Inside The Padres

Padres, Dodgers Predicted to Enter Bidding War for All-Star Starting Pitcher at Trade Deadline

Nelson Espinal

Jun 9, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) hugs San Diego Padres first baseman Luis Arraez (4) after drawing a walk during the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images
Jun 9, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) hugs San Diego Padres first baseman Luis Arraez (4) after drawing a walk during the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images / David Frerker-Imagn Images
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The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers are clashing on the field during seven games in 11 days stretch, though they could be set to face off on the trade market as well.

Any playoff team will be looking to add pitching at the trade deadline — either starting or relief arms — in order to cover themselves in case of an injury.

The Padres and Dodgers will likely be in the playoffs in some capacity, either winning the division or via a wildcard spot.

More news: Padres' Manny Machado Says Whole Week Has Been Prepping Team for Dodgers Series

Considering how frequent pitching injuries are, both teams will be looking for additional arms to shore up their pitching reserves.

Zach Lutz of Just Baseball predicts that the National League West should end up vying for Houston Astros ace Framber Valdez.

"As for Valdez, if Houston does sell, the Dodgers and Padres could be front-runners. Both are in contention and could use a durable left-handed starter," Lutz wrote in an article.

"The Padres could use someone to complement Michael King and help offset Dylan Cease’s inconsistency.

"The Dodgers’ pitching injuries have been well-documented, and question marks in the current rotation behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto could inspire a front office motivated to repeat as champions.

"A Padres-Dodgers bidding war for Valdez would be electric, and it wouldn’t be the first time those clubs clashed at the deadline."

More news: Dodgers Manager Says Padres Care More About Winning This Week's Series Than LA

Valdez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball again, netting a 2.0 WAR with a 3.07 ERA through 85 innings pitched.

His pitching style revolves around netting a high volume of ground balls — which explains his higher expected ERA of 3.67 — but he always manages to outperform his expected number.

His groundball percentage is 97th percentile, an impressive number along with a 75th percentile chase percentage.

The only knock on Valdez is how many hard-hit balls he gives up, ranking 13th percentile in average exit velocity and 15th in hard-hit percentage.

Overall, though, he can go deep in games, giving a ton of quality innings — and is only on an expiring deal, making him a low-cost addition for a team.

More news: Padres Pitcher Wants to Learn Dodgers Ace's Best Pitch

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.

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Nelson Espinal
NELSON ESPINAL

Nelson Espinal lives and breathes sports. Avidly following of everything ranging from motorsports to Mixed Martial Arts to tennis, he is connected with most of the sports world at all times. His dream of writing about sports started at 16 years of age, writing for a Lakers fans blog, and his passions for sports writing has grown since. He has his Bachelor's degree in Political Science, and a minor in writing literature from the University of California, San Diego.

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