Padres Trade Deadline Preview: Three Blockbuster Targets to Fill San Diego's Biggest Needs

The San Diego Padres are a handful of games past the one-third mark through the 2026 season -- a big enough sample size for the front office to know what it has with the club and what it needs to do to ensure a National League playoff berth.

The players have made it easy for the evaluators because they've played mostly to preseason expectations. The strengths and weaknesses have not changed much, although some of the weaknesses have been more glaring than feared.

• The bullpen, led by closer Mason Miller, is strong overall but it doesn't look as formidable as last year's group. Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon have regressed; in Estrada's case, health has played a role. Miller was the primary reason the bullpen's ERA was the third-lowest in MLB entering Tuesday's action.
• The rotation has been subpar. It ranked 23rd in the majors in starter ERA through Monday. Depth signings Walker Buehler, Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito have done little to compensate for Nick Pivetta’s early-season injury and Joe Musgrove's spring setback. The latter two may return after the All-Star Break, but the group could still use an ace for the stretch run.
• The offense is lacking. Manny Machado slashing .174/.267/.353 and Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting one home run in the team's first 58 games have a lot to do with the club being 29th in the majors in OPS through June 1, but no one has picked up the slack, either. Gavin Sheets has come the closest.

The simplest way to fix these problems is to be aggressive ahead of the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller doesn't need an invitation to wheel and deal, but a flawed roster gives him an excuse to go big. How big he goes may depend on his intestinal fortitude, but we know he has the guts. Adding these three players, each filling one of the needs mentioned above, would be huge... and extremely costly.

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Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman

The Boston Red Sox's closer would be a dynamic setup man in San Diego, a second triple-digit left-handed reliever to complement Morejon. Like Miller at last year's deadline, adding Chapman would deepen the relief corps and keep the starters from being exposed.

There is one thing to note, however: he will not be a pure rental. His contract includes a $13 million mutual option for 2027 that becomes guaranteed if he pitches 40 innings and passes an offseason physical in 2026, per Cot's Contracts. He's already halfway to that mark, and his usage certainly wouldn't decrease in San Diego.

Rotation: Tarik Skubal

The Detroit Tigers' ace will be the main character in this year's deadline drama if he comes back strong from elbow surgery and his team waves the white flag. ESPN's Buster Olney predicted last week that the Padres will acquire the left-hander because that's what Preller does, but so much has to line up for it to happen.

Will Tigers president Scott Harris insist on a huge prospect return for a rental? Will he also insist that Preller pick up all or most of the $10 million-plus that Skubal will be owed over the season's final two months? Can Preller convince new principal owners Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones to add that much payroll?

Cheaper, but not necessarily better, alternatives should emerge as more teams become sellers. Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara and New York Mets No. 1 starter Freddy Peralta come to mind.

Offense: Christian Walker

The list of available hitters will grow as more clubs raise the white flag, but Preller can't afford to be patient. The Padres (33-30) trailed the Los Angeles Dodgers by eight games in the NL West during the weekend, and the wild-card race will be bruising. This team needs a bat, ASAP.

Walker is off to a strong start this season (16 home runs, .835 OPS through June 1) for the Houston Astros. That's the type of slug the Padres need. Machado leads the club with 10 homers, followed by Sheets with nine.

But there are downsides to adding Walker. First, he is exclusively a first baseman. He would push Sheets to the outfield, which, in turn, could cost France, Ramon Laureano and even Jake Cronenworth playing time (if Tatis has to play more second base). That would be bad for the defense, one of the club's strengths.

Second, Walker is signed through 2027 and is making $20 million a year. How much of that money would the Astros include in a trade? And would the Padres want to add a large average annual value (AAV) to the payroll while there is massive uncertainty surrounding what's ahead for baseball's salary structure? These are the types of concessions the team will have to make to add another expensive star to their already-expensive core.