Los Angeles Dodgers’ biggest competition for Gerrit Cole

3. San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres are not a team that is getting a lot of buzz in the Cole sweepstakes but I could absolutely see California’s southernmost team going after Cole and becoming the team that emerged victoriously.

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Nobody expected the Padres to sign Manny Machado, especially considering the reports that Machado favored the East Coast, but they opened up the money bag and Machado decided that San Diego wasn’t too bad after all.

*Side note: San Diego is the best major city in America, I don’t blame him*

After adding Machado it is clear that the Padres are not afraid to spend and if they are going to spend again this winter then it should be for a starting pitcher. While Chris Paddack was great this season and is ace material, Cole is a completely different pitcher and would instantly increase the Padres’ World Series chances.

Out of the big-name pitchers on the market this year the Padres should have a closer connection to Stephen Strasburg, who has San Diego ties and can opt-out of his contract.

However, there is no reason not to go after Cole and if both are provisionally agreeing to the contracts offered to them, and the Padres can only have one, then the choice is obviously Gerrit Cole.

This is not quite Orange County, where he grew up, or Los Angeles, where he went to college, but it is close enough and it may be the best of both worlds.