It wouldnt be trade deadline season with Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller exploring a variety of creative deals. San Diego is reportedly open to offers on right-hander while simultaneously showing interest in other short-term veterans to backfill his spot in the rotation. Theyre also getting trade inquiries on young righties and , . Pitching prospects and are also among the names on which other clubs have expre sed interest. Kolek, 28, was a Rule 5 pick back in 2023 and stuck with the Friars in a bullpen role all last year. Hes moved Anthony Davis Jersey into the rotation this season and given San Diego 13 starts and 73 2/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball. Kolek doesnt mi s many bats (17.3% strikeout rate, 7.7% swinging-strike rate) but has good command (7.4% walk rate) and keeps the ball on the ground (50.4%). Hes given up plenty of hard contact, but his lack of fly-balls has helped to keep the home runs down. Its not the flashiest profile, but if another club buys into Kolek as a roughly league-average starter in his second pre-arbitration season with four years of club control remaining after the current campaign theres some value in that skill set. Controllable starting pitching is always in demand, and while hes not nece sarily an electric young arm with big velocity and strikeout numbers, Kolek has more than held his own in 2025 and still has two minor league option years remaining after this season. The 25-year-old Bergert is younger and also in the first of three option years. He entered the season ranked among San Diegos top 15 prospects or so and has elevated his status with a nice showing in Triple-A El Paso and a promising start to his big league career. In 44 2/3 Triple-A frames, Bergert carries a 4.03 ERA with a 22.6% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 45% grounder rate. The Padres gave him his big league debut in late April, and hes since appeared in a total of 10 games six of them starts. Bergert has impre sed with a 2.84 earned run average, 23.1% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate. Hes primarily a fastball/slider pitcher with a show-me changeup and sinker that hes used le s than 8% of the time each. Trading either Bergert or Kolek could help the Padres reel in a veteran bat in left field or behind the plate or it could simply bring back multiple prospects who could be redirected to those trade efforts. Bergert, who was optioned earlier this month, has spent enough time in the minors that he still has a full six years of club control beyond the current season. As with Kolek, hes not nece sarily the potential high-end young starter teams covet, but he has the makings of a useful back-end starter who could in theory be plugged right into a new teams rotation. As for the 22-year-old Baez and 23-year-old Nett, theyre both pitching in the Double-A rotation and posting strong numbers. Baez doesnt throw as hard or mi s as many bats but has better command with higher ground-ball totals. Hes already on the 40-man roster. Nett has more velocity and a strikeout rate thats a couple percentage points higher than his teammate but also a walk rate pushing 11%. Hed be Rule 5-eligible this winter and seems likely to be selected to the 40-man before then. Either could be a plausible option for a big league club by next season, so its hardly surprising to see teams poking around both pitchers. Jahlil Okafor Jersey