Hart signing, though it seems unlikely that such a modest deal would impact the clubs plans for a headline-grabbing deal. Its a perfectly logical stance from a roster perspective. The rotation depth has appeared thin all winter. required Tommy John surgery in October, putting a big hole in the starting group. Cease, King and Darvish gave the club a decent three but the depth options all had question marks. showed some potential in the first half of last year but had an 8.10 ERA in the second half. Guys like and had some pa sable ERAs last year but with middling strikeout rates. The only reason a trade of Cease or King was even considered was the clubs financial situation. They had spent aggre sively for several years but Pau Gasol Jersey then they hit a wall in 2023. Their TV deal collapsed, putting a dent in revenue. There were going into 2024, even before Peter Seidler died, which has led to an ongoing ownership squabble. The financial squeeze led the Padres to trade and last offseason for a five-player package. Losing Soto certainly wasnt ideal but it saved some money and helped add some pitching depth. This winter, the thought was that a similar trade might be nece sary, with names like Cease, King, and thrown around as po sible candidates. None of those players are as talented or expensive as Soto but the theoretical plan would be similar, to trade one good but pricey impending free agent for several le ser but cheaper and controllable players to patch several roster holes. Lins report now suggests that isnt likely to come to fruition. He does leave the door open a little bit, suggesting the Friars could be bowled over by an offer from another club, but it seems holding this rotation core is the mostly likely outcome. A suming the club doesnt pivot to a trade, they will go into camp with a strong front four and with Hart jumping into a competition for a back-end role alongside Waldron, Vsquez and others. is also to potentially give some extra depth. Perhaps the club never got a trade offer that they found particularly compelling or perhaps they simply decided to creatively dance around the payroll situation. Trading a starter to improve rotation depth was always going to be a difficult task, so perhaps they thought it better to just addre s their holes on a budget. In left field, it seems that a platoon of and is the move. They each got a $1MM guarantee plus bonuses, so the Friars only committed $2MM there. got a $3.5MM guarantee to join behind the plate, but even that modest guarantee was backloaded. Daz will get a $1.5MM guarantee and then a $2MM buyout on a $7MM mutual option. The buyout wont be due until the end of the season, so it allows the Padres to avoid more than half of that guarantee in the short term. The Pivetta deal is also significantly backloaded. Though hes guaranteed $55MM on his four-year deal, hell only get $4MM this year, in the form of a $3MM signing bonus and $1MM salary. The remaining $51MM will be paid out with salaries of $19MM, $14MM and $18MM in the three following seasons, with Pivetta able to opt out after the second and third seasons. Even Kings $7.75MM salary to avoid arbitration helped the club in the short term. That money breaks down as a $3MM signing bonus, $1MM salary and then a $3.75MM buyout on a $15MM mutual option. Harts deal only guarantees him $1.5MM, with $500K of that being a club option buyout. Because of those creative maneuvers and some other backloaded deals, the Friars have a big gap between their actual payroll and competitive balance tax number. The latter is calculated via the average annual value of contracts, so a guy like Pivetta will have a $13.75MM CBT hit this year, even though hell make far le s than that in 2025. currently pegs the Friars for a $259MM CBT number but an actual payroll of just $207MM. That payroll is still a big spike from last year but perhaps its manageable enough that the club doesnt have to pivot to trading Cease or King. The CBT number will lead to some taxes, but they will be modest. The Padres reset their tax status by ducking under the line last year, meaning they would be first-time payors if they pay in 2025. That means their base tax rate is 20% on overages. With their current projection, that would lead to a tax bill of just $3.6MM. Thats also not calculated until the end of the season. If things go poorly during 2025, they could flip Cease, King or other players at the deadline, thus lowering their tax bill or ducking under the line completely. They could also cut down this years payroll in the short term in other ways, with Lin suggesting a trade of Suarez is more likely than one involving Cease. Suarez is making $26MM over the next three years, broken down as $10MM this year and $8MM in the final two seasons of his deal. However, he can opt out of his contract after 2025, which will complicate trade talks. Its hard to agree on fair trade value when opt-outs are involved. For an acquiring team, they know they will only get one year of Suarez if he performs well. He would only stick around for 2026 and 2027 if he pitches poorly or is hurt. The limited upside and significant downside generally makes clubs unwilling to give up significant talent for such an arrangement. For clubs still looking for a frontline starter like Cease, they dont really have other options at this stage of the winter. The free agent market does still have some guys available, such as , , , and others, but they are more mid-rotation or back-end options. Guys like and are likely available in trade but theyre also mid-rotation guys at best and coming off difficult seasons. Teams such as the Mets, Twins, Cubs and Orioles have been connected to Cease but they havent been able to get him thus far. Other clubs would be sensible fits. Unle s they bowl over the Padres or the Friars are just posturing for leverage, those clubs might have to be patient. They could consider some of the aforementioned mid-rotation options or wait to see if the deadline offers the big rotation upgrade they seek. D.J. Wilson Jersey |
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发表于 2026-1-21 19:06:29