Latest Padres rumors suggest Dodgers' biggest division threat might be on the way out

The Padres were an incessant thorn in the Dodgers' sides throughout 2024, starting on the very first day of both teams' seasons in Seoul. San Diego made a statement during that series, roughing up Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his first ever MLB outing and scoring 15 runs to the Dodgers' (still respectable) 11.

LA had to wait until their very fourth and last series against them to get a series win, and the Friars were widely thought of as the NLDS favorites given their better head-to-head record against the Dodgers and the Dodgers' overall reputation for choking in the early stages of the postseason.

Even though the Dodgers ended up on top, it's impossible to deny that the Padres put together a very good team in 2024. Even though the roster was packed with shortstops and Xander Bogaerts' contract will still go down as one of the weirdest in baseball history, they even got within striking distance of the Dodgers' hold over the NL West toward the end of the season.

One would think that the Padres wouldn't want to mess with that kind of chemistry and firepower, but latest rumors suggest that they might not be as attached to their core as you'd think. Jon Heyman said that San Diego was "listening" on some of their biggest stars, including Dylan Cease, Luis Arráez, and Bogaerts.

Dodgers' hated division rival Padres reportedly open to trading some of their biggest stars

No one is taking on Bogaerts' contract unless the Padres eat a good deal of the money. He's going into year three of an 11-year contract worth $280 million, which was confounding for a player who was 30 years old when the deal was struck.

However, Cease and Arráez will definitely attract some attention. The Padres just got both, but they're expected to make around $13-14 million in their last year of arbitration eligibility. Cease earned MVP votes for his 3.47 ERA season and Arráez posted the best average in his league for the third year in a row.

To the Dodgers, it could look like a white flag is waving. The Padres lost Jurickson Profar in free agency, but giving up their ace and a guy who's almost impossible to strike out would be a huge blow to that core. If they do lose Cease or Arráez, or even find a taker for Bogaerts' ridiculous contract, the NL West looks like it's the Dodgers' to win.