How the Padres' 40-Man Roster Stands to Change in the Very Near Future

[Randy Holt]

While the Major League Baseball offseason may not move at the exciting pace of some of its professional counterparts, the San Diego Padres stand to be active on multiple fronts early on. With option decisions to be made and a manager to be hired, there is plenty on the organization's plate from the jump. The 40-man roster will also have its place among the items of importance early on. 

When a player is placed on the 60-day Injured List, it removes said player from the 40-man roster. However, those players must be added back to the active roster following the conclusion of the World Series. It can be an effective roster maneuver in-season but not one teams are able to exploit over the winter. As such, the Padres will have some names added back into the mix within the next couple of days. At least on paper. 

Joe Musgrove is a name that immediately comes to mind as one that'll be added back to the 40-man roster. He missed all of 2025 following Tommy John Surgery late in the 2024 season. His timeline for next year remains a bit unclear, but it stands to reason that he'll be back early in the year, if not from the start. As such, his re-addition to the 40-man is something that the team would have to do fairly quickly to begin with. 

The same goes for Jason Adam, whose September surgery to repair a ruptured left quad carries a six-to-nine month recovery timeline. While we also don't know if he'll come in at the shorter end of that and potentially be back to start '26, it should be early on. Similar to Musgrove, he's a name the team would've had to prepare to have back in short order anyway. 

It's not as clear cut with Jhony Brito, however. He'll miss at least the first half of 2026 following an internal brace procedure for his UCL. The team certainly expects him back at some point during the year, but his inclusion on the 40-man is the type of thing that can complicate roster construction as A.J. Preller works his way through potential additions this winter. 

Ultimately, though, the Padres are in a decent position as far as the 40-man roster is concerned. Sure, they'll have to add those names back, but they're also gaining some flexibility via the impending departures of Dylan Cease, Michael King, Luis Arráez, and Ryan O'Hearn at a minimum. Robert Suárez, Elías Díaz, and Kyle Hart could be on their way out of town as well. Not that you want each of those names suiting up for a new squad in 2026. But it does make the re-addition requirement a bit more palatable than if the Padres had a logjam of bodies on their 40-man to navigate in (technically) activating their trio on the 60-day. 

This is, of course, the first step toward building up the 2026 roster for the San Diego Padres. It's a procedural move that won't garner much attention, but the impending returns of important names like Musgrove and Adam at least offers a bit of clarity as to how some areas of the roster could be assembled for next year.

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