On Tuesday, May 19, the Los Angeles Dodgers handed San Diego Padres elite closing pitcher Mason Miller, his first loss in over a year.
While still arguably the best closing pitcher in all of baseball, manager Craige Stammen and the Padres are looking to get the 27-year-old elite bullpen help.
The Padres have been recently linked to a future Hall of Famer and an arm who is all-too familiar with Petco Park.
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Sources Tell the Athletic the Padres Are Interested in Aroldis Chapman And Josh Hader
San Diego Padres beat writer Dennis Lin, discusses the possibility of the Padres trading for Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman and former Padre, now Astro, Josh Hader, per an MLB source.
“Potentially available names this summer include a pair of possible Hall of Fame closers: the Boston Red Sox’s Aroldis Chapman and Hader, now with the Houston Astros,” Lin wrote. “The Padres have long been interested in Chapman, who at age 38 has a 0.51 ERA and 12 saves for the 22-27 Red Sox. The eight-time All-Star is one of the rare pitchers this century to maintain triple-digit velocity while staying healthy for more than a few seasons. Chapman is making $13 million, with a $13 million mutual option (and a $300,000 buyout) for 2027.”
Chapman has a career ERA of 2.48 with 379 saves. In his two seasons with Boston thus far, he has a 0.84 ERA.
While Lin does not disclose who the source is, he claims the Padres have been interested in Chapman for a while. Hader on the other hand, was traded to San Diego in 2022, but signed with the Houston Astros in 2024 during free agency.
“Hader, in the third year of a five-year, $95 million contract, has full no-trade protection, but the Astros’ 20-31 start has made him a candidate for an eventual move,” Lin wrote.
The 32-year-old closer began his rehab assignment May 5, following bicep tendonitis since before Spring Training.
After the trade in 2022, Hader had a rough go at things in San Diego. Through 19 games, the lefty posted a 7.31 ERA with only seven saves. However, in his first, and only, complete season in San Diego, Hader posted his second best season ERA 1.82, with 33 saves.
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Padres Are Focused on Bolstering Bullpen Over Fixing Offensive Struggles
San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen, discusses closer Mason Miller’s recent struggles after his first blown save of 2026.
“That’s the conundrum right there, is we’ve got the ace in the hole waiting down there, and we know that a lot of times when he’s able to pitch, the game is in good hands,” Stammen said of Miller. “But we also know he can’t pitch in 162 games, so we’ve got to manage both those things and do the best we can — what’s best for him for his entire career and also what’s best for us.”
Stammen alludes that the Padres are focused on building around Miller, to maximize his rest, while having the ability to use him in most high leverage save situations. However, the Padres’ bullpen is already elite.
They currently rank seventh in the MLB in ERA (3.32), third in save opportunities (26), and third in strikeouts (211). Bradley Rodriguez and Jason Adam both have an ERA below two. While Adrian Morejon’s ERA on paper is not great, he is one of the Padres’ most reliable arms, and it is only inevitable that his season turns around.
On the offensive side of things, the Padres do not look as good. After spending $970 million on just three players for the next eight years, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Xander Bogaerts are not playing like a billion dollar trio.
Machado is only batting .179, Tatis has yet to hit a home run, and while Bogaerts does have a better batting average than his two teammates, he is still batting almost batting 40 points below his career average.
Given that the Padres currently have the worst team batting average (.221) in the MLB, is shifting their focus to the bullpen during the trade deadline the right idea?
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