Padres Made 'Best Offer' for Mackenzie Gore at Trade Deadline: Report

Jul 10, 2022; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore (1) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres nearly brought Washington Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore back to San Diego at the trade deadline, per The New York Post's Jon Heyman.

The Padres drafted Gore No. 3 overall in the 2017 MLB Draft, and he eventually made his debut with the Padres in 2022. He made 16 appearances for the team, posting a 4.50 ERA and striking out 72 batters in 70 innings.

Gore, along with Luke Voit, C.J. Abrams, Robert Hassell III, James Wood and Jarlin Susana, went to the Nationals at the trade deadline in 2022 in exchange for Juan Soto and Josh Bell.

"The Nationals, with an interim GM, were only going to trade Mackenzie Gore if they got an A-plus trade and asked for (Leo) De Vries plus four others," wrote Heyman. "The Padres were said to have made the best offer, but it wasn’t enough."

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Gore has a 4.00 ERA this season through 29 starts, and periodically led MLB in strikeouts in 2025. He currently has 182 through 157.2 innings, but has been a little inconsistent throughout the season.

Former Padres No. 1 prospect Leo De Vries would have been a little too high of a price to pay for Gore — even as a 1-for-1 swap — and if a general manager as trade-forward as A.J. Preller wasn't able to strike a deal, the asking price was likely far too high for the 26-year-old southpaw.

Gore had some of his worst performances of the season in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, shipping eight runs to his former team in the Padres and six runs against the Houston Astros two starts later. He had another rough outing in his first start following the deadline, allowing eight runs against the Athletics along with a season-high 12 hits.

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Since leaving the Padres, Gore has only had one sub-4.00 ERA season, which came in 2024 when he had a mark of 3.90. This season, he sits near the middle of the pack as far as pitching run value goes with a value of five.

While his strikeouts numbers have been impressive since departing San Diego, the Padres may have dodged a bullet with Gore, at least for this season.

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