Credit: USA Today Sports

As the San Diego Padres navigate this offseason, there are many puzzle pieces still to be put together for what next year’s roster will look like.

There are plenty of rumors about what kinds of trades the team may consider to free up payroll, especially after the re-signing of the team’s ace Michael King.

Most of these rumors are about starting pitcher Nick Pivetta, infielder Jake Cronenworth, and reliever Jeremiah Estrada. The first two players are obvious candidates due to their 2026 cash salary ($19 million and $12 million, respectively), and Estrada is a prime candidate as a young, dominant reliever with years of control left. There are very clear rotation needs for the Padres. Some of which are resolved with the King signing, and the trade market could be a way to address this need even more.

A recent proposed trade online suggested a deal between the Padres and the Boston Red Sox, who have often been linked as trade partners. The proposal suggested the aforementioned Cronenworth and lefty reliever Wandy Peralta for young Red Sox starter Brayan Bello.

The deal would save the Padres just over $10 million a year in cash, and Bello’s very low AAV of just over $9 million saves the Padres money on the luxury tax as well. Bello is signed through his age 29 season in 2029, where his contract would be at its highest of $19 million, along with a 2030 club option. Bello’s contract is for the same length as Cronenworth’s, but in return, the Padres get a much younger player who has shown the possibility of being a future ace. 

The Red Sox, who need an answer at second base and could use a lefty reliever, get to fill two slots with veterans, and they can deal from their starting pitching depth. Boston is a team with several young assets that they can trade from. The Red Sox have already made separate deals for Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras, and very well could deal from their outfield core to either acquire more pitching or re-allocate assets. Dealing Bello could open the door for a Jarren Duran trade, potentially for another starting pitcher. 

Similarly, the Padres could employ this strategy to their benefit as well. Dealing for Bello saves the team money and allows them to explore a Pivetta deal for prospects or for some offensive firepower to make up for the loss of Cronenworth and their hole at first base.

What Bello could bring to the Padres is a lot of upside with potential for even more than what he’s shown in his short career.

The Dominican right-handers are coming off a breakout season where he threw a career high 166.2 innings with a career best 3.35 ERA. Bello also recorded career bests in ERA+, FIP, WHIP, H/9, and HR/9. These numbers also come with Fenway Park having the second-highest park factor in baseball.

Bello, who is a predominant groundball pitcher, could greatly benefit from Petco Park being a pitcher’s park.

In 2025, Bello raised his arm angle from 28 degrees the year before to 33 degrees. It seems that this change in arm angle helped his sinker go from a -6 run value to 7 in 2025. That pitch was very important for him as he ranked in the 84th percentile of groundball percentage. The addition of a cutter also seemed to help him add another pitch against lefties, replacing a slider that was not good at all. The righty has very clear splits using his sweeper against righties and his changeups for lefties.

He’s had individual success with all of his pitches. But has never seemed to put it all together in the same year, but the potential for all his pitches is there. The previously mentioned Pivetta could also be a blueprint for the Padres to follow. Pivetta, who came from the Red Sox, found his biggest career success after coming to the Padres, and the same could be possible again with another pitcher coming from Boston. The Padres, with manager Craig Stammen and pitching coach/associate manager Ruben Niebla, could have a cornerstone rotation piece for the rest of the decade. 

In the short term, replacing Pivetta with Bello still requires the Padres to go out and get more starting pitching. They could, of course, just add Bello to the rotation and not trade Pivetta at all. The money saved to acquire Bello could be used to fit money for infielder Kazuma Okamoto, other free agents for the right side of the infield, or to explore another trade where that money can be absorbed for someone like Yandy Diaz, for example. Because of what the trade market has materialized during this offseason, and the players that the Padres could deem expendable, the assets could bring very high returns. A consistent 2-WAR second baseman, a dominant strikeout reliever, and a pitcher who turned himself into the ace of a staff can all net several assets for the Padres to create their 2026 roster.

General manager A.J. Preller has never been shy to make trades. Preller has not seemed too keen to trade some of the above-mentioned players, but the possibility to sell high on certain players and recoup lots of value in other places could be too good an opportunity to pass up.

30

East Coast Based

Dominican

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