Padres Trade Targets: Building a Competitive Roster on a Budget
As spring training approaches, the San Diego Padres find themselves in a familiar position: needing to improve their roster while navigating significant financial constraints. With the free-agent market winding down and limited payroll flexibility, general manager A.J. Preller faces a critical challenge that reflects broader issues in modern baseball economics.
The Padres' situation highlights a growing divide in Major League Baseball between teams with unlimited resources and those forced to be creative. While wealthy franchises can simply outbid competitors for top talent, organizations like San Diego must rely on shrewd trades and player development to remain competitive.
Strategic Trade Options Across Baseball
From the American League East, Tampa Bay's Yandy Díaz represents the type of consistent, affordable talent that could transform San Diego's lineup. His career-long track record of posting a wRC+ above 110 demonstrates the kind of reliability that championship teams require. Díaz would provide much-needed right-handed balance while allowing the Padres to optimize their defensive alignment.
Minnesota's Joe Ryan offers another compelling option. Despite his recent arbitration settlement, Ryan's 3.43 ERA and sustainable underlying metrics make him an attractive target for a rotation that desperately needs depth. The potential cost, including top prospects like Kruz Schoolcraft or Ethan Salas, reflects the difficult decisions small-market teams must make between present competitiveness and future sustainability.
The Angels' Yusei Kikuchi presents a different challenge. His $40 million contract commitment would likely require Los Angeles to eat significant salary, illustrating how financial considerations often drive baseball transactions more than pure talent evaluation. For San Diego, acquiring Kikuchi would address their need for left-handed pitching while highlighting the creative financial arrangements necessary in today's market.
National League Opportunities
Miami's Sandy Alcantara represents perhaps the most intriguing buy-low opportunity. His rough 2025 season has diminished his trade value, but his Cy Young Award-winning track record suggests significant upside potential. This type of calculated risk exemplifies how financially constrained teams can compete by identifying undervalued talent.
St. Louis Cardinals' Iván Herrera embodies the long-term thinking that sustainable organizations must embrace. His youth, team control through 2030, and impressive 137 wRC+ in 2025 make him exactly the type of player that builds championship cores rather than quick fixes.
Division rival Colorado's Kyle Freeland offers another creative solution. His struggles at Coors Field might mask his true abilities, and acquiring him could provide both immediate help and a test case for organizational player development capabilities.
Broader Implications for Baseball's Competitive Balance
The Padres' offseason challenges reflect systemic issues within Major League Baseball's economic structure. Teams like San Diego must constantly balance present competitiveness with future flexibility, while wealthy franchises face no such constraints. This dynamic raises important questions about competitive balance and the long-term health of professional baseball.
Success for organizations like the Padres requires exceptional front office execution, superior player development, and sometimes accepting calculated risks that better-funded competitors can avoid. Their ability to identify and acquire undervalued talent becomes not just a competitive advantage, but a necessity for survival in an increasingly stratified league.
As spring training approaches, the Padres' moves will serve as a case study in how creative, resource-conscious organizations can compete in modern baseball. Their success or failure will have implications far beyond San Diego, potentially influencing how other similarly situated teams approach roster construction in an era of growing economic inequality.