February 11: The Padres have officially announced the deal. Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Heyward is guaranteed $1MM with another $250K available via incentives. Jon Heyman of The New York Post provides details on those incentives, with Heyward getting $50K for getting to 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 plate appearances.
February 7: The Padres have reached agreement with Jason Heyward on a free agent deal, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Lin indicates that Heyward is expected to split time in left field with San Diego’s other recent free agent pickup, Connor Joe. Terms are unreported, but it seems likely to be a one-year major league deal for the Excel Sports Management client. The Padres have four openings on the 40-man roster and can accommodate Joe and Heyward without any corresponding moves.
Heyward is headed into his age-35 season. He has spent the past two years as a left-handed platoon bat in the corner outfield. That role suited him quite well in 2023. Heyward caught on with the Dodgers after being released by the Cubs before what would have been the final season of his eight-year contract. He had his best offensive showing in some time, hitting .269/.340/.473 with 15 homers across 377 plate appearances.
The Dodgers brought him back on a $9MM contract early last offseason. He was unable to match the previous year’s production. Heyward missed six weeks early in the season rehabbing a lower back injury. He hit fairly well immediately upon his return but suffered a bone bruise in his left knee at the beginning of July. That knocked him out of action for another three weeks. He fell into a slump upon coming back from that injury. The Dodgers designated him for assignment towards the end of August.
Heyward was sitting on a .208/.289/.393 line when the Dodgers cut him. He quickly landed a big league deal with the Astros, where he fared a bit better in a small sample. Heyward hit four homers in 24 games with Houston, posting a .218/.283/.473 slash across 61 trips to the plate. He cracked the playoff roster and got the start in left field for Game 2 of Houston’s Wild Card series loss at the hands of the Tigers.
Between the two teams, Heyward finished the year with a .211/.288/.412 slash over 258 plate appearances. He posted roughly average strikeout and walk rates while showing a bit of power, connecting on 10 homers in around a half-season’s worth of playing time. He hit a lot of ground-balls to the pull side, though, an approach that wasn’t conducive to strong ball in play results. His .226 average on balls in play was a career low; only seven hitters with 250+ plate appearances had a lower BABIP.
Heyward has only taken 50 plate appearances against left-handed pitching over the past two seasons. He’s hitting .188 with a .220 on-base percentage in that tiny sample. The Padres will limit him to almost exclusively facing right-handers. He had a .214/.298/.422 line with the platoon advantage last year and is two seasons removed from a strong .276/.347/.471 showing against righties. It’s unlikely that he’ll get back to the ’23 level, but he can potentially turn in slightly above-average numbers with the platoon advantage. Joe, a right-handed hitter, had a .251/.353/.418 line against left-handed pitching over his two seasons with the Pirates.
The Friars used David Peralta as a lefty platoon corner outfielder last season. He hit .273/.329/.431 across 234 plate appearances in that role — strong work for a player who joined the team on a minor league deal in the middle of May. Peralta remains unsigned, while the Friars didn’t make a serious effort to retain Jurickson Profar because of payroll limitations. A Heyward/Joe platoon is going to be a significant step down from Profar’s unexpected .280/.380/.459 performance. They were inevitably going to downgrade at the position. Profar played last season on a $1MM salary, making him the biggest bargain signing of last offseason.
Neither the Joe nor Heyward terms have been reported, but they’ll each be modest deals. They join Elias Díaz’s $3.5MM signing as San Diego’s free agent acquisitions this winter. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax payroll around $247MM (pending the Joe and Heyward deals). That puts them about $6MM above the luxury tax threshold; they ended last season with a CBT number in the $228MM range. A late-offseason trade to clear payroll and add affordable help to the back of the rotation remains a possibility.
Image courtesy of Imagn.
Padres got busy all of a sudden.
Finally a Padre that has come class.
Crone?
They didn’t just get busy. They finally found a guy to play forclose to minimum. Management no longer prioritizes winning.
Zerb – That’s a silly comment, Xander is one of the classiest guys in MLB..
I hate it when the Dodgers have to face him, but Darvish has a lot of class too.
so does Musgrove. But it’s not as if fans really know any of these guys that well anyway. Though I know Joe, and he’s a good guy.
Musgrove not playing in 2025.
yeah I know. But he’s in the dugout, even on the road, all season long.
From a fan of a team that once employed Bauer and Puig…
add Urias to that group of upstanding individuals
I get Puig but what did Bauer ever do????
Said idiotic things ad nauseam. Bauer I mean, not Tow. Well, Tow too….
He has 25 homes in his last 562 at-bats.
No way he was going to sign with SF Giants, because Buster Posey robbed him of the ROY in 2010.
Robbed? They had similar numbers but Posey had a higher BA OPS SLG and struck out 80 less times.
He also helped his team win a world series that year.
“ Padres didn’t need to be busy. Went into offseason needing just a backup catcher, a 5th-6th starter, and depth”
There’s no 4th starter. There’s no DH. Right now Joe and Heyward would be in line for a lot of ABs.
They’re not done.
@Jbigz12 Luis Arraez is the DH. OR are you counting him as the 1st baseman?
They will duck under the tax and are already carrying some big unmovable contracts. Cease will be dealt to a nother contender with a young starter or two coming back. Outfield subtracting Peralta and Profar and adding these two stiffs is a definite step back. When you’re signing someone that’s in the bottom ten of an offensive category to play a corner outfield position it’s not good. Team taking a step back not forward.
Arraez at 1B is what I had penciled in. But if you flip him to DH then they obviously need a 1B. Regardless they need another bat.
Joe and Cronenworth are 1bmen Mike Brosseau is also signed
Heyward can play 1st
What would be the benefits of him playing first?
There is no practical way for the Padres to duck under the CBT threshold. They are at a minimum of $252 million and any trade would mean players coming back that would have to be added to the payroll.
2024
Peralta – 0.8 WAR
Heyward – 1.2 WAR
Similar offense vs RHP, which is all they will face.
That is an improvement. A small one, but an improvement.
Profar was a negative WAR player in 2023 and signed a $1 million contract with the Padres in 2024. Let’s see what Joe and his platoon partner Ornelas can do.
