Padres Predicted to Cut Ties With Failed Trade Deadline Addition

San Diego Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller orchestrated the trade of the deadline last summer.

The Padres sent top prospect Leo De Vries along with three other prospects — right-handed pitchers Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Nunez — to the Athletics in exchange for closer Mason Miller and starting pitcher JP Sears.

Miller was the crown jewel of the trade market last season, and the Padres snagged the young talent by gutting their farm system. The arrival of Miller cemented San Diego's bullpen as the best in baseball.

While Miller has emerged as the best closer in baseball, the more under-the-radar pick up in Sears hasn't quite panned out.

The left-hander made just five starts for the Padres after the trade last season, sporting a 5.47 ERA across 24.2 innings. His mark with the Athletics wasn't much betterm as he sported a 4.95 ERA across 111 innings of work.

Sears is yet to make a major league appearance this season, opening the season in the Triple-A El Paso rotation.

He hasn't shown much improvement this season as he's produced a 5.91 ERA in seven starts. His struggles in the minors have led to some potential thought that the Padres could soon cut ties with him.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller believes Preller will find a way to include the left-hander in a deal at the trade deadline this summer.

"Sears was to the Mason Miller trade what Josh Bell was to the Juan Soto trade back in 2022, only with several additional years of team control. In five starts last season, he gave the Padres a 5.47 ERA. And even with Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta all just expensive spectators, they haven't felt like calling him up yet in 2026. But look for them to include him in some way in whatever this summer's AJ Preller special ends up being," Miller writes.

The Padres need starting pitching help as their depth is thin in the absence of veterans Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta and Yu Darvish. San Diego's front office hoped under-the-radar pickups such as Sears would be able to fill that hole, but the left-hander hasn't produced in San Diego.

The fact that he hasn't even been talked about as an option to help a depleted starting staff this year is telling.

Could the Padres Trade JP Sears?

Sears' future with the Padres remains uncertain. At 30 years old, there's still plenty of time for him to help this team. However, his career 4.53 ERA doesn't instill much confidence that a turnaround is coming.

With the Padres lacking assets in the farm system following last year's trade deadline, Sears could end up being a top chip for the team if he can start pitching even a little better.

Sears is extremely affordable, and still has two more years of arbitration-eligibility before free agency. An affordable left-handed starting pitcher with team control is about as good a commodity as there is at the deadline.

Add us as a preferred source on Google