The final moments of the trade deadline resulted in the Padres adding another starting pitcher to their rotation while holding on to Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez. They added two big bats, more bullpen talent, built bench strength and did nothing to reduce payroll.
They presumably increased the payroll by adding multiple major league contracts while only subtracting three players who have seen time with the big club.
LH starter Nestor Cortes came to the Padres from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange
for outfielder Brandon Lockridge. Cortes currently has a 1-1 record with a 9.00 ERA but has a career 3.88 ERA since his arrival in 2018. Cortes is a back-of-the-rotation arm with a 90 mph fastball, a cutter, changeup, sweeper and a sinker.
If you include Cortes on the big league club, the Padres have six starters (without the return of Michael King). If King makes it back as he is anticipating, the Padres can start Yu Darvish, Michael King, Dylan Cease, Nick Pivetta, Randy Vasquez and Cortes going forward with five legitimate high leverage relievers in the bullpen.
They have acquired a catcher that can hit and two more high-powered bats to lengthen the lineup while filling the hole in left field and bolstering the bench.
Over the course of seven hours, AJ Preller has made five trades totaling 21 players and once again decimating the minor league system. They filled all their major needs without trading away anything from their bullpen or the offense.
Padres fans can now dream on the last several weeks of the regular season as well as the postseason. They currently sit three games behind the Dodgers for the NL West title and have a three game lead on the Reds for the last Wild Card spot. They sit 1.5 games behind the Phillies for the second Wild Card spot.
With the additions today, the Padres have massively improved their chances of making the playoffs in 2025. When all is made clear, it is probable they not only didn’t decrease payroll but might have increased it.
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