The San Diego Padres have much to do this offseason as they look to not only get back to October in 2027, but finally reach their ultimate goal.

Many roadblocks present themselves this offseason, namely the various free agents whose Padres futures are uncertain. To make matters worse, MLB insider David Lennon of Newsday predicted that the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers will swoop in and take two of the most effective pitchers on the roster this winter in Michael King and Adrian Morejon.

King is coming off arguably his best season yet, and a postseason that was undoubtably his best.

The 31-year-old tossed a 3.21 ERA over a career-high 185 innings to total a career-high bWAR of 4.3. When it came time for the postseason, King pitched 14 innings (two starts and his first-career postseason save) with a minuscule ERA of 0.64.

King opted out of his contract to begin the offseason, and is expected to cash in during free agency with some reports predicting a $140 million deal. Though the Padres desperately need starting pitching help — which was evident in most cases when someone not named Michael King was on the mound —they also have significant money tied up to their offensive core through at least the 2030 season.

Something the Padres have that no team has is King's emotional connection to the city. He spoke last month on how San Diego has become a second home for him and his family as he is originally from the East Coast.

"This is where we started a family," King said. "We started our foundation here. San Diego's been incredible for me, and it's all the way across the country from home. But now I feel like I have a second home on the West Coast, so it's been awesome. And yeah, I hope to continue."

The case for Morejon is similar to King, but part of why the bullpen didn't look as sharp in October was due to the taxing innings the starting pitchers forced the relievers to eat up through the regular season.

Morejon, a 27-year-old left-hander, is coming off a 2.83 ERA-season across a career-high 86 innings of work. He ranked in the 99th percentile across MLB in terms of getting batters to chase hit pitches outside of the strike zone (38.6% of the time), the 97th percentile in terms of swing-and-miss percentage and a 99.4 mph average fastball velocity that put him in the 99th percentile.

There is no doubt that Morejon will be a sought-after arm this offseason, but similar to King, he made his intentions known about where he wants to be outside of the business side of things.

Losing some of the most productive players on the roster would certainly sting, but having to see them in the same division would be unimaginable for the Friar faithful.

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