The San Diego Padres need some more pitching.
Dylan Cease left for the Toronto Blue Jays in the offseason, and Yu Darvish is injured.
The good news for San Diego started when they were able to re-sign Michael King. That at least gives their rotation a good building block.
The Padres could definitely use some more reliable arms, though.
One of them could actually in essence trade places from the Blue Jays with Cease. Chris Bassitt is a free agent after being a key contributor to Toronto in 2025.
MLB.com's Andrew Simon calls Bassitt the "perfect fit" in free agency for the Padres.
"Even after bringing back Michael King, the Padres have to figure out a way to not only piece together the innings to get through the 2026 season, but also to fight for a playoff spot," Simon writes. "With Cease in Toronto and Yu Darvish sidelined, following last summer’s trade of Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert to Kansas City, roughly half of the team’s 2025 starts are now out of the picture for ‘26. That doesn’t count Joe Musgrove, but he’s working his way back from Tommy John surgery. A big-ticket free-agent solution would seem unlikely, and while you can never rule out A.J. Preller pulling off a significant trade, signing Bassitt would make a lot of sense as an alternative. The 36-year-old won’t command a massive deal at this point, but he just reached the 170-inning mark for the fourth straight season, and has been roughly league-average or better by ERA+ every year since 2018. That sounds like a nice insurance policy."
MORE: Team USA's projected WBC lineup is incredible
Bassitt is exactly the kind of signing that doesn't create many headlines but would also make things a lot easier on a manager.
You can trust that every fifth day, Bassitt will take the baseball and do his job effectively.
That's what he did in Toronto, and even though the Blue Jays had Bassitt pitch out of the bullpen in the postseason instead, he did that well, too.
The Padres could use a guy who is consistent and who has seen what a winning team looks like up close.
More MLB news:
- Dominican Republic's projected WBC lineup is fierce
- Reds have a promising prospect named Ichiro Cano
- It's a good day to remember Bob Feller's brilliance and his time in the U.S. Navy
- How Aroldis Chapman is able to pitch for Great Britain in the WBC
- Alex Bregman has a key free agent preference
- Yankees' pitcher leaving MLB to sign in Japan