The San Diego Padres had a quiet and underwhelming offseason, with their only key move being the signing of right-hander Nick Pivetta.
They have a few pitchers that are entering the final year of their respective contracts, those being Michael King and Dylan Cease. Cease may be a candidate for a contract extension before the 2025 season reaches its end.
The 29-year-old has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting multiple times and is certainly one of the game’s top starters. Tim Britton of The Athletic predicted that the right-hander would receive a seven-year, $210 million extension, assuming the Padres decide to go that route.
“Last season, Cease and Zac Gallen entered in a similar spot: at the same age, earning about the same in arbitration, in line for about the same extension. Then, while Gallen had a nice season, Cease posted another top-five finish in the Cy Young balloting. He’s placed himself in the same group as the top earning starters from this past winter,” Britton wrote.
Cease won 14 games last season with the Padres posting a 3.47 ERA and 4.2 WAR in 33 starts and 189 1/3 innings of work. The 29-year-old right-hander also struck out 224 batters.
Needless to say, if he gets an extension, it should be a pretty big one. He bounced back from a down 2023 season in style and re-established himself as one of the game’s top starters.
The Padres have been very conservative with their payroll this winter, so it remains to be seen if they’ll dish out the kind of money Cease is expected to command, but they would be wise to extend him now before he hits free agency.
More MLB: Padres predicted to regress after underwhelming offseason
