Introduction
After reviewing the offseason of the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers the last two weeks, today we continue our NL West Offseason reviews with a look at the San Diego Padres.
2025 Season Overview/Recap
The Padres got off to a great start to begin the 2025 season, matching their best-19 game start in franchise history with a 15-4 record. The team experienced a roster makeover thanks to a busy trade deadline, trading for Ramon Laureano, Ryan O’Hearn, Nestor Cortes, Freddy Fermín,
JP Sears, and probably the most impactful piece, All-Star closer Mason Miller. The Padres held a lead at top of the NL West on August 23, the latest they’ve held a lead in the division during a season since 2010, however, they finished in second place in the division behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second straight season. They did make the postseason as the fifth NL Wild Card seed though, but ultimately lost to the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in the Wild Card series, ending their season in disappointment. In spite of the disappointing end to their season, I still think it’s fair to call the Padres 2025 season a success.
Notable acquisitions:
SP Michael King (re-signed; 3 yr, $75M)
INF Sung-Mun Song (4 yr, $15M)
3B/OF Miguel Andujar (1 yr, $4M)
SP Kyle Hart (re-signed; 1 yr, $1.2M)
RP Ty Adcock (1-year deal)
RP Daison Acosta (1-year deal)
SP Triston McKenzie (MiLB deal)
SP Griffin Canning (1 yr, $2.5M)
OF Nick Castellanos (1 yr, $780k)
1B Ty France (MiLB deal)
SP Germán Márquez (1 yr, $1.75M)
SP Walker Buehler (MiLB deal)
Notable subtractions:
UTIL Jose Iglesias, SP Dylan Cease (Blue Jays), 1B/2B Luis Arraez (Giants), RP Robert Suarez (Braves), 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn (Pirates)
Offseason Summary and Review
The Padres have one of the biggest subtractions of the offseason in the NL West with Dylan Cease leaving sunny San Diego for the exact opposite weather in Toronto, Canada. However, the Padres did manage to avoid also losing starting pitchers Michael King and Kyle Hart to free agency. While German Marquez and Walker Buehler are a big step down from Cease, they are very low risk additions, especially considering the market for free agent starting pitching. I really like the addition of German Marquez, who in theory should have a much easier time pitching at sea level in San Diego, especially compared to the challenge that is pitching at altitude in Denver’s Coors Fields. Walker Buehler probably won’t come close again to what he did when he was with the Dodgers, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he returned to form in 2026. Starting pitcher Griffin Canning, who ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for the Mets in 2025, might be one of the better under-the-radar signings of the offseason. While he’s still rehabbing that injury, he’ll likely provide a boost to the Padres rotation early into the 2026 season. While not a free agent signing, Joe Musgrove, who missed all of 2025 thanks to Tommy John surgery he had back in October of 2024, should provide a boost to the Padres rotation early in the season as well.
Before going into the details of the Sung-Mun Song, Nick Castellanos, or Miguel Andujar signings, it’s worth noting that they’re improvements just from the fact that the Padres won’t have to suffer through Jose Iglesias playing in 112 games games in 2026. Despite having a career high 2.5 fWAR and 136 wRC+ in 86 games for the Mets in 2024, Iglesias fell off hard in 2025, putting up an anemic 73 wRC+ and negative defensive value when not playing shortstop, leading to a -0.2 fWAR/-0.7 bWAR season.
Sung-Mun Song is coming off two excellent seasons in the Korean Baseball. In 2024 Song played in all but one of the Kiwoom Heroes games and hit .340/.409/.518, finishing with a career high 19 homeruns and 21 stolen bases, which works out to a 143 wRC+ or 43% better than league average. He’d follow that up with an arguably better 2025 season. He played in all 144 games, hit .315/.387/.530 with 26 homeruns and 25 stolen bases. In a season where offense was down in the KBO, that works out to a 151 wRC+ or 51% better than a league average hitter. The real concerns with Song are that prior to 2024 he had been a below average hitter in all but one of his prior seven seasons, in addition to having only one season where he had appeared in more than 105 games. So the big question for Song will he able to continue his offensive breakout in a more competitive league, while staying healthy for a full season? ZIPs and other projection systems are skeptical of Song succeeding in MLB, but he does at least project to be an average hitter.
Miguel Andujar is coming off his best season in MLB since 2018. While not anywhere close to his production that season, in 2025 he still managed to hit .318/.352/.470 with a 125 wRC+ in 98 games split between the Athletics and Reds. While I wouldn’t expect him to follow up with an equal or better 2026, he should at least give the Padres an offensive boost.
Adding Nick Castellanos is possibly the biggest surprise of the Padres offseason. Castellanos, who turned 34 a week ago, was DFA’d by the Phillies after a disappointing 2025 campaign in which he hit .250/.294/.400 with a 90 wRC+. Although Castellanos will be used as part of a platoon, the fact that his hitting against both left and right handers cratered in 2025 is a massive red flag entering the 2026 season. While Castellanos might have been a good fit for Petco earlier in his career, I don’t think the ballpark will do him any favors in 2026. All that said, taking a flier on Castellanos for league minimum is definitely worth the risk.
This is still a very talented roster, especially with the core of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr, Xander Bogaerts, and Jake Cronenworth, which doesn’t even get into Jackson Merrill and flamethrowing closer Mason Miller, both of whom should only be getting better going forward. While there are some concerns with the lengthy deals the Padres inked over the last decade, that’s really a problem for next year.
On paper this looks like the NL West with the best chances of beating the likely division winner the Los Angeles Dodgers. I really love the moves they made to improve their pitching staff and lineup, especially the lower risk moves. My offseason grade for the San Diego Padres is an A.
