Fresh off their all-in plan to win the World Series – and executing it – the ace of the Washington Nationals is in high demand.

Indeed, the San Diego Padres are going to make a hard run at Stephen Strasburg this off-season. Strasburg became a free agent just hours after the Nationals’ championship parade in Washington on Saturday.

Now, according Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune; the Padres will be in hot pursuit of Strasburg.

MLB rumors: Padres plan to make a run at Stephen Strasburg in free agency https://t.co/oNOmLc7ZvY — CBS Sports MLB (@CBSSportsMLB) November 4, 2019

Here is the snippet from Acee’s report:

Multiple people in the organization indicated over the past few days that the team will be in position to make a run at Stephen Strasburg … The belief in baseball is the Nationals are the favorites to keep Strasburg — just at a higher price than previously committed. However, San Diego County is where Stephen and Rachel Strasburg’s parents both live. Even before Strasburg’s availability became official, Padres officials were quietly talking about ways in which they would up the payroll.

Obviously, Strasburg would bolster any rotation in the game. However, he instantly becomes the frontline starter for San Diego should be land there. Moreover, Strasburg is coming off a 2019 where he went 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 251 strikeouts.

Then, in the MLB postseason; Strasburg went 5-0. All of this was culminated with a World Series Most Valuable Player Award. Strasburg winning that award made him the first number one overall draft pick to win the World Series MVP by the team that drafted him number one overall.

It will be interesting to see if the Padres can become a player in this transaction. If they’re able to land Strasburg, one might wonder what effect it has on their ability to contend with heavyweights like the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.