Though there’s been loads of speak surrounding each relievers, the Padres aren’t prone to let go of both left-hander Adrián Morejón or righty Mason Miller, writes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Dennis Lin of The Athletic suggests the same.
It’s appeared like an extended shot that Miller, baseball’s greatest reliever who’s managed three years past 2026, would change arms for a while now. The Padres have listened and can in all probability proceed to take action all through the day, if solely as a result of ever-active president of baseball operations A.J. Preller not often traffics in absolutes. Morejón, nonetheless, has been considered as somebody with a extra life like probability to maneuver. He’s an impending free agent, and elite as he’s, a roughly $23.1MM qualifying supply (per MLBTR’s estimates) isn’t a lock for a setup reliever — significantly since luxurious tax payors solely recoup a compensatory choose after the fourth spherical if a free agent rejects their QO and indicators elsewhere. San Diego, as shown in MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, is greater than $17MM over the tax threshold.
Cassavell additional writes that whereas the Padres might deal a special reliever — Wandy Peralta, Yuki Matsui, Kyle Hart, and so forth. — the crew’s dynamic late-inning pairing appears prone to keep in place. The Friars proceed to search for methods so as to add to the roster, whether or not or not it’s an outfielder or a rotation arm to affix Michael King, Walker Buehler and (as soon as they return) rehabbing vets Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta. Both are on a minor league rehab stint proper now.
Even if Preller is reluctant to maneuver one in all his prime two bullpen arms, different golf equipment are nonetheless going to make their greatest efforts all through the day. It’d be powerful for a crew to half with a controllable starter to lease Morejón for a pair months. The Yankees reportedly have curiosity within the left-haander, however Lin and colleague Brendan Kuty of The Athletic dispute the latest report that the Yankees had been prepared to half with righty Will Warren (managed 4 extra years) so as to add Morejón. It’s actually doable the 2 had been mentioned as a part of a broader package deal, however no one-for-one state of affairs was on the desk.
One might argue the Padres must discover the thought of swapping Morejón out for a rental arm within the rotation (maybe along with a prospect), however bullpen arms tackle additional significance within the postseason, when pure off-days are constructed into the schedule and permit groups to extra often and aggressively use their prime reduction arms. Unless the Padres had been getting a transparent playoff-caliber starter, such a swap could be weakening the potential playoff roster (albeit whereas maybe barely bettering the percentages of attending to the playoffs within the first place).
The Padres have been actively shopping Peralta for the previous week or extra. He, Matsui and Hart have all pitched decently this season however finished so primarily in low-leverage spots. Peralta and Matsui are each incomes salaries of relative word: $4.45MM and $5.75MM, respectively. Hart is being paid only a $1MM base wage (plus incentives and a $200K possibility buyout).
