Sometimes, when a transaction is made in Major League Baseball, you sometimes have to immediately look to the next move.
On Wednesday night, one of those moves happened. And the New York Mets could be involved in the next one.
The San Diego Padres had been one of the most interesting subplots of the offseason, because they hadn’t spent any significant money on free agents. But after some minor moves earlier this week, San Diego finally made a splash.
According to multiple reports, including ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Padres are in agreement with former Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta on a four-year, $55 million contract that includes opt-outs after the second and third seasons.
Now that they have Pivetta locked in for at least two years, the Padres have to be considered open for business on their top two starting pitchers, especially ace Dylan Cease. And the Mets are the perfect prospective Cease trade partners.
The Padres structured Pivetta’s contract very deliberately. It will pay him just a $1 million salary in 2025 after his $3 million signing bonus, to keep San Diego’s payroll as low as possible. Then, it jumps to $19 million in year two, perhaps in anticipation of arms that will no longer be in the San Diego rotation.
Meanwhile, Cease is making $13.75 million this season, which the Padres would be happy to shed from their payroll to get them well under the luxury tax threshold. Moreover, he’s due a lucrative extension (projected at five years, $108 million by Spotrac) that the Padres seem unlikely to afford.
There will surely be other teams involved if Cease is made available. And the Mets should inquire about number-two starter Michael King as well, though he’s less likely to be moved because he has a $1 million base salary this year, much like Pivetta.
But the Mets, who announced this week they would go to a six-man rotation, are a match made in heaven for Cease. With the righty strikeout specialist atop their rotation, they’d have a fighting chance at dethroning the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League.
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