Not much time left if they’re not done.
Brosseau is signed? Well, that should put fans’ minds at ease.
From what was said during the last interviews, Arraez is their 1B. Their manager also said they won’t have a regular DH and will rotate players through DH, in his words, “to keep them fresh and give us the best match ups”.
If they had an option on the free agent market that hit better than one of their position players I would think they would consider them, but they have had really bad experiences with older DH only players in recent years. Cruz and Carpenter were terrible.
They’re done adding anyone who won’t play for MLB minimum.
Arraez is your 1B and Cronenworth back at 2B, right? Joe would be the primary backup to Arraez at 1B then. Do you think Brosseau makes your roster or is he just someone in AAA as depth in case of emergencies?
Incremental improvements. That is all we have seen here in Anaheim until Jansen was signed today.
If Heyward is healthy he should do a little better than that. although unless he hits better than last season he won’t get many starts.
As far as the tax accounting goes, 3 players for 90 million. Add 3 more players at another 50 million. Doesn’t leave a lot of room for 20 additional players needed to make a roster.
Man, Peter really went for it in 2023. The rest of the Seidler bros definitely aren’t backing him up.
Don’t care what your WAR stat says, Posey was a rookie catcher who played solid D and posted a slash of .305/.357/.505, Heyward played in more games sure but Posey had similar offensive numbers while playing a premium position. And I don’t even like him lol
Posey earned that award.
Heyward was a respectable second.
They’re still expecting big things from Ornelas. And any OF that includes Merrill/Tatis, can afford to have a couple average Joes (no pun intended) to fill the last spot.
I really doubt Heywards walking around harboring a grudge over ROY voting
Carlos, I am with you on that one. He has had 15 years in the majors and about to embark on his 16th season. $210 million earned so far.
Padres didn’t need to be busy. Went into offseason needing just a backup catcher, a 5th-6th starter, and depth. The bench is now full.
Both Heyward and Joe are depth type signings. Bench guys. Joe had 416 PA last season and only got that many because he played for the Pirates..Heyward had 258.
These are the same caliber of additions that Preller made after the 2024 season was underway when he signed Peralta and Solano.
Preller on the prowl!
Now they just have to hope they get Solano and Peralta results. Which neither did last year.
Right now I prefer this over trading Cease for Kjerstad
Brew- wouldn’t say that’s not still possible.
Even making a trade like that the padres still would have needed to add some depth like they just did.
So I think this Lowe’s the chance but there is a still a chance the padres move players like Cease and Suarez.
I sort of disagree. Kjerstad needs a clear path, not a logjam and that they would have now if he was added. They only need SP depth at this point, need to keep their ace if they want to compete.
While their current needs are starting pitching depth. If they landed a high upside OF, Conner and Heyward wouldn’t prevent that.
Also they would still be getting pitching depth if they traded Cease. Well maybe not depth in that trade unless they got multiple pitchers back. I think pitching depth will come via free agency either way.
Heyward had a 1.2 WAR playing only 87 games. That was better than Peralta’s 0.8 WAR.
Peralta was a little better than Joe who had a 0.6 WAR. Some of that difference would be remedied by playing Joe in LF and at 1B and by limiting his PA against RHP.
Best, are you a Padres fan?
Big veteran left handed power bat. I haven’t been this excited about a Padres FA signing since Brad Hawpe.
Pads making their moves, err I mean move. Ahahahaha!
Tow you ok
He cant hit and he cant catch.
Bull
Nonsense
When Heyward got hit in the face you gotta believe it really changed the trajectory of his career.
Can’t catch? You’re saying Jason Heyward can’t catch? Do you mean he can’t play the Catcher position or are you somehow attempting to say Jason Heyward is a bad OF defender?
Not a horrible platoon for cheap.
Preller on the prowl. Nice pull AJ.
So.. the bros getting control loosened the bargain purse strings? Alright.. waiting to hear on numbers for Hayward and Joe, but not hating it.
Could be worse, might be in the 5-6m range all told and it takes two roster spots—and next offseason they’ll have to do it all over again while for another 6-7m they could have had Profar.
Pound foolish, and might not even be penny wise as they stand a good chance of giving out the last MLB contracts these two sign.
“Giving out the last MLB contracts these two sign”
Just how many 100’s of players and teams could this comment apply?
What is the significance of the comment? It happens to every team and every player, eventually.
Should no team ever sign a player to his last contract? That could include Ohtani BTW as the Dodgers might have signed him to his last contract – so does it mean?
World Series here we come! The Dodgers have to be shaking in their boots.
Sarcasm works !
the shaking is from laughter. Seriously though, Heyward at least lends them some professionalism.
His career is poised to be over. He’s 35 and on a serious downward turn. Curious addition. Joe also. But at least Joe is in his prime still, for whatever that is worth.
Heyward’s WAR/162 went up the last two seasons. His defense was better also. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
Meanwhile back in La Jolla, the Seidlers divy their chips. The part that sucks is that the Dodger kids are in control of the Friars.. I called it 5 years ago. Who listened?
None of the Seidlers are in La Jolla. Matt, Robert, and John live in LA. Sheel lives in Texas.
I meant none of the Padres owners. Tom Seidler is not an owner. Get serious folks. That was some pretty stinky BS there. .
Tom Seidler—La Jolla address.
fastpeoplesearch.com/tom-seidler_id_G3297839377503…
@Jbigz12 Hot dam. This man did his homework.
I don’t see where he mentioned Tom Seidler. Where do the ones he mentioned, namely Matt, Robert, John, and Sheel, live?
Tom is the only living Seidler brother that we’ve known, but has now mysteriously disappeared with the other brother takeover. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS TOM SEIDLER?
Think we will see Tom. He is still involved from what I’ve seen reported on other projects in the community.
I wonder if he gets along with John
They are brothers and Tom has been around the team that last year while John has been behind the curtain being placed as the likely control person. So my guess is they do but idk.
+1 for the Carmen San Diego reference Brewski
I try to be cute sometimes
Your wife told me
I like her money
married up
Oppo taco here, I’m dating down. She’s 22, I’m… not.
I meant in looks and all qualities in general, and $ (compared to me), not in age. She’s 14 years younger and much wiser than I.
