Sports

5 teams the Padres should be negotiating with in a Mason Miller trade

Friars on Base · Jul 22, 2026 03:05 · 4 min read

5 teams the Padres should be negotiating with in a Mason Miller trade — Jul 17, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Mason Miller (22) throws a pitch in the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Mason Miller trade rumors keep swirling around the San Diego Padres. Here are five contenders with the prospect capital and bullpen need to actually get a deal done.

The MLB trade deadline is often an exercise in hyperbole, but the idea that Mason Miller is the best trade chip in baseball doesn’t fit that. The Padres surrendered a franchise-caliber prospect to get him last summer, and he’s likely already outgrown that price tag a year later. He’s controlled for three more seasons and is arguably the best reliever in baseball.

Any team that wants him is going to have to blow the San Diego Padres away. But that isn’t going to stop conversations from happening. And if teams want the most game-changing reliever in all of baseball, they’ll have to pay big.

The trade return for Mason Miller has to be enormous, and only a few teams can match up

It isn’t just that Miller isn’t a rental. It’s that he can impact up to four pennant races in the back of a bullpen. Whoever lands him gets a shutdown ninth-inning arm at a fraction of the cost of what we’ve seen some elite closers signing for in previous offseasons. And that’ll be the case for at least two more years before the arbitration number likely gets out of hand. So if they do end up selling, it’ll likely be from strength, and that includes Miller if someone offers AJ Preller the right offer.

It can’t be overstated that this isn’t a typical reliever swap where a team trades a couple of interesting prospects for a closer and calls it a day. The return will need to look like what teams would give up for a top-of-the-rotation starter. With that bar in mind, here are five teams who actually have the depth and the roster need to get this done.

New York Yankees

There’ll never be a trade cycle where the Yankees aren’t mentioned. They have a clear need in their bullpen, and while David Bednar has been good for them, he wouldn’t stop Miller from closing games in the Bronx. It’s no secret that they’ve been interested in Miller, including during the All-Star break last week. The Yankees have the upper-level talent, namely Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones, that could actually get a deal started for Miller. The Yankees may bristle at giving away an everyday player for a one-inning reliever, but Miller is worth it.

Tampa Bay Rays

There is no team like the Rays. Maybe the Brewers operate similarly, but the Rays are so interesting because they lurk for stars like Miller. They typically like to trade from the middle of an almost always solid farm system and buy low to help a player improve, but sometimes you’ll hear their name on the superstars. They’ve been floated as a potential bidding-war partner against the Yankees for Miller (they’ve also been mentioned for Tarik Skubal and probably have enough to get both if they wanted). They have young, controllable talent that wouldn’t gut the big league roster, so there’s a potential match there if the Padres want.

Chicago Cubs

Jed Hoyer has made it very clear that his team needs impact pitching, but anybody who watches baseball knew that anyway. The Cubs have had a lot of injuries in their bullpen, so they’ll need some help. They’ve been connected to Miller for a while now, and while the exact package they can provide isn’t totally clear, they do have upper-minors and even some young big league talent that could entice San Diego.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies have roared into contention, but they’ve done it with a pretty shaky bullpen that just lost Brad Keller. They haven’t been shy about their desire to add relievers, and Miller would pair with Jhoan Duran as one of the filthiest end-game duos in all of baseball. The fit makes a lot of sense on paper for the Phillies, but the question is if they have enough to get Miller from a system that isn’t exactly brimming with top-end talent. You wonder a little if they’d be able to offer a quantity trade that includes someone like Andrew Painter and one of their top two or three projects along with others that could get the Padres’ attention.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers, again, are like the Rays, only they don’t seem to lurk for the stars quite as much. They believe in their ability to develop, but could they be interested in turning one of the better bullpens in baseball into one of the scariest bullpens in recent memory? They haven’t been able to get over the October hump in spite of being one of the best teams in baseball, so if they can shorten games in a way even they haven’t been able to do, maybe that’s attractive. While they haven’t been all that aggressive in the past, they have the farm system to make a huge splash, so they shouldn’t be dismissed even if the need and the history aren't quite as apparent as some other teams.

The fun part about all of this is Miller may very well stay put. The deadline is still more than a week away, and while the Padres' rough stretch has made them open-minded and has made Miller the number four trade candidate on the most recent ESPN list, they could still decide to buy or even stand pat. But if they do decide to move the best reliever in baseball, believe that it will be for a haul that will raise eyebrows. Someone is going to have to pay the going rate and more.