Quantity Over Quality: Will Padres' Offseason Approach Yield Better Results?

[Randy Holt]

In general, the San Diego Padres are always a team to watch for intrigue during a transactional period. Whether it’s the signing of Manny Machado during the 2019 offseason, the acquisition of Juan Soto in the summer of 2022, or any of the myriad of notable signings, trades, and extensions that have happened before, during, and after, A.J. Preller always gives us a reason to divert our attention to San Diego when there are moves to be made. 

Such was not the case this winter. 

A combination of budget constraints wrought by said prior activity and an uncertain ownership situation left Preller to address the team’s needs more on the margins than confronting them directly. There were, of course, exceptions to that. Michael King was brought back on what is essentially a one-year deal. South Korean standout Sung Mun Song adds a combination of offensive upside and versatility that the roster sorely lacked. Beyond that pair of moves, however, it’s been a glut of short-term or minor-league signings to make improvements toward another year of contention in 2026. 

The Padres have certainly signed names. Miguel Andujar was one of the more sought-after bench bats available, while the team was also quick to bring in Nick Castellanos upon his ouster from Philadelphia. Non-roster invitees like Jose Miranda, Samad Taylor, Pablo Reyes, and Nick Solak each feature a healthy bit of major-league experience. 

On the mound, it’s names like Germán Márquez and Griffin Canning playing on one-year pacts, while others such as Triston McKenzie, Marco Gonzales, and Walker Buehler were at one point very notable in the world of arms. Each of the latter three settled for a minor-league deal with the Friars this winter. 

That’s nearly a dozen names for only a couple of spots on the roster, with more opportunity existing on the pitching front. Without the resources to make a more dramatic move – whether it’d cost cash on the free-agent market or prospects via trade – this is the manner in which Preller had to build up his team. Will it work? 

Let’s consider, for a moment, what the Padres actually needed heading into this offseason. 

From a position player standpoint, they needed additional right-handed power and some depth off the bench. Last year’s lineup struggled to generate power (from either side, really) and failed to compensate effectively when players were out with an injury. They rotated out a tough cast of characters that included names like Jose Iglesias, Tyler Wade, Jason Heyward, and Yuli Gurriel.

In their stead, Song will be the primary name off the bench. He can fill in at three infield positions as of now, with the possibility already floated that he could get work at first base and on the outfield grass. That helps immediately but is far from curing the bench problem. Andujar and Castellanos are in the mix on guaranteed deals. They both bring offensive upside to the plate, with Andujar doing so more recently. Their positional skill set – with Andujar capable of handling each of the four corners and Castellanos more limited to right field and, maybe, first base – will also help Craig Stammen to rotate out the two biggest positions of need: first base and designated hitter. They’ll combine with Gavin Sheets in forming that rotation.

It remains to be seen how much of a factor the likes of Miranda, Reyes, or Taylor might be, let alone Solak. Miranda extends the corner dynamic, while Reyes and Taylor offer more support up the middle, perhaps in the stead of already-present options like Mason McCoy or Will Wagner. Given where the need existed, both in terms of the power dynamic and the positional depth chart, there’s a clear on-paper solution here wrought by the volume approach. 

The same is less clear on the mound. Márquez is on a guaranteed deal but has fought injury woes and a velocity dip over the last few seasons that have led to some abominable percentile outcomes. Canning, meanwhile, is coming off some of his best work but may not be ready for the season due to last year’s Achilles rupture. Walker Buehler did his best work back in 2021, but health issues have pinned him down before he was undone by performance woes in 2025. McKenzie was good more recently (2022) but has a similar track record as it relates to health and the declining performance that has resulted. 

What isn’t working in the Padres’ favor on the pitching side is the natural variance that is inherent to that position. There’s always a correlation between health, age, and performance in different ways. But that correlation does not appear to be impacting them as much on the position player side as it could on the mound. One would be perfectly justified to feel decent about the lineup and still feel like they’re floating in the abstract as it relates to their arms. And that’s really the conclusion that should be reached. 

There are only so many position players to go around in a given offseason, regardless of the market on which they are available. While Preller had to wait it out in order to address the needs, those at least appear to be settled in the on-paper sense. Even if it doesn’t work to complete fruition, the combination of handedness and positional flexibility aim directly at the shortcomings of last year’s group. How successful this approach will be for the pitching staff, however, remains to be seen.

In general, it’s hard to be disappointed with the job Preller did with the limited framework in which he had to operate this winter against prior ones. While it may be hard to declare this year’s roster to be better than last year’s, steps were taken to address deficient areas. One imagines that such an intense volume should yield at least some positive dividends for the organization as the season progresses.

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