Padres Executives Seek Multiple Starting Pitchers at GM Meetings

San Diego Padres executives are diving into the general managers meetings in Las Vegas with an eye toward landing multiple starting pitchers before a looming work stoppage halts the sport, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The annual gathering at the Aria Resort arrived just a week after free agency began on Monday with a quiet market. Only a pair of minor trades, a few waiver claims, and a handful of minor-league signings have materialized so far. Yet industry executives and player agents express confidence that the next few days will spark larger deals.

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The urgency stems from a hard deadline on Dec. 1. The collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association expires at 8:59 p.m. PT that evening. Team owners are widely expected to lock out players rather than operate under current rules, which will snuff out the hot stove season.

That shutdown would also wipe out the annual Winter Meetings, which are scheduled for Dec. 7-9 in San Diego. Consequently, the current meetings in Las Vegas represent the final opportunity for mass in-person interfacing before the stoppage.

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The Padres aim to improve their starting rotation. Multiple league sources report that the club has expressed interest in several top free-agent starting pitchers. Team owners have professed that the franchise is entirely all-in, and the front office under A.J. Preller appears positioned to act aggressively.

The exact level of that interest and the team’s ability to compete in a heated market remain uncertain. Those questions could come into focus during intelligence gathering in the hotel rooms and coffee shops of the Aria.

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History suggests high-stakes movement is possible despite short windows. In November 2021, a half-dozen nine-figure deals were completed alongside other major signings just before that year’s lockout.

Yet the prelude to the current meetings carries familiar friction. The sides have not held substantive talks on major issues, and every league proposal has reportedly affronted the players’ union. Last year’s pre-lockout meetings featured general managers publicly feigning ignorance about an impending stoppage, a dynamic that remains preposterous as the Dec. 1 deadline approaches.