22, nice one Bill Belichick. Enjoy!
Ain’t that old! Still in my 40s lol. Cheers Brewski, ice cold Pacifico on tap.
7 pm I’ll be at Mission Brewery, sampling a few IPAs they’re working on. Drop by!
Paging @Tow
Nah
Seems like Heyward is pretty cooked at this point, but I’m sure it wasn’t more than a couple mill and if he sucks Tirso gets his chance. If he turns out like solano or perlata last year that would be best case scenario
Cooked? He put up 1.2 WAR in half of a season. He’s fine. He’s not a star or anything but he’s perfectly adequate on a platoon.
Heyward was a little abv average in the field by Statcast, and avg at the plate against RHP. That’s not cooked.
The risk is that both deals could be buying the last decline year of both players, wasting two roster spots for as long as the new, unimproved Padres think their contracts warrant second, and third, and fourth chances.
This headline be, “Padres to sign the carcass of Jason Hayward.”
Ground ball to the second baseman is Heyward’s calling card. If he can’t elevate the baseball it’s an easy out.
Two signings in one day? Happy late Christmas Padres fans!
SantAJ brought them coal 🙁
He brought them two bench players. Which was exactly what they had been asking for.
Hahaha he brought them their new LF platoon.
I still think Tirso will work into the platoon (at some point) at least against RH pitchers with Haywood doing some DH
Brew- as the team stands now I agree.
I think we are more likely to see Joe/Tirso in left than Joe/heyward.
I think Heyward will get some time at DH as well as in CF/RF giving Tatis and Merrill days of their feet.
Yep
gonna say it again, Justin Turner and Jason Heyward hammering some “legendary” doggie pitching sounds so good!
Padres have so much talent. No idea what they are doing. Their pitching is nasty also. Why trade cease and king? What’s the plan?
The plan is to fill the last couple 2, 3 roster spots with arm talent and roll out. What’s up w/ your D-backs? 40 Man set to your liking?
There it is. The awful sarcasm that’s got to be in every one of these posts.
Just can’t help yourselves.
Two bats. Check! Two Arms. ???
Is it me or were you also surprised to read he’s only 35? I was thinking he was 40 or so. Seems like he’s been around forever.
Same first thought.
Heyward will always have a spot in Cubs lore, but his contract certainly felt like it was forever. Nice guy but was glad he was cut.
Hah! I was just looking at his Bref page and then jumped over to Baseball Savant. He could be over 45 WAR by retirement and not that many players have acheived that. An excellent career despite all the naysayers.
How much of that career WAR is built off of inaccurate defensive metrics?
Felt like he had a 10 year career in each of Atlanta, St Louis, and Chicago
Clip, it seams like thirty years ago when Heyward and Freeman were on the cover of SI as the cornerstones of the Braves future.
I can see two arms like Quantrill and Corbin.
There is still some potential with these two and won’t cost much at all.
Nats fan here. Yes, please give Corbin a job. It was painful watching him the last few years, but he is a good guy, stays healthy, and any rebound for him would make a good story.
Corbin is good risk. Quantrill not a bad gamble either
Simm, Patrick Corbin is the opposite of what the Padres need. He is a guy that got paid and then stopped trying. A 5.62 ERA over last 5 seasons. He took the ball every 5th game but refused to work with the pitching coaches in Washington. Just no.
Quantrill is a former Padre. How many that he has traded away has Preller signed in free agency later? Zero have been signed to major league deals. Unless Quantrill is willing to come back on a minor league deal, I don’t see much chance of him returning. I would not mind seeing him in a Chihuahua uniform as minor league depth. He is not an upgrade over Vasquez or Waldron.
Jose Quintana was at the Caribbean Series in Mexicali and said he is looking forward to playing in 2025. He could be an option.
Jakob Junis wants a guarantee that he will get a chance to start, and he would be a very good fit.
One of those two would be my pick to get the last spot in the rotation.
He is a guy who they could get on a minor league deal. Then perhaps Neibla can cook something out of him.
Get him in the pitching lab and see what they can do to make him better minor league depth.
Jason Heyward is so old…
(HOW OLD IS HE?)
… he’s so old that he his first big league contract was written in pictures on the side of a cave.
Why? This has nothing to do with Cease. These are standard depth roster transactions.
There’s 2 giant holes at the back of the rotation and there’s no DH right now.
The padres need another bat and 2 starters.
The point of trading Cease is to shed salary and get cost controllable young talent. It has nothing to do with roster moves around the margins.
The Padres needed OF depth with or without Cease.
And yes, they can wait until July if they aren’t receiving offers they like.
Absolutely not. They can’t have their cake and eat it too. Now I’m not saying the Padres can’t get a young established mlb pitcher like Butto or Megill that can help them fill out their major leauge pitching depth, but nobody is trading a cost controllable established every day player for 6 months of Cease. No FO would ever agree to that.
No FO would trade a top 50-100 prospect for 6 months of Cease.
If AJ Preller and the Padres FO thinks the Padres can win now in this window, then don’t trade Cease. But if you decide to trade Cease and try to still improve in the short-term? Well, it doesn’t work like that. The idea of trading a player you know you will lose in free agency is to stretch out and improve your long-term outlook, especially when the Padres aren’t spending any money any time soon.
I agree it’s very unique situation which is why I think they go with the roster they have and they re-evaluate at the deadline.
They’ll likely hold on to Cease until they’re out of contention. They want to defer the decline in attendance until 2026 when Kong, Suarez, Arraez in addition to Cease are gone and replaced with low-priced players.
I would agree. I think that’s the direction they eventually go in.
@ManInThePlanet “The point of trading Cease is to shed salary and get cost controllable young talent.”
Then why trade for him at all?
“And yes, they can wait until July if they aren’t receiving offers they like.”
If they are in the race come July trading Cease won’t be an option. And if they are out of it the offers will be worth because they will be trading 2 months of Cease and no QO as opposed to a full season of Cease plus a QO.
@BITA No one is trading the Padres players who will help them in 2025 for 1 year of Dylan Cease.
@BITA If they are trying to win now they can’t trade Cease. Unless they wanna just say screw it and sign Bauer.
