The San Diego Padres have been part of various trade rumors since the MLB Winter Meetings. There has not been nearly as much conversation or coverage about their free-agent targets, if there are any. San Diego has three spots to fill in the rotation after Dylan Cease and Michael King reached free agency and Yu Darvish had elbow surgery that will cause him to miss the entire 2026 season.
Despite losing payers like Cease, King, Luis Arraez and Ryan O’Hearn to free agency, there is not much room in the budget to make a large free agent acquisition. But with all the trade talk, it is possible the Padres could free up some money and land one of the top free agent pitchers on the market.
The Friar Faithful have spoken, and the message was loud and clear. According to the most recent Padres Reacts Survey, if San Diego had the money to sign one of the top free agent pitchers the fans would like to see King return to the rotation. He was selected over Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Zac Gallen and any other free agent pitcher such as Tatsuya Imai. In fact, no one was even close to King.
The right-hander came to the Padres from New York in the Juan Soto trade that sent the generational talent to the Yankees. King was thought to be the most desired piece of the trade package coming back to San Diego and if that were the case, it would make sense the team would like to bring him back to the rotation. Whether or not it’s financially possible is anyone’s guess, but the chance of him coming back remains.
