Padres have a perfect rotation fix hiding in plain sight on the trade market

It is now crunch time for the Padres to make a move at starting pitcher, as the team still holds three vacant spots in the rotation ahead of the winter meetings.

With Dylan Cease already gone, Michael King likely having the same fate, and Yu Darvish out for the entirety of 2026, San Diego must make a splash early on before big names start falling off the board.

As we’ve mentioned before, the starting pitching in free agency this year is incredibly deep. Guys like Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Zac Gallen, and Tatsuya Imai headline the stacked class.

Padres’ ideal rotation upgrade might just be Pablo López on the trade market

We’ve already seen false reports regarding the starting pitcher market, as Bob Nightengale jumped the gun and said that Zac Gallen had signed with the Chicago Cubs. Only for Jeff Passan to clear the air, shutting down the false report.

The Padres have around $80 million in payroll to spend, but what if we suggested that the best way to address starting pitching was not by spending big on a front-line starter? The team may have an option right in front of them with a team that is looking to sell off more players, similar to what they did at the trade deadline.

We are talking about the Minnesota Twins, who traded away 11 guys at the 2025 trade deadline, with more trades likely to be made.

The Twins will likely listen in on offers for right-hander Pablo Lopez, who is due $21.5 million in 2026. On top of that, his value will be down as he is coming off an injury-riddled 2025 season.

However, when healthy, Lopez put up very solid numbers. In 14 starts, he posted a 2.74 ERA while having the ability to get players to chase pitches out of the zone. The only issue with Lopez is that he can’t pitch deep into games.

Padres president of baseball operations, A.J. Preller, should be on the phone with the Twins prepping a trade package. Lopez would be an exceptional addition to a starting rotation that is seeing a ton of change this offseason.

We will see how aggressive Preller is as the Winter Meetings get underway.