According to NESN, the Red Sox offered a top 50-100 prospect for Cease. The Padres wanted Mayer.
The Brewers got a top 50-100 prospect, another MLB player with 6 years of control that had been a Top 100 prospect prior to exhausting his prospect status that season, and a 1st round draft pick for Burnes.
Trading top 50-100 prospects for players with just one year of control happens almost every year.
Depending on how much the two signings are today, the Padres are at $251.6 minimum and possibly as high as $255 million in CBT payroll.
You will have to explain that one better because the Padres have two SP that both started 20 plus games last year that are their #4 and #5. Most teams don’t have potential top of the rotation starters in the 4 and 5 slots. They have below league average starting pitchers. That doesn’t make it a giant hole, it makes it normal for most teams.
I would understand if the Padres wanted to add someone like Junis or Heaney to the back of their rotation but their rotation is top 10-12 without any additions.
They will. They’re about 5 mil over the threshold
I dont see the Padres as “built to win”, sorry. They look like they are barely doing anything to improve a team that has already lost 2 important pieces. Trading Cease now might net them quality players, waiting for the deadline severely diminishes the return unless he’s on a CY run.
The Pads had almost 12-15 missed starts each last year from Darvish and Musgrove, and still managed to have their 2nd best seasin ever. They could use another solid starter, but they don’t have very big holes.
I agree with BITA here, though they may not need another hitter if they utilize Tirso Ornelas and Eguy Rosario, plus they signed Wade and Mike Brosseau.
U said worth when I think you meant worthless.
Empire- guess you need to look closer. The padres are absolutely a built to win now team. Whether they will or not is yet to be seen.
1b- Areaez/joe/cronenworth
RF- Tatis/Heyward
CF- Merrill/heyward/tatis
3b-Manny/eguy/wade
2b- Cronenworth/arraez/wade/eguy
SA- Xander/wade
LF – Tirso/joe/heyward
DH – Tirso/joe/heyward/eguy
C- Diaz/campy
You can argue they could use another bat but that also depends on how Tirso and Eguy perform. Still there aren’t many better lineups than the padres.
Pen looks very solid
Starting pitching
Cease
King
Darvish
Waldron
Vasquez
They could use another starter or two. Top 3 are good. Bottom 2 started around 40 games for them last year. A team that won 93 games.
Preller has said he is going to add another starter or two. So look for a couple of low cost starters to be added to that mix.
The team as is will be in the playoff mix. If they can add another starter or two to provide some better depth they will be right there.
Randy Vasquez stinks. Matt Waldron was tattooed in the 2nd half. Then the depth beyond that is not there.
Padres obviously need another starter.
Jbig- my point wasn’t how good they were. It was that even as how bad you say they are the padres won a ton of games even with them
Pitching a lot.
AJP said they would add a bat or two. check. He said they’d add an arm or two. Stay tuned.
Bita- yeah I agree. Less likely they move cease but still possible.
I do think if they move cease. These signings likely increase the chances Suarez being traded if the goal is to get under the tax line. Both would likely need to go to get under. Especially since I think they will still sign another starter or two.
If they decide to stay above the tax line then neither may be moved.
Simm, shopping Cease and pretty clear steps backwards in LF and C along with the pen. Not saying they wont make the playoffs, they certainly could, but they are diminished from last year. Just my opinion, and not hating.
Empire- they are down some value as is. The question is will the core have better seasons than last year. None of them had great seasons except Merrill.
Think their season position wise will depend on that.
Overall the real issues will be can the starting pitching hold up. It’s very thin atm.
Padres are $11 million over the CBT threshold if Heyward signed for the same $1 million as Joe. Add to that if he signed for more than $1 million.
Darvish missed 16-17 starts last season because of the personal issues that put him on the restricted (and unpaid) list.
Musgrove missed 13 starts because of injury.
The Padres could use a back of the rotation innings eater, but its not a must have. More of a would be nice to have. People seem to forget that through his first 20 starts in his first full season that Waldron had a 3.56 ERA with a FIP in line with his ERA. After the All Star game we watched his FB velocity dip 2 MPH and his knuckler stop knuckling. He ran out of gas. I think he is a decent choice at the back of any rotation.
Vasquez was a curious story last season. At home he had a 3.24 ERA. On the road, 6.07. In the minors he had struck out 10 per 9 IP. With the Padres he struck out 5.7 per 9 IP. He sits 94-95 and has tremendous movement on a 90-mph cutter. He has the stuff to be a really good starter, but last season no one was being fooled, and his out-of-zone swing rate was abysmal. Not sure what to make of him other than he would be ok as the #5 if the Padres are unable to find someone internally to take his place.
Baty has no value. He has 600 PA in the majors and a 70 OPS+. If that something else is Sproat and Mauricio then maybe they could entice the Padres to give up Cease.
Eraserhead reference. Saying that the only smart thing to do is trade Cease, King, and everyone that isn’t tied down because they might someday be a FA? Sounds like it could be Ryan’s new account.
Since when are #5/6 SP “giant holes”? Those — even on teams that go deep in the playoffs — are most often filled via spaghetti that sticks.
Vermonster, Darvish had 16 missed starts because of his trip to the restricted list. Musgrove 13 or 14 because of injury. Padres need depth for when inevitable injuries hit. Right now they have Brito, Cruz, Bergert, Baez, and potentially Patino. They still need a couple of arms to provide some depth. Minor league signings would be fine or a guy like Jakob Junis that can fill that swingman spot.
LMAO. The Angels have that type of pitcher at #2 to #5.
Jim, Higashioka was not as good in 2023 as Diaz was in 2024 and has not been as good when you compare their careers.. That is not a step backwards at all. A step up if anything.
Profar was awful in 2023, had a -1.3 WAR, and signed for the same $1 million that Connor Joe and Heyward did yesterday. That he put up a career year at age 31 screams regression is coming. Hope for the best for him but anyone who expects a 32 year old to repeat a season that was more than twice his career average is in for a disappointment. He has averaged 1.3 WAR his last 4 seasons. That is a realistic outlook for 2025 and the rest of his contract.
Heyward is a step up from Peralta. A couple of people posted the numbers above.
