Are the Padres out of options in LF?

The San Diego Padres are quickly running out of solution their their #1 offseason issue. The team needs to find another starting outfielder soon.

In a word, the San Diego Padres roster is…untenable.

I won’t even touch the pitching, I’ll save that for tomorrow, but the position players all fit like the wrong pieces to a different puzzle. It’s probably best if we break this down by section.

Catchers

When it comes to catchers, the Padres have too many of them. There are currently four catchers on the active roster. If they like one of them to DH regularly, three is the right number. If they have other ideas for the DH spot, there should probably be two.

That doesn’t even address who is the starter. Austin Nola has shown an inability to stay healthy as a catcher. Luis Campusano may or may not be ready. Jorge Alfaro and Victor Caratini are backups.

Infielders

Simple math will tell you that the Padres have at least two less infielders to start this season than they did at the end of last season, with Fernando Tatis Jr. recovering from surgery and Adam Frazier traded to the Seattle Mariners.

The depth here is looking pretty slim. Manny Machado will be at 3B, and Jake Cronenworth will be back at 2B, but beyond that…? Ha-Seong Kim will get a chance to be the regular starter at SS for the first few months with Tatis out, but there’s no good options if he gets hurt or doesn’t play well.

All of the above means that the team, which put itself in a position last season to have an all-star infield if they could move Eric Hosmer out of the way, now needs Eric Hosmer to play 1B.

Jurickson Profar is the only backup infielder, which brings us to…

Outfielders

Whew. I almost don’t even know what to say.

Trent Grisham started last season scorching hot but finished with a thud. He’s fine, but he’s also more of a corner OF than a CF. But, on a team without any center fielders, Grisham is once again the starter without a backup plan.

Wil Myers is the only other outfielder on the team, and he’s not great. He finished with an fWAR of 1.4 last season, and I would expect him to be in that range again. Contract aside, that’s a much bigger problem with so many other holes existing in the lineup.

But that brings us to left field. The only real option the team has as the starting LF today is Jurickson Profar, who I just said was the only backup infielder the team has. He’s also maybe the best option the team has as the regular DH. Yikes.

To summarize, the Padres desperately need a new starting OF. They can maybe survive with the IF and DH options they have, but they won’t survive with 2.5 outfielders.

Swings and misses

There are a couple of players that we know the Padres have at least considered, if not outright targeted, in free agency. So far, those players have ended up signing with other teams.

Seiya Suzuki signed with the Cubs
Kyle Schwarber signed with the Phillies
Kris Bryant signed with the Rockies
Starling Marte signed with the Mets
Joc Pederson signed with the Giants

The Padres are about $11M from the luxury tax and look to be avoiding that mark, so their search for a solid starting LF that can fit within that budget continues.

Check the minor leagues?

When you check the Padres upper minor leagues for outfielders that might be ready to play at the MLB level, you will undoubtedly come up empty. There are some intriguing options in Jorge Oña, Robert Hassell and C.J. Abrams, but none of them have a track record that suggests they’re ready. They’re potentially late-season call-ups, but that’s not going to help A.J. Preller now.

What’s left?

Ugh. The choices left on the free agent market are bad for two reasons. One, they’re all overpriced (welcome to free agency) and two, most of them aren’t going to be very good playing at Petco Park in 2022.

Nick Castellanos
Michael Conforto
Jorge Soler
Eddie Rosario
Tommy Pham

That’s the list. The Padres and any other team still in need of an outfielder are going to be fighting over those five guys, who are all 30 or older (Wil Myers is 31, for context), and San Diego will be doing it with some extreme budget constraints.

But the Padres are out of options. They don’t have another choice unless A.J. Preller has a trade in the works to bring back a starting outfielder.