The handwriting was on the wall when the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent southpaw Blake Snell to a multi-year mega deal, and then followed up by inking slugger Teoscar Hernandez to a new agreement. The San Francisco Giants held serve by welcoming highly sought shortstop Willy Adames to the city by the bay. And just a few days ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks lured star pitcher Corbin Burnes in a blockbuster pact. The financially strapped San Diego Padres? Well, they have done nothing.
Reality has been a tough pill to swallow for the Friar Faithful who sold out Petco Park a record number of times last season. And the Padres were in a great position to advance to the Fall Classic in 2024, only to lose the final two games to the Dodgers in the NLCS. But this big dream franchise, lacking lucrative cable television contracts like the Dodgers or Giants, have the small market blues. Long term deals with Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr, Joe Musgrove, Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish and others have forced the club into a cash flow reality.
The numbers are staggering. For the 2025 season, Machado will earn a bargain $13 million, but that will increase to $20 million in 2026. Tatis Jr will rake in $20 million for the up-coming campaign, as will Musgrove, who won’t pitch at all in 2025 after Tommy John surgery. Add another $20 million for Darvish and with Bogaerts, an inflated $25 million. The scary part is that the money will only climb for Boggy, Fernando and the team captain Machado, who are all signed through at least 2033. All have no trade clauses in their contracts with numerous perks. Obviously, the math puts the club’s General Manager AJ Preller between a rock and a hard place.
Complicating matters was the untimely death of the organization’s owner Peter Seidler, who passed away in November 2023 of non-Hodgkins lymphoma at the young age of 63. A nephew of former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, Seidler had a burning desire to transform the Padres into world champions, and they came extremely close to the final dance last season. After a period of uncertainty, Seidler’s brother John recently took control of the franchise, which brought some comfort to San Diego’s loyal following that extends all the way to Tijuana, Mexico. That being said, Preller’s go ahead to pursue the free agent market has been reduced to kicking the tires and window shopping. The one exception seems to be Japanese rookie Roki Sasaki.
The Padres feel like the 23 year old Sasaki, the phenom Chiba Lotte Marines hurler, is financially within their means. Because he’s under 25, Sasaki is subject to international pool money restrictions, which would limit the amount of his signing bonus. After meeting with Roki, it was determined that the youngster isn’t all that interested in becoming a small fish in a big pond, which would be the case on Los Angeles or New York teams. His main preferences are to pitch for a winning club, and to make his own way as a super star without sharing the limelight with others. That says a lot for a kid who has thrown pitches clocked at 102 mpr, and very comfortable in his own skin.
Quite frankly, the Padres are a longshot to ink Sasaki, but Roki’s relationship with Darvish, a teammate with Yu on Japan’s WBC team, could be a determining factor. San Diego already has a lot of winning pieces to the puzzle. However, the addition of Sasaki to replace the injured Musgrove could make a huge difference in the starting rotation. He becomes the “Golden Goose” that could come to the rescue.
The Padres already have an excellent assembly of players, but adding another piece to that group, especially a starting pitcher, would certainly enhance the team’s chances of success in 2025.
