The San Diego Padres rotation of Dylan Cease, Michael King, Yu Darvish and Nick Pivetta will be cut in half as Cease and King will be free agents once the Major League Baseball offseason begins. The fifth starter was a rotation of its own with Randy Vasquez taking the most starts, but it also included JP Sears, Nestor Cortez and a handful of pitchers who were dealt at the trade deadline.
Darvish did not look good in limited opportunities this season and struggled to find any consistency. His Game
3 start in the National League Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs was the shortest start of his career after being taken out in the second inning following one-plus inning of work. Darvish missed significant time each of the past two seasons with 2024 being for personal matters and 2025 being hampered by injury. Darvish has not been the pitcher the Padres had hoped for when they signed him to a six-year, $108 million extension in 2023.
San Diego will see the return of Joe Musgrove, who missed all of the 2025 season after Tommy John surgery, in 2026. The exact date of his return is unknown and it would be unrealistic to think he would immediately be the same pitcher he was before his surgery, but he remains one of the unquestioned leaders of the team.
That means the 2026 rotation consists of Pivetta, who was easily the best starter for San Diego in his first year with the team, and two question marks with regard to health, in Darvish and Musgrove. Vasquez had moments where he looked dominant, but never seemed to get the full trust of Padres Manager Mike Shildt to pitch deep into games. Sears had a bumpy start to his Padres career after coming over from the Sacramento Athletics at the trade deadline and Cortes finished the season on the bench with an injury, and like Cease and King, is a free agent.
Still there are other pitchers in the San Diego system who could challenge for a spot in the rotation in Spring Training. Matt Waldron made several starts for the Padres in 2024, but could not get back to the big leagues. Jhony Brito missed significant time with an injury last year and like Musgrove, his effectiveness will have to be evaluated in 2026.
There is of course a chance the Padres could try to resign either Cease or King, but the overwhelming opinion is they cannot bring back both. It would make sense that King would be the pitcher to target because he is younger and has less wear and tear on his arm. That being said, he has missed time throughout his young career with a couple of injuries. Cease on the other hand, rarely misses a start, is typically one of the best strikeout pitchers in the league and has a track record of durability and experience that will likely result in him signing a significant deal somewhere else.
Padres President of Baseball Operations and General Manager AJ Preller once again has his sights set on a potential addition to the rotation from the Nippon Professional Baseball league with it being reported that he was recently in Japan scouting Tatsuya Imai. In addition there are several MLB free agent pitchers with some big names such as Zac Gallen, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Chris Bassitt included.
San Diego will have to fill out the starting rotation and there will be a number of options. The success of Pivetta at Petco Park this season may encourage free agents to consider the Padres, but the price for arms last offseason was steep and that probably will not change this offseason.
