The Padres are known to be looking to bolster what is already a solid pitching staff, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes that the Rockies right-hander. Antonio Senzatela is one of the names on San Diego’s radar. The Nightengale also mentions them Aroldis Chapman As a goal for the Padres, we echoed Dennis Lin of The Athletic report a few days ago about the Padres’ long-standing interest in Chapman.
Senzatela is in the final year of the guaranteed five-year, $50MM extension he signed with Colorado in October 2021, as the Rockies hold a $14MM club option (without a buyout) for his services through 2027. In this sense Senzatela is a rental player for any interested traders, as that club option is unlikely to be used properly in the 2020 campaign.
Since signing that extension, Senzatela has thrown just 274 1/3 big league innings, as a torn ACL and Tommy John surgery led to two extended stints on the injured list. Finally fully healthy for the 2025 season, Senzatela struggled to a 7.42 ERA over 108 innings and 23 strikeouts before the Rockies moved him to the bullpen in August. The role change proved effective immediately, as Senzatela then posted a 2.86 ERA in his first 22 innings as a reliever.
Improvement continued to some extent in 2026, although Senzatela’s illustrious 1.13 ERA carries several red flags. The .195 BABIP is probably the biggest reason Senzatela has a 3.48 SIERA that is three times his real world ERA. It’s not just luck, though, as Senzatela’s 6.8% walk rate is solid and his hard-contact numbers have improved significantly in his work habits. His 22% strikeout rate is below the league average, but it’s also significantly better than the 14.7K% Senzatela posted in his first nine MLB seasons.
As one might expect, Senzatela’s move to relief has increased his velocity – after averaging 94.2mph on his fastball before 2026, Senzatela is now up to 97.1mph. In addition to the velo, Senzatela’s reduction in the use of his four seamers has made the pitch more effective, as Senzatela has now introduced a cutter to his arsenal. The four-seamer has been thrown 35.2% of the time and the cutter is not far behind at 30.8%, and Statcast’s Run Value metric gives the cutter an impressive +6.
These results bode well for Senzatela’s chances of getting a respectable contract if he hits free agency this winter, as it looks like going to the barn has revived his career. In the short term, it makes him an obvious trade chip for a rebuilding Rockies team that is tied with the Angels for the worst record in baseball (20-34). Barring injury, Colorado will be moving Senzatela before the trade deadline.
The consensus regarding the Padres is that San Diego is clearly looking to make a move sooner rather than later. The San Diego Keys have already logged 213 2/3 innings, the seventh-highest relief total in baseball. While this heavy workload hasn’t stopped the Friars’ bullpen from being one of the best in the game, the front office is looking to be proactive in adding a relief arm or two to help keep everyone fresh in what the Padres hope is an even deeper playoff run.
On the other hand, the fact that the Padres’ desire for bullpen help is less than a real need, it’s possible that they’re not working with too much desperation. That limits the potential the Rockies can have as one of the few teams in pure merchant mode. While the Rox will be selling and the Padres will be buying (barring a complete collapse in the next two months), many high-profile trades don’t happen until closer to the deadline as clubs often want to take their time in reaching their needs and gauging the market.
Since the Rockies’ goal should be to accumulate talent instead of cutting salary, Colorado could offer to eat almost everything left on Senzatela’s contract (about $8MM of a $12MM 2026 salary) to increase the chance of a return. Such an offer would be of particular interest to the Padres, who plan to be top taxpayers for the second straight season and underperformed this past winter. Of course, the new ownership group led by Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones would be willing to stretch the budget in pursuit of the franchise’s first odd World Series ring.
Perhaps it should be noted that the Padres and Rockies are the rare trade partners who have not completed a non-cash consideration type of trade since December 2011. This may have less to do with divisional rivalry than the fact that the Rockies generally make fewer trades as an organization than most other clubs, even though president of baseball operations Paul DePodewung has been working under several years already under the job.
