Padres All-Star Could Bolt to NL Rival on $60 Million Deal

Aug 9, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; San Diego Padres designated hitter Luis Arraez (4) and relief pitcher Tanner Scott (66) celebrate their win against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres have a couple key free agents that could earn themselves some nice paydays this offseason.

The best one is left-handed reliever Tanner Scott, who the team acquired from the Miami Marlins at this year's trade deadline in arguably the biggest move of the deadline.

More news: Padres Have Not Had Extension Talks With Key All-Star

While Scott was great for San Diego — sporting a 2.73 ERA across 28 regular season appearances and then a 0.00 ERA across 4.1 postseason innings — the Padres are unlikely to bring him back as they look to shed payroll.

Two National League rivals — the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies — have been linked to Scott, however, and Jim Bowden of The Athletic thinks he could end up landing in Philadelphia on a four-year, $60 million deal.

"The Phillies lost two key relievers, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez, to free agency and now are looking to add a high-leverage bullpen arm. Although they’d prefer to land a right-handed closer, it would be better to just get the best free-agent closer, which is Scott, who was worth 4.0 WAR last season with Miami and San Diego. He logged a 1.75 ERA over 72 appearances with 84 strikeouts in 72 innings."

Scott would fortify just about any bullpen as one of the best arms in baseball. He also proved his worth against the best of the best in the Dodgers, as he shut them down in the National League Divisional Series. It makes sense why the Dodgers are interested, too.

While the Padres don't want to see Scott go to any NL contender, they'd likely prefer he heads to the Phillies rather than remaining in the NL West with the reigning World Series champions. Either way, though, Scott wil be a very popular name as he looks for his next home in free agency.