Padres weighing pros and cons of dealing a reliever for a starter

SAN DIEGO -- With one month until pitchers and catchers report to the Peoria Sports Complex, the Padres’ pitching staff offers quite the juxtaposition.

Within that pitching staff is perhaps the best -- and deepest -- bullpen in the Majors. Also within that pitching staff: a thin starting rotation.

Already this offseason, general manager A.J. Preller has dismissed the idea of moving his high-leverage relievers into starting roles. Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and David Morgan are expected to remain in the bullpen, Preller said last month after much speculation otherwise.

But there’s another way San Diego can pluck from its bullpen depth to address its rotation shortage:

A trade.

The Padres have an abundance of back-end relievers -- and holes elsewhere on their roster, notably in the rotation and at first base. So … will they trade from that bullpen to address those holes? Should they? Let’s break it all down.

Whom could the Padres trade?
As ever, no one is untouchable with Preller. That should’ve been clear when reports emerged that Miller might be available earlier this offseason. But a Miller trade remains very unlikely. The Padres dealt their best prospect, Leo De Vries, to acquire Miller at last year’s Deadline. Miller was dominant down the stretch and into the postseason.

With the departure of Robert Suarez, there’s a path for Miller to take over as the franchise’s next great closer. The likelier scenario is that one of Miller’s setup men is dealt. Jason Adam is coming off surgery to repair a ruptured left quad tendon, so it seems unlikely he’d be moved with his Opening Day status in doubt.

But there are interesting cases for the next three high-leverage options: Jeremiah Estrada, Morejon and Morgan -- the first two in particular.

Meanwhile, the Padres would be open to moving Wandy Peralta and/or Yuki Matsui -- their middle-innings lefties. That would free up salary that they could use elsewhere. But the market for both is likely to be tepid, considering the commitments for both -- two years, $8.9 million remaining with Peralta and three years, $19.25 million with Matsui.

Here’s why they might do it …
Simple, really. The Padres might find that another team values one of their high-leverage relievers more than they do. That isn’t to say they don’t think very, very highly of Morejon and Estrada. It’s just to say that if they were to deal one of those two, they have reinforcements to lessen the blow.

Estrada is under team control through 2029. Stuff-wise, he has future closer potential that another team might covet. Realistically, he’s the Padres’ fourth or fifth option right now. If they can find a mid-rotation starter with similar control, that’s a trade they’d have to consider, isn’t it? (Same holds true for Morgan, though he’s less accomplished than Estrada and would presumably fetch less in a return.)

Morejon is a different case. He has emerged as arguably the sport’s best left-handed setup weapon. The Padres are thinner from the left side, and losing Morejon would hurt. Then again, Morejon has only one year of control remaining, and he will become a free agent after the season. Again, if San Diego can get a controllable starter in return, that’s a deal it would have to consider.

Here’s why they might not …
Preller has said it time and again -- at the GM Meetings, at the Winter Meetings, at the Michael King press conference: He doesn’t want to see his bullpen go from elite to mediocre. And when you deal an arm like Morejon or Estrada -- particularly in an environment as fickle as a bullpen -- you risk doing exactly that.

“Any time you have multiple people at a spot, you at least can listen to those types of conversations,” Preller said last month when asked about trading from his ‘pen. “But it’s not easy to find impact players. You don’t take that for granted.”

San Diego has proven that its super-bullpen is a winning formula, even with limited options in the rotation. It can shorten games. For large swaths of last summer, if the Padres had a lead after five innings, they won. If they were trailing after five innings, they could at least keep it close.

“That’s probably been why we’ve been to the playoffs the last two years,” Preller said. “Lot of reasons, but that’s been a big one, the bullpen.”

Verdict …
Call it a tossup. On paper at least, it makes sense that if the Padres are going to make a trade, they’d deal from their rotation depth. But Preller has been so adamant about not wanting to weaken his team’s biggest strength, it’s starting to feel like San Diego would need to be blown away by an offer.

Preller is well within his rights to set the asking price high. Question is: Would anyone meet it? And if not, how do the Padres address the deficiencies elsewhere on their roster -- particularly in the rotation?