The Rundown: Padres Keep Padre-ing with King Deal, Austin Adds Little to Bottom Line, D-Backs Could Be Legit Bregman Suitors

You know what I love the most about living in the Midwest? There’s nothing better than having the temperature go from -5 with several inches of snow to 52 with rain that washes the snow away before plummeting to 16 degrees and freezing all that water. Truly awesome stuff that doesn’t at all make me want to scream into a pillow. It doesn’t help that the Bears are once again stepping on rakes in their attempt to bully Illinois into paying for their new stadium.

I’m not at all opposed to them relocating to Northwest Indiana, and I think a lot of Bears fans are getting a little too possessive when it comes to where the new stadium would be built. The New York Jets and Giants both play in New Jersey, and the San Francisco 49ers play in Santa Clara. Regardless of where the Bears eventually end up playing, the Chicago part will most likely be in name only.

Speaking of events in NWI, Method Man and Redman are playing at the Hard Rock in Hammond/Gary. I found out about it too late, so all the really good tickets are gone unless you’re looking to be gouged on the secondary market. I’m still considering it because they put on a great show, but I’ll have to settle for Row T or something. Wait, does that make me Jed Hoyer?

After all, that’s basically how the Cubs operate every winter. We’ve seen that very clearly in the reliever market, as they passed on the opportunity to sign Brad Keller for what would have been less than the two-year, $22 million deal he got from the Phillies. Luke Weaver signed the same deal with the Mets, leaving Pete Fairbanks as the only remaining closer-type available following several bigger contracts being inked earlier in the offseason.

The Cubs have been linked to Fairbanks for a while, but I’ve got a little cold water for you if you think they’re going to do what it takes to sign him. Ken Rosenthal believes it’s unlikely that Fairbanks will be able to get the same $11 million the Rays declined, though the market indicates he’ll beat that in terms of either AAV or total value. Maybe both, as Marlins beat writer Isaac Azout told Foul Territory that Miami has offered a one-year deal in the mid-teens.

Meanwhile, Bizzaro Jed continues to operate in a counterintuitive manner with the team he began running two years after Hoyer vacated his role to join the Cubs.

King Re-Signs with Padres

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the cash-strapped Padres have yet again signed a big pitching target despite all the talk about them needing to trim payroll. Last year, they landed Nick Pivetta despite him carrying penalties for turning down a qualifying offer from the Red Sox. Now, San Diego has brought Michael King back on a three-year, $75 million deal that surprised just about everyone.

All the talk was that he would be headed back to the East Coast, where he was born, raised, and went to college, but the Padres were able to juice his AAV a little more than other suitors. That’s probably due to King turning down their QO, not to mention his health history. The deal includes a $12 million signing bonus with a paltry $5 million salary for 2026, after which King has player options of $28 million and $30 million.

That’s pretty much the opposite of Pivetta, who is very likely to opt out after the coming season because his salary will drop from $20.5 million to $14 million. His name has been thrown around in trade rumors, but it’ll be really difficult to establish value since he’s almost certainly just a rental.

I’m sure this strikes a lot of folks as something the Cubs should have been in on, but it doesn’t appear as though they were ever a real candidate for King’s services. His East Coast bias rivaled that of ESPN in its heyday, but the Padres were willing and able to pay more. Even if he had been willing to land in middle America, Hoyer was probably not pushing past $20 million AAV. And if we believe the Cubs’ strong affinity for Tatsuya Imai is as real as reported, they will be waiting until after January 2 to sign a starter.

Padres Add Song Sung Blue Sung-Mun Song

King wasn’t the only signing the Padres made recently, as they also added Korean infielder Sung-Mun Song on a three-year deal worth roughly $13 million. I don’t know anything about the 29-year-old, other than his name is very similar to that of the Hugh Jackman/Kate Hudson movie coming out on Christmas Day. Maybe Preller has a grudge against the Wolverine and/or Almost Famous actor(s) and is trying to hurt their box office.

Stone-Cold Deal for Bench Bat

The Cubs added former top Yankees prospect Tyler Austin on a one-year deal worth a reported $1.25 million, which essentially makes him a younger, cheaper version of Justin Turner. After failing to establish himself with the Yankees, Twins, Giants, or Brewers from 2016-19, Austin headed to NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars and is only just now returning.

Shoulder and knee issues limited Austin during his time in Japan, but he showed a good deal of power and isn’t going to be needed on an everyday basis. As a right-handed hitter, he can serve as a short-side platoon option for Michael Busch at first base and possibly Moisés Ballesteros at DH. The Cubs had seven open spots on the 40-man roster, so they didn’t have to make a corresponding move.

I’m sure a lot of folks are upset about this deal because they’ve never heard of Austin and it looks cheap to them, but finding ways to round out the roster at a low cost leaves more room in the budget for bigger additions. This should also mean that breakout slugger Jonathon Long will be dangled in trade talks, which might have been the case anyway. As much as folks love the idea of hot prospects being left to languish in Triple-A or on the bench, it makes sense to get value while they can.

And that’s the bottom line, because I said so.

Diamondbacks Might Really Be Bregman Players

What first seemed like a ploy to draw out bigger offers from other teams might be legit, as Ken Rosenthal reported for The Athletic that the Diamandbacks could sign Alex Bregman while keeping Ketel Marte. It seems far more likely that they’d move Marte to trim salary while adding to their pitching staff, but Rosenthal noted that “owner Ken Kendrick routinely extends his payroll when he believes his team has a chance to win.”

Must be nice.

The Diamondbacks have typically made surprise splashes on the pitching front, bringing in Madison Bumgarner, Jordan Montgomery, and Corbin Burnes. Those signings have all worked out very poorly so far, but it apparently hasn’t stopped Kendrick from throwing money around. Or maybe it’s caused him to rethink how payroll is allocated.

Other News and Notes

• Team USA’s WBC squad got big boosts as Tarik Skubal and Mason Miller have committed to the event.
• The Cardinals are actively shopping a number of players, including Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado. The latter two both have no-trade clauses, for what it’s worth.
• The Royals have acquired lefty reliever Matt Strahm from the Phillies in exchange for righty Johathan Bowlan.
• Ben Weinrib of MLB Pipeline breaks down what we already knew about Mo Baller, which is that he’s destined to be a DH.
• Righty Shawn Armstrong, another seemingly good fit for the Cubs, signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Guardians. Kinda seems like Hoyer is done with big league bullpen deals.

Trailer Time

I already mentioned it, so why not just roll the clip of Jackman and Hudson creating a Neil Diamond experience?