The San Diego Padres have a starting pitching issue going into the winter. Dylan Cease and Michael King are both free agents, and Yu Darvish will not be available in 2026 due to elbow surgery.
They’ll try their hardest to re-sign King or Cease, but it might be difficult. Both are considered front-line starters, and many teams are trying to improve their starting lineup.
San Diego is anticipated to look for an arm on the open market. Nonetheless, the team is thinking about adding some relievers to its starting lineup.
Padres considering transitioning three relievers into starters
A.J. Preller, general manager of San Diego, has already supervised relievers making the switch to starters. He was on the team when they made the decision to start Michael King, Seth Lugo, and Drew Pomeranz.
According to Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic, he already knows what it takes and is thinking of switching Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, and/or David Morgan as starts.
“A lot of times, it’s talking to the individual pitcher and seeing where his head is at, how much he really wants to do that,” Preller stated. “If there’s a role change for anybody, it’s something that’s going to be important for us over the next 10 to 15 days to make sure we have that dialed in, so they know what direction they need to go.”
Morgan has not been included in the rumors that Miller and Morejon would take over as starters.
Rosenthal and Sammon speculate that signing a free agency starter and shifting Morgan into the rotation may be involved in this situation. San Diego would be able to retain Miller as their closer as a result. The Padres would need to find a replacement closer if Miller were removed from the bullpen, particularly if Robert Suarez signed a free agent contract elsewhere.