As the Padres face payroll constraints amid an offseason where starting pitching has been at a premium, the possibility of

Team could gain payroll flexibility while adding major league players and/or prospects by trading right-hander who finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting

Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease is not outfielder Juan Soto. No one is, a fact reinforced by the mind-bending contract Soto reached over the weekend with Steve Cohen’s New York Mets. But like Soto a year ago,