Sunday Brunch: Should The Padres Try To Extend Cashner And Ross?

A.J. Preller has clearly shown a willingness to shake things up and bring in some new pieces to San Diego. They spent a lot of money in getting guys like Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Justin Upton etc. The thing is, they have a lot guys who are going to be free agents after next season. The club may or may not try to extend Upton before the end of Spring Training. Ian Kennedy is a Scott Boras client so good luck with that.

This leaves Andrew Cashner, and even though he won’t be a free agent quite yet, Tyson Ross. The starting pitching market will be quite crowded with some impressive names like David Price and Jordan Zimmermann. Kennedy is a part of that group. To this point, Max Scherzer and James Shields are still available on the current market. 

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The Padres, even with more money, aren’t going to play in that ballpark. They can retain one or two of their own it can help them remain competitive moving forward. The Padres still have some pitching depth, however, they aren’t considered the caliber of either Cashner or Ross.

For Cashner and Ross the deals can give them long term security. Cashner wouldn’t have to enter a crowded free agent marketplace. For Ross and the Padres there would be risk on both sides. If Ross outperforms his deal it looks bad on Ross’ part. For the Padres, if Ross gets injured or regresses they look bad for locking him up.

Maybe Preller wants to see more out of both before committing money to either. Maybe he wants to wait until spring. Either way, it’s something both the players and the team should think about.