There are a lot of things that come rolling in with the new year, and in baseball predictions are definitely one of them. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com contributed to a larger piece that offered one big prediction for every team, and his call for the San Diego Padres' bullpen would once again be the best in baseball.
This prediction isn’t exactly daring, but it is interesting. The Padres made history in 2025, according to Cassavell, by being the first bullpen to send three relievers to an All-Star game, so the precedent is formidable.
There are some caveats involved, though. One is attrition, with closer Robert Suarez leaving in free agency to sign with the Atlanta Braves. Starter Dylan Cease is also gone, having signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Padres haven’t really figured out how to account for the 200+ innings Cease takes with him. That could stretch the bullpen considerably, and there is a breaking point with these kinds of things.
The Padres would, however, benefit from a full season of Mason Miller, who was acquired from the Athletics at the deadline. Miller is a stud, and he could be the new closer, although there’s no definitive word on that just yet.
Miller joined left-hander Adrian Morejon, who’s one of the best receivers from that side in baseball, and Jeremiah Estrada is outstanding as well. Jason Adam will return after losing much of his season to a quad injury, so there are enough weapons to duplicate last year’s performance.
But the Padres are also up for sale now, and no one quite knows what that’s going to mean on the field. They’ve lost multiple good players without adding much, and right now this looks like an 82-85 win team based on what’s on paper.
It’s also notoriously tough to predict bullpen performance in advance. Saying the Padres bullpen will be good again is a safe prediction, but the best in baseball? At least one of the studs in the Padres bullpen might have an off year or get hurt, which would hurt San Diego enough to trash this kind of prediction.
To put it simply, it’s too soon to make this kind of forecast. The Padres have been one of the least active teams this offseason so far, and if that continues, this may be a reset year where San Diego starts to deal with a payroll that’s ballooned to $200 million and could go even higher based on some of the bloated contracts that are on the books.