The Padres find themselves in an unfamiliar position. San Diego could be on the lookout for a shortstop despite their affinity for collecting players with experience at the position. Most of those players (i.e. Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth) moved off shortstop. Ha-Seong Kim will be a free agent when he declines his end of a mutual option in favor of a $2MM buyout. Kim is among the most difficult free agents to project after his season was cut short by a labrum injury that required surgery.
San Diego baseball operations president A.J. Preller addressed the position as part of a conference call with reporters on Monday (links via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune). Preller said the Padres “would love to bring (Kim) back” but acknowledged the uncertain timeline on his injury.
The Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee wrote a few weeks ago that Kim was aiming for a return in April or May. Preller left the situation more open-ended. The executive noted that Kim isn’t slated to begin a throwing program until close to the start of the season. As for a return to game action, Preller loosely floated “May, June, July” as viable outcomes.
It’s clearly too early in the rehab process for the Padres to narrow down a specific target. That uncertainty should all but close the book on the chance of San Diego issuing Kim a qualifying offer. The 29-year-old infielder would probably accept a $21.05MM salary, which is too much for the Padres to risk with Kim looking very likely to at least begin the season on the injured list.
Preller and his staff also face notable free agent losses in the bullpen (Tanner Scott), left field (Jurickson Profar) and behind the plate (Kyle Higashioka). The relief group should be strong enough to weather Scott’s departure, but the Padres will need to address a few spots in the lineup while also finding a replacement for the injured Joe Musgrove in the rotation. That could make it difficult to retain Kim.
Even if the Padres were to bring him back, they’d need a short-term replacement while he completes his rehab. If he walks, they’ll need a permanent answer. Bogaerts moved back from second base for the stretch run. The Padres seem to prefer him at the keystone, though they might not have any better options at shortstop.
Machado and Cronenworth haven’t played there in years. Nor has Tatis, who has been a full-time right fielder since returning from the injuries and suspension that wiped out his 2022 season. Merrill developed as a shortstop prospect before learning center field on the fly. The 21-year-old immediately became one of the sport’s top all-around center fielders.
Preller didn’t seem keen on the idea of moving Tatis or Merrill back to the infield. “They’d probably love that possibility. They always joke around — ’Whatever’s needed,’” the baseball ops president said. “The great part of those guys is they’re talented athletes, they can play different spots. … But Tati winning the Platinum [Glove] two years ago, and Jackson doing a tremendous job in center field this year, we know that they’re really good at what they do in the outfield.”
There hasn’t been much serious discussion about Tatis moving back to shortstop. It’s a plausible scenario for Merrill, who only moved off shortstop in deference to Kim and seems as if he can comfortably adjust to whatever position the Padres ask of him. Yet as Preller noted, it’s tempting to leave Merrill in center field with how well he played this year. San Diego doesn’t have an obvious in-house candidate to take over in center if Merrill were to come back onto the infield. They’d probably need to acquire a center fielder and the free agent market at the position is extremely thin. It’s not much deeper at shortstop, where only Willy Adames and Kim, if healthy, profile as regulars.
Rally Goose
What’s wrong with Xander at short?
RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame
His range got noticeably worse last year. Definitely more of a 2nd baseman at this point.
stpofsd
I believe Jr could be a good cf. why wouldn’t he be a consideration there if Merrill moved back to ss?
padrepapi
Tatis could definitely be a good CF. That said I think Merrill is more special as a CF then as a SS so I wouldn’t think about moving him back. Having two outfielders that can cover as much ground as these two can is a gift to the team. Love Tatis’ arm for RF.
Not the sexiest outcome, but Boegarts at SS and Eguy Rosario getting lots of action at 2b could be a cheap way to fill out the infield for next season.
I really like Rosario and hope they find him 300-400 PA’s in a season soon as I think he could be an above average 2b with an OPS around .750 and potentially higher in his best years.
RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame
Completely agree.i see him as a 20/20 guy with 450 abs..
HiredGun23
Xander is fine at short. They need to focus on pitching, pitching and Profar…
Blackpink in the area
Bogaerts at shortstop allows Cronenworth to move back to 2b where he’s more valuable. And there are a lot of 1b available in free agency if you want to put Arraez at DH.
RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame
Personally, I’d just re-sign Solano and roll back with the 3 man rotation
DonOsbourne
They’re paying X to be a SS. They should at least give him a chance to earn his money.
truthlemonade
I am a Padres fan. I am in favor of just putting Bogaerts at SS. Why not? SD entrusted him with 20 games and 16 starts at SS in 2024. This allows Cronenworth to play 2b where he is much better suited than 1b.
I wonder how Merrill feels about being an outfielder? Sure, he had a very successful rookie season and transitioned to CF very well. But I wonder if he yearned to be a big league shortstop and is saddened to see his window at that position possibly closing.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I think outfield will remain Tatis, Merrill and Profar. Crony at 2B, Bogey at SS for a year, Machado at 3B. Higgy is retained, Scott leaves for big bucks.
TerryTurnbuckle
Tim Anderson is waiting
BaseballisLife
Preller did a 48 minute zoom call with questions from reporters and covered a lot more than who would play shortstop.
His #1 answer? We will see in the coming weeks but at this point nothing can happen until after the World Series is over. We have started having discussions and things will start to happen around the GM meetings. He said that over and over again.
BaseballisLife
Padres fans, been listening to NYC sports radio tonight/this morning and my favorite idiots said Padres will be dark horse candidate to sign Soto.
They are saying Padres could offer to make him the highest paid player in MLB history.
16 years, $701 million with $23.81 million/year deferred to 2041-2057. Keeps him on their team through his age 41 season in 2040.
They said that makes the AAV for CBT payroll purposes $28.79 million.
The total is more than the $700 million Ohtani got so the most money ever and the AAV is $43.81 million so more than Verlander and Scherzer got. Plays into Soto’s ego but makes it affordable for Padres.
With $20 million/year deferred instead of $23.81 million that would make AAV for CBT payroll $31.54 million.
Like I said, they are my favorite idiots, but what do you think? Do Padres fans want him back? Do you think they would do a deal like that? If they did, would you be in favor of it?