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Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller made an appearance on MLB Network Radio this weekend and discussed his thoughts about the roster with the deadline looming at the end of the month.
“Getting Darvish, King back would be huge,” Preller said, referring to injured starters Yu Darvish and Michael King. “The bullpen’s been strong. We’ve got a lot of different weapons in the ’pen. You could add to a strength. And on the offense side, it’s probably rounding out the depth of the lineup. I think, like you mentioned, the top of the lineup should be strong… You’ve got to be deep one through nine and I think probably adding a bat or two is something that we’re going to look at here in the next few weeks to try to help our team get to October.”
Wanting to add to the offense is an understandable focus, as San Diego has some clear holes. It’s been reported earlier in the year that the club is looking for upgrades at catcher and left field. Behind the plate, the club isn’t getting any offensive contributions from Elias Díaz nor Martín Maldonado. The team has a collective .206/.269/.325 line from the catching position. That translates to a wRC+ of 70, which is ahead of just the Guardians, Nationals and Giants.
The left field situation is a bit more complex. Jason Heyward had the position for a while but struggled and was released. Gavin Sheets has taken over and is having a great year offensively, currently sporting a .264/.325/.451 batting line and a 119 wRC+. However, he’s not an especially strong outfield defender, so the Friars could consider adding a left fielder to push Sheets back to the first base/designated hitter mix. That would take plate appearances away from Trenton Brooks, who is hitting .200/.231/.400 on the year.
How the Friars go about adding to those spots will be an interesting situation to watch. The club’s payroll has been an obvious concern in recent years, which led to the Juan Soto trade. In the most recent offseason, they primarily limited themselves to modest one-year deals. The one exception was Nick Pivetta’s four-year pact, which was backloaded to reduce the financial impact in 2025.
On top of that, the club has traded away a lot of prospects in recent years as they have attempted to keep the major league roster stacked with talent. Their farm system is highlighted by two really strong youngsters in Leo De Vries and Ethan Salas but all reporting has suggested the Padres are reluctant to part with either of those two.
Put it all together and it will be a tricky balance for Preller but he should have plenty of options, at least for the left field spot. The Friars are known to be interested in Jarren Duran, though that might be more of a long-shot possibility with the Sox hanging in the American League race and Duran controlled for three more seasons after this one. Guys like Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Jesús Sánchez, Andrew Benintendi, Mike Tauchman, Ramón Laureano and Adolis García are some of the other possibilities. Behind the plate, old friends Kyle Higashioka and Gary Sánchez could be available.
As for the bullpen, as Preller mentioned, it has been a strength. San Diego relievers have a collective 3.25 earned run average, which is third in the majors, trailing only the Giants and Astros. But even a club with a strong relief groups can add another arm or two, and injuries can always pop up and change the calculus, so Preller’s openness to adding there is understandable.
The rotation is perhaps a bit more in flux. Starting depth hasn’t been the club’s strong suit for a while and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them target upgrades there, though as Preller alluded to, their aggressiveness in this department might depend on how things unfold in the coming weeks.
Darvish has been out all year due to elbow inflammation but will come off the injured list today. He will jump into a rotation mix that also includes Pivetta, Dylan Cease and Randy Vásquez. King is out with a pinched nerve in his shoulder and his status is up in the air.
Having a playoff rotation of Cease, Pivetta, Darvish and King would be nice but it’s still unclear how realistic it is for the Padres to expect that. Vásquez has a 3.79 ERA on the year but fairly uninspiring peripherals. He still has an option remaining, so perhaps the Padres would consider grabbing one more starter and bumping him to the minors, though they would have to weigh that against other needs while also considering their payroll and the prospect cost of making such a move.
Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