They had several veterans that suffered injuries that won’t bother them this season and should see a rebound in their performance. Machado, Bogaerts, Arraez, and Tatis all should be better this season if they stay healthy. Most of the projections have those 4 combining for between 16.2 and 18.2 WAR. Just moving back to 2B will increase Cronenworth’s impact.
Not seeing them as being diminished. Seeing them as a team that I wish we had in Anaheim. A playoff caliber team with a few areas of weakness just like every team other than the Doggers.
@ManInThePlanet But Preller has historically been loathe to sell at the deadline, only really doing so in 2016 even though he frankly should have every year except 2022 and 2024. There’s no chance they trade Cease at the deadline if the team is in the race. And even if they are out of it I wouldn’t put it past Preller to choose the QO instead like he did with Snell and Hader.
@BITA No team is trading the Padres players that will help them win games in 2025 for Cease. Lest you forget that a team that trades for Cease is actively trying to win games in 2025.
@BITA no they are not trying to win now if they trade Cease! When is the last time a team traded a comparable pitcher and won the WS that year????
Does this mean the Padres are not lowering payroll?
The Connor Joe signing puts them definitively over the tax line so Heyward will probably pay the Pads to play for them to stay below it. And then trading Dylan Cease of course.
3 depth signings for a total that is likely less than $10MM certainly doesn’t say anything. They had 4 40 man slots open without solid upper minor candidates to take the jobs.
A cease trade dips them right back under the line
I was being sarcastic. The whole media narrative this offseason is that the Padres are broke and must trade Cease (or King and Arraez) when everything they’ve done so far is to the contrary.
Puts them at $251+ million CBT payroll. $10 million or more over.
Meaning that trading Cease and his $13.75M salary plus whatever they pay Heyward puts them right around the line. Not to mention Cease’s replacement which puts them right back over. But the Padres are still trying to lower payroll, right?
From what they are saying on the radio here, the total for the two is over $5 million, so Padres at $254 million CBT payroll.
We will see when they release the numbers.
Cease gone for young starter making minimum. They definitely will duck under the tax. The signing of the two almost washed up players to save indicates this.
They still wouldn’t be under the CBT threshold if they traded Cease.
Ouch! San Diego sports radio is as bad as LA sports radio. $1 million each. That is some wheeling and dealing.
Bita- that was my thought at first glance and could be the likely scenario.
Then when I think deeper about it. Neither of these dudes are going to be consistent starters. This is prellers Solano and Peralta moves from a year ago. They did both work their way into a decent amount of at bats by playing well.
At the same time they were not the starters. Or at least not supposed to be.
I could still see Preller trading Cease and get a LF and a pitcher or two. Likely getting them back under the tax as well.
These moves give him some options to add another back in starter for cheap or trade cease. Which could still mean adding another back end starter.
I see them being content with LF now, between these 2 and Ornelas. If they trade Cease, it’ll be for a combo of 1B/DH and a Pitcher. Like Kjersted and a young arm, or something similar.
I didn’t see a means to “compete for a playoff spot” while staying under the tax line so it’s hard to fathom a big salary purge at this point. All along I’ve suggested they will have to exceed CBT if they plan to honor the playoff commitment, against all media-generated narratives to the contrary. Trading Cease or Arraez for prospects (or dirt cheap SPs) violates the playoff goal and probably doesn’t get them below the tax anyway. I doubt they go far over CBT though, with a plan to get under again next year with some salary relieve coming.
Brew- at this point they would have to move multiple people to get below the tax.
Not impossible to see happening but less likely to see happening.
I think this lowers the chance of a Cease or even a Suarez trade but k can still see it happening. I’d lower that chance from 50/50 to 30/70 (70 not).
Preller has had a huge asking price. If someone meets that then he will trade them. No signs anyone will do that increase the chances they stay.
I think now we will see a couple of more low financial signings for starting pitchers. Which I still don’t think we will be a sign if they are keeping Cease or not because even if they traded him they would make these moves.
Agree with logic. But assuming it not for CBT reasoning, I don’t see a competitive advantage for 2025 in trading Cease or King but if they did it would need to be for 2 solid SPs to replace them (which seems impossible). Making the team better at this point is to add, not subtract, from rotation quality and depth. I only see them achieving that by holding on to both Cease and King, while adding another #4/5 SP or two via FA or trade (Suarez or Arraez?)
Brew- yeah we don’t know if they are willing to go over the tax or not. If they are then keeping cease makes the most sense.
If they want to go under then there is no doubt preller will get at least one starter back.
Though I don’t think the moves will be just starters. Look at for example the ask from the O’s was. Position players, cubs Shaw…just about all of his rumored asks have been high upside position players.
So I would rule out if cease is traded that the main piece could be a position players. Likely with a starter or even two. Like would he do a Cassie, Assad and brown deal.
Either way I expect the padres to add some starter depth.
I agree. It’s starting to look like they are willing to go over tax line…or at least it’s getting harder to fathom how they might get under without jettisoning the talent they need to compete in 2025
Trade Suarez and make Adam the closer.
Peralta had about 200 PA with 20 of them against LHP. About the same as Heyward and Heyward can play good defense. Peralta couldn’t.
Joe was better last year than Profar was in 2023. I don’t think he will have a 3.6 WAR like Profar did last season, but as a platoon bat, he doesn’t have to. He just needs to hit LHP and play at least average defense in LF, both of which he does well.
That was a rhetorical question. They are $50 something million higher than last season and something like $11-12 million over the CBT now. They won’t be lowering payroll this season.
Connor Joe, like Tommy John and Les Paul and Domingo Jean. 2 first names!
Frank Thomas
Good one
Joe Morgan and Pete Rose (albeit a woman’s name). Cesar Geronimo.
That’s one fierce warrior. Leader of the ascendant apes and a native American legend.
George Herman “Babe” Ruth….
The anti-Jackson Holliday, if you will.
Hank Aaron gets my vote for all time greatest player with two first names. On the other end there is Tommy Irwin .111 career avg,(1-9) in three games played over two days.
Always thought Mookie Wilson and Darryl Strawberry should have exchanged names. You’d end up with one accountant and one Baskin Robbins flavor of the month
Deeeeep dive, thanks sugoi!
