With a limited spending budget seemingly obvious, Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller will once again need to be creative while filling out the roster for the 2026 season.
Going by recent
statements, Preller will have an operating budget similar to last season. Estimating the current payroll, while adding in the arbitration numbers for players to be signed before the end of the deadline, gives Preller approximately $30 million to spend on the trade or free agent market.
Signing a free agent starting pitcher or a power bat will eat up a big portion of that available money. Bargain signings, similar to the multiple free agent minor league contracts seen last offseason, can add bulk to the options the Padres bring to Spring Training in February of 2026.
The list of needs for the team include multiple starting pitchers, a DH or first baseman and bench help. It isn’t reasonable to fill all those needs with bulk minor league contracts and one big free agent signing. That seems to indicate a need for a trade or two to help bridge that gap.
Limited trade chips
After the 2025 trade deadline, the organization had severely depleted its prospect capital to strengthen the on-field major league roster. Since then, the strength of the minor leagues has shown to be in pitching. Most of those prospects remain in the lower levels of the organization, but a few are nearing being available to the major league team.
Trading from that strength, while possibly adding a major league player/pitcher, could bring in a quality player or two. The Padres bullpen is its biggest strength and should not be diluted significantly. Dealing from the back of the bullpen would be a big mistake. If there is interest for the middle relief pitching options, that would be a consideration. There are multiple minor league relievers who are close to major league ready and could fill spots out of Spring Training.
Who could be available
Based on information being circulated on industry sites that evaluate talent and offseason activity, multiple teams are open to discussions on players they are interested in moving. The Minnesota Twins (RHP Joe Ryan), Washington Nationals, St Louis Cardinals (RHP Sonny Gray) and NY Mets (RHP Kodai Senga) are all rumored to be willing to engage in discussions.
Jeff Passan of ESPN, floated multiple possible moves that could take place this offseason. Many of the players he named would be a good fit for the Padres. The Pittsburgh Pirates could part with RHP Mitch Keller, the Cincinnati Reds might shop RHP Brady Singer or the Kansas City Royals could part with LHP Kris Bubic.
Which players could the Padres spare
It is unlikely the Padres would trade catcher Ethan Salas and it seems unlikely any team would ask for him after he missed almost all of 2025 with an injury. Removing Salas from the options, who in the system might interest other teams?
Newly drafted LHP Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP Kash Mayfield, RHP Miguel Mendez (just added to the 40-man roster), RHP Kannon Kemp, RHP Carson Montgomery and LHP Jagger Haynes are all starters that the Padres have as top prospects and could be available.
Shortstop Jorge Quintana, who was acquired at the trade deadline, Luis Campusano, Braedon Karpathios and Alex McCoy are all position players who could attract interest. Campusano was just re-signed for his last year of arbitration and is out of options so he has to make the team or he is gone. Karpathios and McCoy are in development and not ready for any major league time.
Multiple relievers could be available, starting with roster pitchers Alek Jacob, Bryan Hoeing, Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui or Wandy Peralta. There could be interest in Bradgley Rodriguez or David Morgan as well as newly added Garrett Hawkins.
The Padres also have Tucker Musgrove and Harry Gustin as highly regarded pitchers in the minors. Both of them are relievers although both have high leverage possibilities. Several other of the top pitching prospects had down seasons in 2025 and might not be attractive to other organizations at this point.
It should be an interesting offseason for Padres fans. We have multiple holes on the roster, limited money for the payroll and few position players considered top prospects to use as trade bait. If there is enough talent among the pitchers to entice other teams to trade with Preller will become evident over the next few months.
