Justin Verlander is the hottest name in the MLB rumors sphere ahead of the 6 PM trade deadline. One new mystery suitor has emerged.

The New York Mets opened the MLB trade deadline floodgates with the decision to ship No. 1 ace Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers. A three-time Cy Young winner, Scherzer was meant to be the foundation of a contender in the NL East. Unfortunately for New York fans, the team simply could not deliver.

Now the Mets' other three-time Cy Young winner — the 40-year-old, two-time World Series champion Justin Verlander — is on the market, with teams all over the league inquiring about his availability.

So many teams, in fact, have inquired about Verlander that we don't know all the players. With the game set to send at 6 PM sharp eastern standard time, it feels like a matter of when and where, not if Verlander gets traded.

With several teams already firmly connected to Verlander — Dodgers, Astros, Orioles — a wave of unknown suitors have been flooding the market. Now one more team joins the mix, unmasked for all the world to see: the San Diego Padres.

MLB Rumors: San Diego Padres join trade race for New York Mets RHP Justin Verlander

The Padres are in the hunt for Verlander, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

This comes as a mild shock, as the Padres were expected to operate as sellers instead of buyers in advance of the 6 PM deadline. Practically everyone on the San Diego roster was thought to be fair game, from superstar slugger Juan Soto all the way down to key members of the pitching staff.

Well, now it would appear as though the Padres are looking to bolster the rotation instead of stripping it down. Verlander still tosses high-90s heat with a commendable 3.15 ERA and 1.145 WHIP. One glance at the Padres' roster — Soto, Manny Machado, Yu Darvish — and it becomes abundantly clear that the decision-makers in San Diego are more than happy to pay a premium price for top-end talent.

The Padres are still a head-scratching destination. At 52-55 on the season, San Diego is 8.5 games out of first place in the NL West and far removed from the wild card hunt. Verlander is set to make $43.3 million this season and next season — so, the Padres could view it as a two-year investment — but that's a lot of money for a pitcher over the age of 40 for a team not prepared to contend in the immediate future.

There's also the simple question of whether or not Verlander would even approve a move to San Diego? The Mets are only two games worse than the Padres in the overall standings and New York absolutely has the money to retool for contention in a year. Do his odds of winning a third ring in the foreseeable future really increase with a move to San Diego, all the way on the opposite coastline?

These are questions we cannot know, and perhaps will never know the answer to. The Padres will face stiff competition on the Verlander market and right now, the Orioles — first place in the AL East, close to Verlander's hometown, with a slew of high-value prospects to trade — feel like the undeniable frontrunners.