Padres Ultimate Heist: Landing Dodgers $32 Million World…

The San Diego Padres may still be smarting from losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they may have a pathway to revenge.

Many of the Dodgers’ players have flat-out said, in the wake of the playoffs, that the series with the Padres was essentially the real World Series. San Diego had the upper hand through three games, but the LA pitching staff turned in a Herculean effort with back-to-back shutouts to keep the Dodgers advancing.

Entering the 2025 season, the Dodgers will once again be World Series favorites, but the Padres have the talent to match them stride for stride. And there’s one devilish move San Diego could make that could help shift the tides in their favor.

Dodgers playoff hero Walker Buehler is a free agent, and although he had a rough regular season in his return from Tommy John surgery, the playoffs seemed to indicate that he has much better days ahead for whichever team lands him this winter.

Recently, ESPN’s Jeff Passan urged the Padres to sign Buehler this winter, calling it the “perfect transaction” for San Diego.

“With a payroll around $200 million already, the Padres won’t have much room to add to a roster that is deep in talent,” Passan said. “They’re also deep in tough-to-move contracts, which boxes them in when exceeding the CBT threshold is probably not in the cards.”

“Getting (Roki) Sasaki would alleviate a potential salary crunch, but if that doesn’t happen, and if they can’t line up on a big-name trade, there are enough options in free agency to fill out the rotation properly. One of them, in fact, would need to trek only 120 miles down the 5.”

Buehler had a 5.38 ERA in 75 innings pitched in the regular season, pitching for the first time since the middle of the 2022 season. But he flipped the narrative completely with 10 consecutive scoreless innings to close out the postseason, including the final three outs of the World Series.

Tim Britton of The Athletic projects Buehler for a two-year, $32 million contract, which should fit nicely under the Padres’ budget restrictions. If the Dodgers don’t make a serious effort to retain their homegrown star, he could get some revenge of his own by heading to San Diego.