Yeah it almost seems like a typo and his name should be Joe Connor.
Stars and scrubs (and more scrubs), baby!
I hope Tirso Ornelas makes both of today’s signings even less significant…
Joe can play 1B and Heyward DH sometimes allowing Tirso to platoon in LF, which he is best suited for anyway. Against RH pitching they can hit 5 L hitters Merrill, Arraez, Hayward, Tirso and Cronz in lineup, with Joe on bench
Yeah we can see a Conner/Heyward as a DH/spot starters to give everyday guys some DH time or a day off.
This doesn’t really take anything away from Tirso possible playing time. Tirso’s playing time will be determined by how Tirso plays.
Yes, it was never a given he would be rostered anyway, and this does take a lot of pressure off of him to be our next Merrill.
Why bother Dodgers gonna win it anyway! lol
Um, no…..
But if they don’t, how embarrassing
*activate Dragonslayer 2.0 mode*
Giving 7 figures for a has been……I’d fire anyone who propsed this for lack of thought.
Let’s see. White Sox fan. Team just lost most games in history. I might be salty then too. Still wouldn’t make negative comments about 1.2 WAR players getting just a touch over MLB minimum to be a 4th OF. Have you seen the White Sox 4th OF? Did any of their OF have a better WAR than Heyward last season?
This could be like a Donovan Solano/ David Peralta / Jurikson Profar signing or
a Nelson Cruz, Matt Carpenter situation you never know. You are trying to add some veterans to platoon through OF and an occasionally DH . Let Shildt put them in the right situational position and see what happens.
Exactly. I do think this raises the floor in some spots for the padres. They only had Tirso and Eguy to fill in these spots before these moves.
Tirso and Eguy have higher ceiling’s but lower floors. Conner and Heyward raise the floor if tone or both of Tirso and Eguy fall on their face.
Tirso and Eguy serve different roles so there could be room for all four. If anything, these signings make it tougher for Brosseau and long shots like Oscar Gonzalez to break camp.
Brew, with Shildt saying the Padres won’t have a full-time DH and Ornelas penciled in for now to get the lion’s share of at bats in LF, the bench looks like Diaz, Rosario, Joe, Heyward, Wade with one of them starting at DH if they are not in the field.
@web. How I see it as well, though if Tirso struggles in spring it could change with Heyward getting a bigger piece of the platoon (with Joe) in LF. Seems like the odd man out at this point in the reshuffling for an OD roster spot might be Brandon Lockridge, who by the way was quite good last year in AAA (SB, OBP, BA).
I’m also not convinced AJ is done with the roster shaping.
AJ was at the Caribbean Series in Mexicali on both Thursday and Friday. Scouting?
Explains why he wasn’t at the local gym (basketball) this past week
Don’t tell me the tile was sunburnt orange?
You work out at the same gym as Preller? Do they let seniors in the play basketball?
The Padres picking up another former Dodger.
Unlike Snell, Scott & Yates..
Exactly Papi – what a bone head comment. The way FA works this is not a phenomenon.
Forget his hitting…if he can just give speeches then he’s worth all that money! /s
How Broke are the Padres really today for 500
“Awfully cheap deal for elite defense on 1 or 2 tough plays a month.” – the Cubs, probably
I wonder if any outfield needy team will nab Peralta. For a bench/platoon role and as a good veteran presence. Seems like he’d be an alright grab. Heyward, Joe, and Peralta all had similar numbers, with Peralta having a better average, and Heyward having the better overall war. Joe is just kind of there, kind of in the middle of the two. They all hit 8, 9, and 10 home runs lol.
Anthony, the Padres made a solid offer to Profar. $24 million over 2 years, $8 million with a $16 million option, is nothing to sneeze at. That the Braves went 3/42 and he signed there isn’t an indication that the Padres were not negotiating with Profar. The Padres didn’t value Profar as highly as the Braves did.
Obviously no other team did either since there were no rumors of any other teams making any kind of an offer. Everyone else apparently thought 2024 was an outlier for a player going into his age 32 season.
Profar is going to be a bust in Atlanta. He plays well in Padres unis and is awful everywhere else. At best he is another Laureano or Duvall.
I dunno, I think if there is one place he will have success other than SD, it’s ATL
I think there is a chance that Atlanta will give Profar a shot at starting in LF and LF only. If so, I can see him doing well there.
I hope Pro has great success in Atlanta, except when they play the Padres of course. He is such a great guy that you have to be a total schmuck to not wish him well. Realistically I see regression coming, but even being a 2 WAR player is providing great value.
Preller must have been watching MLB Network earlier this evening because during a segment on the best remaining free agents Chris Young threw this out there as a good fit
not sure what he has left in the tank but maybe he can help reign in the talented but rampant egos on that squad. solid man if nothing else.
I’ll bite, I guess. Rampant egos?
My guess is that the Padres strategy is to stay close to the CBT line, just over or just under, but not sacrifice the season to do it. If by the trade deadline they’re completive, the owners will say “to heck with hit, pay the relatively minor Lux tax penalty and go for the gold. If they are out of contention at the trade deadline, due to either the quality of play or injuries, i.e. either could take them out of competition, AJP has stars who are in demand who can be moved for a huge return in cash and prospects. Those options can move salary to bring the Pads in line with the CBT limits.
All the ranting about the Padres “fire sale” has been be media talking heads, not by Padres owners or anyone in the front office.
I also wouldn’t put it past AJP to trade away more prospects from the very thin farm cupboard, before the end of the year. Every player on the Padres major or minor league rosters is “in play” as long as Preller is walking and breathing on the earth.
Salt, that is a good take. Preller has the Padres $11 million over the 1st CBT threshold today and there is no one single trade that would bring them under the CBT threshold because there will be small additions during the season that are unavoidable. No team has every opening day player on the roster for 162 games. Those players that are called up will add to the CBT payroll and those that go on the IL will still get paid their major league salary.
If the Padres are far out of it as they approach the deadline, I could see them having a mini fire sale of any of Cease, King, Arraez, and Suarez that have not received extensions.
This is the last season the Padres have the $17 million for Hosmer on the CBT payroll.
