Padres Pursuing Former Dodgers, Brewers Starting Pitcher in Free Agency

Several teams are interested in the right-hander coming off a World Series run in 2026.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dustin May (3) poses for a photo with his former teammates on the Los Angeles Dodgers who gave him his 2025 World Series ring prior to their game at Busch Stadium on May 1, 2026. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The general manager's meetings are supposed to be for executives, but Dustin May crashed the party this year. At 6-foot-6 and sporting a shock of red hair, he was hard to miss on the floor of the ARIA Resort & Casino.

To be fair to the free agent pitcher, a number of May's peers descended on Las Vegas this week for a charity golf tournament and/or the MLB Awards presentation. He will almost certainly let his agent do the negotiating for him this offseason — and he won't need much help.

As a platform year, the 2026 season was a mixed bag for the 29-year-old. He stayed healthy enough to make 31 starts for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, but inconsistency limited him to 145.2 innings and a 4.70 ERA in the regular season.

A midseason trade to Milwaukee allowed May to contribute to the Brewers' first-ever World Series championship. But his results scarcely improved.

May made only two of his five postseason appearances as a starter, and he allowed seven runs in 11 innings (5.73 ERA).

That was enough to attract the attention of the San Diego Padres, who were one of four teams named among a "broad group of teams" with interest in May this offseason.

Free agent RHP Dustin May is drawing interest from a broad group of teams that includes the Cubs, White Sox, Padres and Astros, sources say.

Of note, new Astros GM Randy Flores was in the Cardinals front office when they signed May last offseason.

May, 29, is one of the…

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 12, 2026

The Padres' interest is easy to understand. They need to replace virtually an entire starting rotation's worth of pitchers who became free agents after the World Series or, in the case of Nick Pivetta, after his $14 million option was declined.

A.J. Preller could sign two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, re-sign right-hander Michael King and still be at least one starting pitcher short of completing his primary offseason task. One reporter asked Preller this week if he was looking for three or four starting pitchers this winter; the Padres' executive reportedly responded by saying "keep going."

The Padres already signed right-hander Ryan Weiss, a potential swingman. May would likewise ideally slot into the back of a potential 2027 rotation if he signs with the Padres.

May debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 and was a key part of their 2020 team that won a World Series after a pandemic-shortened regular season. A couple major surgeries knocked him out for all of 2024, but he recovered to pitch 132.1 innings across 25 games for the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox in 2025.

Overall, May is 26-29 with a 4.12 ERA in 102 games (88 starts) over parts of seven seasons for the Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals and Brewers.

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