With the news of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole being set to undergo Tommy John Surgery, could they look to make a swing at a Padre ace?

The New York Yankees lost their ace due to injury and were rumored as suitors for a Padres starter this offseason. While there is certainly a match on paper, there are more parts to the feasibility of any deal.

It has been reported that A.J. Preller’s preference is to keep both Michael King and Dylan Cease on the roster. Despite this, San Diego’s roster has a handful of starting options on the 40-man, including Kyle Hart, Stephen Kolek, and Matt Waldron. With Cease and King in the fold, the Padres’ rotation looks stronger than it would without one of them.

Then again, everybody’s got a price.

As reported by Kevin Acee, the Padres would need to be blown away by a trade package to pull the trigger on such a deal. Likely, any team in negotiations would need to send over players that would improve the Padres’ roster in one of three positions of need in the lineup: catcher, left field, and designated hitter.

Currently, the Padres are projected to trot out the tandem of Luis Campusano and Elias Diaz behind the plate, with a platoon of Connor Joe and Jason Heyward in left field. While these players may provide value, it would be a stretch to say their impact would move the needle significantly, barring a breakout.

The Yankees make sense as a trade partner for Dylan Cease.

New York is not concerned with the luxury tax for this season and has an even more pressing need in the rotation. Luis Gil, the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, is set to miss at least 2-3 months due to a lat strain, and with Gerrit Cole going under the knife, this is a team in need of an ace. Max Fried and Carlos Rodon are a strong twosome at the top of the rotation, but Marcus Stroman and Will Warren did not have great years last season. While Warren has awed many in three spring outings, it is not yet known whether his performance will be sustained long-term, though it is possible. Stroman is, at this point in his career, more of a back-end starter, so he likely isn’t having another career resurgence.

Brian Cashman and the Yankees have some of the pieces to make a Cease trade a reality, but the price will have to be steep, with San Diego holding the leverage. The Padres’ needs are clear, so how can the Yankees fill them?

A.J. Preller will likely begin any discussions for Cease asking for Jasson Dominguez. The 22-year-old has been a key part of the Yankees’ future plans but is still in need of some development; his play in left field has been… an adventure, to say the least. Dominguez has flashed solid tools at the plate, showcasing a good eye and elite bat speed in his limited MLB time. Dominguez may not be the strongest fielder in the league, but with Jackson Merrill to his left, it would likely take some of the defensive pressure off him. While one could argue that Dominguez’s prospect rating may be too high, he is still a promising young player who would make an immediate impact on the Padres’ roster.

The Padres’ need for a catcher may not be one the Yankees can fulfill without a significant “overpay.” New York traded top catching prospect Agustin Ramirez to the Marlins in the Jazz Chisholm trade, and their farm system is thin on near-MLB catching options. There is the possibility of Ben Rice being included in such a deal, but the Yankees view him more in a first base/DH role compared to full-time catching. San Diego’s need for a catcher is unlikely to be met in a deal unless Brian Cashman includes Austin Wells in a deal, which is increasingly unlikely.

The DH spot is one where the Yankees could help the Padres, but options with MLB experience are limited on their roster. San Diego is not taking on DJ LeMahieu’s bloated contract, and utility players like Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera are unlikely to fit on the Padres’ roster. This leaves Everson Pereira as the lone realistic option on the 40-man. Pereira missed most of 2024 after undergoing UCL surgery but has come out strong in Spring Training, with a 1.224 OPS in 19 plate appearances. Pereira has power but makes for a questionable fit in San Diego as a high-strikeout right-handed batter. While his plate approach could be worked on should he change organizations, it is worth wondering if A.J. Preller would consider acquiring such a player.

Prospects like Spencer Jones could merit consideration, as the Padres could look to acquire MLB talent and prospects before flipping prospects for MLB talent, akin to Drew Thorpe in the Juan Soto deal. Any potential prospect return would come down to, in simplest terms, how desperate New York could be for a pitcher like Dylan Cease. Similar to the Juan Soto negotiations, A.J. Preller’s initial asking price was rather high and was almost met to a tee with Michael King and Drew Thorpe as headliners in the deal.

San Diego could also look to acquire pitching in this deal, which opens up more trade possibilities for a pitching-heavy farm system. San Diego’s pitching depth could allow the team to move a depth starter or two to fill other holes (catcher or DH) while acquiring more pitching in any return for Dylan Cease.

New York has plenty of pitching options that could be enticing to A.J. Preller and the Padres. The aforementioned Will Warren has shown impressive stuff after a rocky debut campaign, with a revamped arsenal akin to that of Michael King. Right-hander Yoendrys Gomez could also be a possibility, a command-first right-hander with a kitchen-sink arsenal. Gomez would be out of options this season, so his inclusion would involve guaranteeing him a 40-man roster spot. Prospects Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (No. 8 per MLB Pipeline) or Brock Selvidge (No. 11) could be in play, or even recent draftees Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham, both of whom were taken out of college (Alabama and Vanderbilt, respectively).

If a deal had to be constructed, this is hypothetical as to how such a trade could look:

Yankees Acquire: RHP Dylan Cease (FA after 2025)
Padres Acquire: OF Jasson Dominguez, RHP Will Warren, OF Jackson Castillo, RHP Luis Serna

As previously discussed, Dominguez would fill the Padres’ left field needs immediately, with Warren likely to slot into the rotation’s fourth or fifth spot. This could allow someone like Kyle Hart or Stephen Kolek to have a shot at opening the season in a starting role as well while taking $12 million off the Padres’ payroll. Serna and Castillo are longer-term additions, as Castillo has yet to play above High-A, and Serna has only one season at A-Ball, but both have promising peripherals and tools that could see them break out in the 2025 campaign. Both are also very young, as Castillo turns 22 in May and Serna turns 21 in July, so they could provide further minor-league depth with upside.

The Padres and Yankees are familiar with one another as trade partners, and with the Yankees in dire need of pitching reinforcements, the ball would clearly be in A.J. Preller’s court should the Yankees come a-calling.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.