The San Diego Padres lost eight more players to free agency this week, including their No. 14 prospect in the system.

In other news, right-hander Casey Mize has a contract projection made following an atrocious second half of his 2026 season. The 29-year-old earned his first All-Star selection in 2025 and played at an All-Star caliber level before the trade deadline with a 2.70 ERA through those 16 starts, but torpedoed after he was acquired by the Friars.

As a Padre, Mize owned a 7.46 ERA across 10 starts (44.2 innings pitched) and a negative-1.3 bWAR in those outings alone. For reference, he put up a 2.6 bWAR in his initial 16 starts in 2026.

It would be questionable to assume that there will be a Mize reunion in San Diego, but if he can be had for a fair deal (and get much closer to the Mize of the first half of the season), it shouldn't be entirely ruled out given the state of the pitching roster.

Finally, the underperformance of Mize was far from the only pitching issue San Diego went through last season, but part of why they were recently linked to Baltimore Orioles southpaw Trevor Rogers. Similar to Mize, Rogers followed up an elite 2025 (1.81 ERA across 109.2 innings) with a subpar 2026 (4.03 ERA in 169.2 innings).

Though Rogers' ERA took a hit, he pitched a career-high in innings. For a Padres team that had the fourth-fewest innings by their rotation, a player like Rogers — assuming his ERA becomes more familiar in 2027 — can be a perfect addition to the roster.

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