Rumor has it the San Diego Padres are shopping ace starter Nick Pivetta at the winter meetings. It’s a baffling idea to trade the best starter from a rotation that has already lost Dylan Cease and Michael King to free agency, and lost Yu Darvish for the season due to injury.
With such thin rotation depth already, trading Pivetta seems baffling. If the Padres did have the depth, it might make more sense, because Pivetta’s stats scream “one-year-wonder.” However, even if Pivetta can’t replicate his 2025 season, it feels like the Padres will need him next year.