Last offseason, the Yankees were in pursuit of an earth-shattering move to change the narrative that they were afraid to go for it/unable to adequately protect Aaron Judge. This spring, they might need to pull off a massive move again — but not to lap the field. Instead, they require a blockbuster addition merely to keep up.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Padres will be willing and able to help them a second time.

Last December, the Yankees dealt a package loaded with pitchers to the Pads in exchange for Juan Soto and Trent Grisham, a monster move that paved New York’s pathway through the American League. Of the players they sent in exchange, Michael King blossomed like they’d hoped he would, and top pitching prospect Drew Thorpe was quickly flipped for Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox. Randy Vásquez and Jhony Brito, two additional pitching depth pieces, had their ups and downs, but managed to contribute on occasion to San Diego’s success.

Gerrit Cole’s recommended Tommy John surgery has thrown this year’s Yankees for a predictable loop, and there’s nothing more difficult than replacing an ace in March. Depth like Vásquez and Brito wouldn’t help move the needle much; the Yankees have that in droves. What they don’t have is a rotation topper to create a 1-2 punch with Max Fried, and both Cease and King, rumored to be “available” at various points in the offseason, would’ve at least been viable bandages.

That’s why Sunday’s report seemed ironically well-timed. According to sources, AJ Preller no longer has designs on moving either pitcher (neither of whom would’ve fit snugly in the Yankees’ self-capped budget anyhow). Back to the drawing board before even having a chance to finish the drawing.

Yankees won’t be trading for Dylan Cease or Michael King to replace Gerrit Cole

Preller “prefers to keep his team together” at this time, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney … and why wouldn’t he, this close to the launch of the regular season? Additionally, the Marlins could be interested in moving Sandy Alcantara somewhere down the line (and seem to be positioning his regular season innings count to make a trade more appealing), but won’t do so until the trade deadline. That could help eventually, but it won’t help stabilize things right now, and there will be a bidding war involved.

In all, the likeliest option is for the Yankees to rely on their depth to be solid, if unspectacular, and hope that Luis Gil can return and make a second-half impact. If the Padres won’t help, it doesn’t seem likely that anyone else will, either.