‘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,” Lin reported.

The Padres signed Pivetta to a four-year, $55 million deal last offseason. After one season, where he finished with a 2.87 ERA and sixth in the Cy Young race, he is on the block. They already lost Dylan Cease from their rotation after he signed a seven-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Now, they could be down another starter.

A team has to blow the Padres away to snag Pivetta. But if the Tigers hang onto Tarik Skubal, Pivetta will become the best pitcher on the trade market. With serious questions about Framber Valdez and no MLB experience to base a Tatsuya Imai contract on, a trade could be the way to go for pitcher-needy teams.

Trading Pivetta would actually net the Padres a return to start a quick re-tool. But if they were just looking to shed salary and not get anything in return, Joe Musgrove could be on the move. 39-year-old Yu Darvish underwent Tommy John surgery, so he will be out for the season and is not a trade candidate. The Padres have some tough questions to answer this offseason.