Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim declined his end of an $8MM mutual option for the 2025 season, and he’ll now take a $2MM buyout and enter free agency, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (X link). Left-hander Wandy Peralta will be staying in San Diego for at least one more season, as Peralta will pass on his opt-out clause and remain in the four-year, $16.5MM deal he signed with the Padres last winter.
Neither decision registers as a surprise. Kim has hit .250/.336/.385 over the past three years for a wRC+ of 106, indicating he has been 6% above league average at the plate in that time. He also stole 72 bases in that stretch and provided above-average defense at shortstop, second base and third base.
His situation is a bit complicated by the fact that he underwent right labrum surgery not too long ago. His return timetable is a bit unclear but it has been suggested he is likely to miss at least part of the start of the 2025 season.
Even with that injury situation, it’s understandable that he would walk away from his mutual option at a net $6MM price point. Players coming back from injury can often still have notable earning power. Michael Conforto secured a two-year, $36MM deal from the Giants after missing an entire season. Rhys Hoskins got two years and $34MM from the Brewers after his own missed campaign. Both players had the ability to opt out after one season, though neither eventually did so.
The situations aren’t entirely analogous. Both Conforto and Hoskins were expected to be healthy in the first seasons of their deals, which won’t be the case with Kim. Perhaps that puts his earning power a bit below those two, but it still makes it sensible for him to turn down his option today. Whether he can get a two-year deal with an opt-out or a more straightforward one-year pillow deal, he should be able to get past the $6MM he’s leaving on the table today.
As for Peralta, he signed with the Padres last winter on a four-year deal with a $16.5MM guarantee and opt-outs after each season. He went on to have a pretty mediocre season, despite a respectable 3.99 earned run average. His 52.9% ground ball rate was still above league average but his worst in a full season since 2019. His strikeout rate fell to 13.6% this year after being in the 18-23% range in the previous five years.
It it weren’t for a fairly low .233 batting average on balls in play, he would have allowed more runs to score. His 5.46 FIP and 4.57 SIERA disagree on how bad things were under the hood but both suggest the ERA is misleading. After that performance, he’ll stick with the Padres and hope for a better season, with the chance of returning to free agency again a year from now.
That Peralta contract is horrible. Kim is probably the most fascinating player on the market.
SS is so thin on the market this year. I can see Kim’s logic, since whoever misses out in Adames is probably going after him.
They have several bad contracts in that bullpen bedside Peralta. Add Matsui and Suarez to that list.
Anyone know what the percentage of mutual options get picked up? It can’t be too high. I would imagine it’s similar to the number of QOs that get accepted.
Wayyyy less than QOs, like >1% of Mutuals get activated.
Most recent was Matt Belisle with the Rockies 11 years ago. Most recent before that one was Jason Giambi with those same Rockies 2 years earlier.
Hello Seattle.
The first of many leaving San Diego after seeing where the franchise is headed. Good for him. Good for Kim
Yeah, sucks to be on a team that almost beat the WS champs in the playoffs
…But didn’t.
Lame reasoning on your part. Not surprised
Where is the franchise headed?
Down the hall. Third door on the left. Make sure you wash your hands when you’re done.
Seems like you must be very familiar, since that’s where a POS goes lol.
Kim is an example of another deft signing by the Padres, he served the team well, now another team can overpay him.
Lets go goose!
That’s what’s IIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNN!
Hope we end up bringing back Kim. He seems like a good teammate and a valuable player and important part of our team.
Preller: I got 99 shortstops but a Kim ain’t one.
Kim will get $2 million to walk , now needing to get at least $6mill elsewhere to even out… dude will easily get $12-14 million on a 2-4 year deal. 3/42 or 2/ 30 are both great
I’d be surprised if he gets 3/42 given he’ll miss part of 2025 and turns 30 next year. But maybe. A lot of teams need a solid glove at SS
I hope the Giants sign Kim. Would be great addition
Kim would look good in KC batting leadoff and playing 3B. They already have a pretty good SS there.
Yeah, there was no chance Wandy was walking away from that money.
Good for him
they shlt on him after that great 2022
So much for Pads Fans + burners repeating over and over again that Kim would exercise his option.