For 2026 they have only $137.745 million in guaranteed contracts on the books. Add in the projected $25-26 million for arb eligible players and $4.76 million for pre-arb and 40 man roster players in the minors and the Padres are around $169 million.
CBT payroll also includes an estimated $17.5 million for player benefits and $1.667 million for pre-arb player bonus pool contribution. if my math is correct, that puts the Padres at under $190 million for 2025 with a $244 million CBT threshold.
With the only holes to fill being those created by Cease, king, and Arraez potentially leaving in FA, the Padres are in a pretty good place for next season.
A couple of good platoon players. Both are similar to David Peralta who Preller signed to a minor league deal after last season had already started.
Ornelas hits RHP well, so Joe is a good veteran complement on the short side of the platoon out there. He also plays good defense at 1B, so he can spell Arraez there. Heyward still played good defense at the corner OF positions at 34 years old last season and hits RHP reasonably well. A great bench piece.
Padres coming together in advance of spring training this year. I feel much better than I did last year when they had 4-5 rookies penciled in for spots on the roster in the week before pitchers and catchers reported.
We (or AJP) lucked out everywhere last year. Almost every signing was a hit, and where there were problems (e.g. catching), alternate signings filled the gaps like all-stars. That can’t happen again like that, but there’s enough solid talent on the team that one or two fails or injuries won’t sink the team. On the flip side, some of the guys on the roster are due for career years, e.g. Cease and King in particular. Few teams have TOR starters (or potential TOR starters) in every rotation slot. I think the starting pitching will work out, but later season depth issues may hurt when the starters inevitably start falling with injuries, “dead arm”, and so forth.
Heck, there were entire DECADES in Padre history when they didn’t have a single proven player like Merrill or Tatis, Jr.. The outfield is running two all star out there. Infield? Not perfect, but again, there were whole seasons when Pads fans prayed for perhaps just one “Machado” kind of player.
Catching is a concern. Depth, still. Bullpen looks strong, particularly if they can keep Suarez. Coaching is top flight.
I think they’ll be OK.. Maybe not 93-plus wins, but they can reach for the playoffs, and that’s all Padre fans can really hope for year in and year out.
This year coming into camp the team is set.
1B – Arraez
2B – Cronenworth
SS – Bogaerts
3B – Machado
LF – Ornelas
CF – Merrill
RF – Tatis
C – Campusano
DH – Rosario (IF)
Bench – Diaz (C)/Joe (OF/1B)/Heyward (OF)/Wade (IF)
Last year before the start of spring training
1B – Cronenworth
2B – Bogaerts
SS – Kim
3B – Wade or Martorella
LF – ???
CF – Azocar
RF – Tatis
C – Campusano
DH – Machado
Wade, Azocar, and Merrill or Marsee were expected to be starters on opening day. Pauley, Rosario, McCoy, Martorella, Robert Perez, Cal Mitchell, Bryce Johnson, Oscar Mercado, and Matt Batten as potential bench pieces.
Your just trying to get my riled by listing Azocar as the starting CF for ’23. lol. ?? I can handle, but as much as I liked sugar, a starting OF he was not
Salt, sad as it was prior to spring training Azocar was only CF on the Padres roster. He was presumed to be the starting CF until Merrill busted out in camp.
@web. I know you like Rosario, I do too, but it’s his last year of eligibility so they either play him or trade him. Brosseau might factor into things as well.
As of right now it is looking like Rosario will get his shot. Utility IF and DH.
If Preller trades Rosario, it likely means he got a back of the rotation starter, so I am good with that.
Brosseau has an option, so unless he shows something in ST that I have not seen from him since COVID, he is minor league IF depth. Since his normal position is 3B, let’s hope we never see him.
Web- yeah I agree. ATM I don’t see this as a LF platoon. I think that is likelier to be Conner/Tirso.
If Tirso fails or Conner takes off then he will play left more or split some time with Hayward.
Heyward provides depth at RF and CF to me. Merrill and Tatis aren’t going to play 162 games and they will get some DH time. So Hayward can get them off their feet some.
Conner will also provide some 1b depth allowing them to DH Arraez some days as well. Both these signings may not move the needle much offensively but they both move the needle defensively and provide more depth.
Padres ceiling may not have gone up much but the floor has in my eyes.
In one day the Padres add two veterans to their bench that made $11 million combined last year. They are cutting payroll?
Will be interesting to find out how much they signed them for. If more than $4.6 million then no way to get under CBT by trading Cease.
From a baseball standpoint those are two decent players as long as they are limited to their platoon advantage.
Bench? This isn’t the LF platoon?
It’s part of a LF platoon that could include Tirso Ornelas. I think Joe sees some games at 1b against LH pitchers and Heyward as DH while Ornelas is in LF against RH pitchers. Then again Heyward is a better fielder than Tirso …will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
@Baseballisthebest
Well trading off Michael King will net them $4MM, I’m sure the Orioles have young controllable talent that they can ship to San Diego. I’d love to see that. And likely better OF pieces than they are cobbling together playing platoon games.
Mac, if they trade King they are still $4 million over the CBT line. They would have to trade at least 2 players to get under the CBT.
Padres no longer need OF. They signed 2 and seem to be at. All they need now are 1 or 2 starting pitchers.
@Baseballisthebest
That ($11MM) was last season. Also, there’s no way the Pads make the same mistake of giving Heyward $8MM after the injury plagued sad season he put up last year. LA has a license to print money so the numbers don’t matter to them at all.
I think Pads fans expects them both to come in around the 4.6m mark.
I could see up to 5m between the two. Perhaps there is some incentives that can raise the amount.
My guess is 2-3m for Heyward. 1-2m for Conner. At least from a base salary wise.
Looks like you guys hit that about right on the head.
The poor Padres have resorted to picking up scraps like they did for the first 40ish years of their existence. It’s just a matter of time until they’re the Padres of old.
Um, not really. If these were 2 starters you could say this. But with the lineup they already have, it’s far, far away from scraps. But, you know that……..
Fangraphs currently have Heyward starting and Ornelas at DH. It’s very likely Joe Will platoon at DH with Ornelas. Darn near close to 2 starters.
