San Diego Padres rumors: A pair of pitchers creating some interesting buzz early in offseason

A pair of developments during the weekend have San Diego Padres fans buzzing on social media about two polarizing pitchers, and for various reasons.

Cue up the Marcus Stroman rumors with the San Diego Padres

Marcus Stroman and the San Diego Padres always seem to be connected when the 32-year-old right-hander becomes available to potentially don the brown and gold. We are now back at that intersection again after Stroman has rejected the remainder of his contract with the Chicago Cubs, which still had one year and $21 million remaining on it.

However, with Stroman looking to be one of the sought-after pitchers on the open market this offseason, he is also clearly looking for a bigger payday than the Cubs were offering. With San Diego's reported decision to lower payroll for next season, bringing in a pitcher like Stroman when the Padres will reportedly let Blake Snell and Josh Hader and their expected high salaries walk doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

On paper, a veteran addition like Stroman who has pitched well inside Petco Park (allowing just two unearned runs and eight hits over 12.0 career innings in San Diego) would be a boost for the Padres. However, the economics of a deal with Stroman don't seem to make sense, even if the Padres have reportedly chased him in the past.

In other news, there's this social media moment that has plenty of Padres fans chiming in on whether they would want Trevor Bauer in the San Diego rotation if right-hander does indeed return to MLB.

We're going to leave that right there and let the discussion about Bauer and the pros and cons of adding him to a roster rage on social media.

Let's make clear that, in that thread and other exchanges on X, Bauer listed plenty of teams where he might be interested in attempting to resurrect his career. Nowhere have the Padres (as of this writing) expressed any interest in a Bauer signing.