Padres' Need For Backup Catcher Is Glaring, But It Won't Make Or Break Their Offseason

[Randy Holt]

Even with an executive as busy as A.J. Preller, few elements of the San Diego Padres organization have seen more turnover over the last handful of years than the one behind the plate. 

In 2023, the team rolled out a group that consisted of, at various points, Gary Sánchez, Austin Nola, Luis Campusano, and Brett Sullivan. Their collective 1.4 fWAR ranked 19th in the league that year. The 2024 group took on a different shape, with each of Campusano and Sullivan holding over to an extent and Kyle Higashioka & Elías Díaz each joining the roster. That slate of backstops sat only 24th in the league in fWAR, with Higashioka's 1.6 figure buoying the group ahead of his departure in free agency. Negative value from the holdovers resulted in just a 1.1 fWAR overall.

As such, the catching situation in 2025 was uninspiring from the jump. Priced out of Higashioka's market, the team turned again to Díaz and signed Martín Maldonado to a non-guaranteed contract ahead of the spring. The pair were brutal, presenting certain shortcomings on the defensive end and very little at the plate. Given that, it's no surprise that this group, even with trade deadline acquisition Freddy Fermin, ranked only 28th in the league with a 0.1 fWAR. 

At the deadline, Preller sent Stephen Kolek & Ryan Bergert to Kansas City in exchange for Fermin. It was a heftier-than-expected price to pay given the team's need for pitching depth, but Fermin was a crucial addition. Aside from the stability he provided down the stretch, his .388 wOBA across the three games against Chicago in the wild card series trailed only Jackson Merrill for the team lead. Arbitration-eligible through 2029, Fermin also brings the added benefit of certainty behind the plate for the foreseeable future. It's when we look behind Fermin that things start to get a little bit murky. 

Maldonado already announced his retirement. Díaz carries a $7 million mutual option that will almost certainly be declined from the Padres' end of things. Top prospect Ethan Salas is likely at least another year away. With a continued reluctance to give Campusano a shred of time behind the plate, they'll likely non-tender or look to move his two additional years of arbitration eligibility post-2026 given the upside he's shown with the bat in Triple-A. That leaves a complete vacancy behind Fermin going into next season.

MLB Trade Rumors notes 16 catchers set to hit free agency this winter that accrued at least some major league time in '25. That list includes a pair of mutual options (Díaz & Milwaukee's Danny Jansen) and two club options (San Francisco's Tom Murphy & the Royals' Salvador Perez). Considering Díaz's imminent departure and the fact that Perez isn't likely to play for anyone outside of Kansas City, there's a couple of easy candidates to eliminate. Murphy's recent health woes (back & knee) could lead teams to remain clear of him, too. Jansen makes sense as a candidate if (and, likely, when) the Brewers decline his $12 million option, however.

The remainder of the free agent class is a tough sell, even for a No. 2 catcher. No catcher had a lower fWAR than Jacob Stallings. J.T. Realmuto's price and starting status, even at 35 years old, likely keeps him out of any connection with San Diego. That's five names already off a list of 16. A case could be made for someone like Jansen, Matt Thaiss, or James McCann, at least. They offer some level of offensive competence in conjunction with defensive stability. If the team were willing to punt on offense entirely (as they appeared to do with the Díaz-Maldonado tandem in 2025), then names like José Herrera or Christian Vázquez could be brought into the fold.

Should Preller find the free agent market unappealing, there are at least a couple of options available via trade. With Miguel Amaya poised to return, the Chicago Cubs could move Reese McGuire and his one remaining year of arbitration. He performed admirably in Amaya's stead as the backup to Carson Kelly. The Padres could also find catching help on the South Side of the same city given that the emergence of Kyle Teel & Edgar Quero has left Korey Lee at the bottom of the depth chart. The St. Louis Cardinals have also already received interest in their catching depth, which could include an upper-tier bat like Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pagés, or Yohel Pozo.

While appealing options are limited in free agency, they do increase when you expand the scope to the trade market. The matter of addressing the backup catcher spot means looking for a stronger defensive profile and, perhaps, some mild competence at the plate. The trade market appears to offer more of the latter, but a blend of both can be found in at least a couple of names that cost only money over trading more prospects from an increasingly-thin system.

The Padres are, fortunately, not in a position akin to last winter where they needed to address the position at large, though, thanks to the presence of Fermin. That should make the search an intriguing one, but not one to offer a spot in the corner of despair in which the combination Díaz & Maldonado left the Padres in last winter.

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