A Tough Day in San Diego: Cease and King Decline Offers, Forcing Padres Into High-Stakes Rotation Decisions.NL
As expected, Dylan Cease and Michael King each declined a one-year, $22.025 million contract proposal from the San Diego Padres ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for players to decide whether to accept qualifying offers. Both right-handers will continue as coveted free agents. Meanwhile, their former team remains in obvious need of starting pitching.
How will the Padres acquire it? That ranks among the pressing questions of an offseason in which the franchise is exploring a potential sale while targeting a payroll just over an estimated $200 million.
For now, the Padres’ possible rotation includes Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove, Randy Vásquez, JP Sears, Kyle Hart and few other viable options.
Pivetta will try to build on a career year in 2026. Musgrove will attempt to return from Tommy John surgery. Vásquez, through parts of three big-league seasons, has outperformed his underlying numbers. Like Sears, he would ideally fit as a back-end or depth starter. Hart, who was more effective as a reliever in 2025, re-signed with San Diego on Monday, receiving a $1.2 million guarantee.
Yu Darvish, 39, will miss all of next season after undergoing a third elbow surgery. His expected absence increases the possibility that the Padres convert a reliever to a starter, with Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and David Morgan among the primary candidates. At the same time, San Diego must balance its search for rotation help with its reliance on a bullpen that will likely lose closer Robert Suarez in free agency.
“We want to make sure that we don’t look up and have two mediocre units,” president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said at last week’s general managers’ meetings in Las Vegas.
The chances of re-signing Cease or King appear slim. Cease is the second-ranked starting pitcher on The Athletic’s list of top free agents; Tim Britton projects a six-year, $174 million contract for the former runner-up for the American League Cy Young Award. King, despite missing half of last season due to injury, is the fifth-ranked starter, with a contract projection of three years and $75 million.
Assuming Cease and King sign elsewhere after rejecting the qualifying offers, the Padres would recoup a pair of compensatory draft picks after the fourth round next summer.
Instead of bidding for similarly priced pitchers, Preller could need to wait out the market again. The executive employed that strategy to great effect nine months ago, signing Pivetta in spring training to a heavily backloaded contract that paid the veteran only $1 million in salary (plus a $3 million signing bonus) in 2025.
Back then, with Cease and King on the roster, the Padres’ need was less pronounced. Now, they might resort to chasing multiple lower-tier starters in free agency, such as Cody Ponce, who spent the past four seasons in Asia. Although Hart, a former standout in the Korea Baseball Organization, posted a 5.86 ERA in 2025, San Diego has had success with other pitchers after stints in Asia.
Even with little depth left in his farm system, Preller remains a looming threat in trade conversations. The Padres discussed potentially reacquiring MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals this summer, and the left-hander — who MLB Trade Rumors projects to earn a modest $4.7 million next season — continues to be a top candidate to be moved.
Gore might be a less realistic pursuit after San Diego surrendered shortstop prospect Leo De Vries and a bevy of other young players at the latest trade deadline. Still, expect Preller to stay aggressive in a variety of scenarios. The Padres no longer have as much capital, but multiple times in recent years, their general manager has traded his way out of tight spots.