Because Fangraphs makes those calls? Maybe you should have listened to what Shildt said just a few days ago.
The poor Padres still have a roster with 9 past all stars on it, so not that poor
They “picked up scraps” last year too (Solano & Peralta) and they both turned in pretty good years. The Pads have 5 very good bats, 6 if Cronenworth can get his act together. The starting staff is my concern unless Vazquez can harness his stuff for an extended period in 2025.
100% faith in Cronie rebound here beersy!
Connor Joe AND Jason Heyward?! Why thank you. The Giants just leapfrogged into 3rd place.
Seems like they wudda brought Peralta back. A known player with a better bat.
Yes! I thought the same thing
dsett, a few reasons. When they signed him, Peralta was coming off an 82 OPS 2023 season and in 2024 the Padres got that level of performance with the bat out of him by limiting him to 20 AB against LHP. Heyward had similar overall production from the left side in 2024, and he still plays good defense. Peralta was an adventure every time he played in the OF.
Next up Spencer Torkelson.
To the Angels, not the Padres.
Off the Tigers works for me. Nothing agai st him but he lost his spot and needs a fresh start.
Ehhhh, we’ve been known to throw a Waiver Claim or two around… just punch that DFA button Bummer!
Haha. Maybe next year if they keep him because another year like last year would definitely leave him out in the cold.
I think that as awful as the Angels have been that we would have the first crack at that waiver button of the SoCal teams.
Heyward’s professionalism will be hard pressed to influence that collection of immature clowns. Any team that looks to Machado to lead has already lost its way. At least now the Padres have spent more money than the Marlins this winter…
Do you really want to try to present Darvish, Musgrove, Cronenworth, King, Cease, Bogaerts and Arraez as immature unprofessional clowns?
Brew, Jimmy was looking in the mirror and he hasn’t heard Machado speak since he left Baltimore.
Well long as Preller is asking for guys like Mayer Shaw and then more in addition to them cease definitely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The Padres are ruining baseball.
Blame the Dodgers.
Manfred told me not to.
I just knew Manfred was in the Dodger’s back pocket. Thanks for claifying.
Also give them at the very least a guy can give Merrill and Tatis a day off. Even if he doesn’t hit those days he will at least field well. They didn’t really have a guy on the team to do that prior to the Heyward signing.
Heyward move is a little better than the Conner move but Conner was basically signed to play a little left and 1b which defensively he can.
Offense wise neither may move the needle much.
After the fortune the Cubs paid to Heyward, Heyward sure doesn’t need an income from the Padres, or any other team for that matter. I admire Heyward that he continues to work out and play the game for the love of the game, despite being set financially for life..
It seems that he lost all of his motivation after his 2015 major contract. That’s why personality assessment is equally as important as baseball skills assessment when deciding to give someone a long-term contract.
It seems like this guy has more lives than a cat. Maybe it’s just me.
Congrats on the contract, J-Hey!
I had tunnel vision on Verdugo, but Heyward is a good pickup who can cover CF and RF. I’m less enthused about Connor Joe, but we’ll see what happens. Heyward’s a good character guy, and the team responded well to those types last year (some great production off the bench didn’t hurt either). My guess is that Rosario establishes himself as a league-average bat, and a combination of him + Heyward/Ornelas forms the regular DH.
Look at Connor Joe’s platoon splits. You will see why he was signed. Preller got players with positional flexibility and good platoon splits on one side or the other.
107 wRC+ against lefties for the career is fine, but not exactly thrilling when a lot of that is driven by his 2023 performance. I’m not going to worry too much about a $1M signing, and we all know Preller values pedigree. Grichuk would’ve been a far superior signing, but not in the cards.
Players choose where to sign. Maybe Grich didn’t want to play here. Who knows? I think Connor coming home has his best year ever. Just be that platoon/occasional start guy and have fun!
Grichuk lives in the Phoenix area and said on MLB Network that he wanted to return to Arizona. He said in Arizona Republic that he had larger offers, but chose to go back.
mlb.com/dbacks/video/randal-grichuk-discusses-re-s…
Padres seem to focus on those good character guys. Rosario absolutely tore up the Angels AAA team last year so I wish him well in San Diego. He was 12/41 with 2 HR and 4 dbls in 9 games against the Bees.. He played 3B, SS, RF, and DH in those games and played good defense at all 3. Looking at his BR page, have to wonder how a guy with a 115 OPS+ in the majors has not forced himself onto the MLB roster. If you don’t want him he might be better than Moncada or Rendon. We can send you some scraps for him. That is all we have, lol
I think Solano did so well as the RH utility guy last year there was no reason to rush Rosario. But he has a chance to establish himself this year, and I’m cautiously optimistic on the bat.
Anyone else notice that there were no rumors of the Padres being interested in any of the players they signed? Just news that they signed.
I’ve said a couple 2, 3 things all offseason…
1. You never hear about Padre trades/signings ahead of time. Granted, Roki would have been a unique case.
2. The Pads might just live in Tier 1 land in ’25. Any thoughts of dipping the CBT can start once they’re out of contention. Unlikely. Reassess around Independence Day.
3. I honestly don’t think that anybody will be traded, but Suarez is the most likely to move… and he’s got a funky contract to sell and/or buy! Again, unlikely.
LFGSD
Just wait until a Padres three-game losing streak in June and the Cease trade rumors will be on full offseason tempo.
Some of the professionals who opine for online rags have some of the absolute worst trade proposals. Zach Rymer comes to mind; I’ve never seen any of his clickbaity jaunts be even halfway sensible. Makes for good comedy when read as satire though!
I’m guessing sooner. First spring training frontline starter injury.
The top story on this site 3 days after it happened is that the Padres signed a platoon OF that might get 250 PA over a season?
I think we are seeing why this site and others keep posting articles about Cease and other Padres, Massive amounts of people click on those articles. The Padres are driving as much or more traffic than anyone else.
Heyward will be injured in Spring Training and spend half of the season on the IL
Well, he won’t be out of bubblegum sitting on the bench! He’s got that going for his hypothetically injured self!
I hated when the Braves trade J Hey. Turns out they were right. I thought he was going to be a superstar. Turned into a dud.