The Padres weren't waiting around for a quiet Deadline day. As the 3 p.m. clock ticked down, San Diego swooped in on Casey Mize, landing the Tigers right-hander in a deal that reshapes the back half of their rotation for a postseason push.
The San Diego Padres with a big buzzer beater: They're acquiring right-hander Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers, sources tell ESPN.
It didn't take long for the beat to catch up. Jon Heyman had it first, and within minutes Ken Rosenthal, Mark Feinsand and Jeff Passan were all confirming the same thing from their own sources — a rare instant-consensus moment on Deadline day.
The Padres make a big move at the Deadline, acquiring Casey Mize from the Tigers, per source. So San Diego adds Mize and Robbie Ray to their rotation on Deadline day. @JonHeyman was on it.
The full framework came together fast: Mize and infielder Gage Workman head to San Diego, while Detroit gets back left-hander Kash Mayfield — the Padres' No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline — along with southpaw Jackson Wolf. That's a real price for a rental, and it says plenty about how seriously San Diego is treating the stretch run.
The Padres acquire RHP Casey Mize and INF Gage Workman from the Tigers for Kash Mayfield (Padres No. 2 prospect per @MLBPipeline) and LHP Jackson Wolf, per source. @Ken_Rosenthal and @sdutKevinAcee were on the return.
Mize, once the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, has finally put together the healthy, dominant season Detroit always hoped for, posting a career-best ERA+ over 16 starts this year. He's battled multiple arm surgeries and lower-body injuries throughout his career, but when right, he's shown he can be a legit mid-rotation arm — exactly the profile a contender wants to add in August.
Pairing Mize with Robbie Ray gives San Diego two proven arms at the top of a staff that could also get healthy reinforcements later this season. Mize is a pending free agent, so this is purely a win-now swing — the Padres are betting the rest of this year matters more than what Mayfield could become down the line.
For the Tigers, it's the clearest signal yet that they're not chasing this October, cashing in a veteran arm on an expiring deal for controllable young talent. For San Diego, the message is louder: they didn't just add a starter, they bought themselves a real chance.