Paul Goldschmidt is headed back to the Bronx after agreeing to a one-year deal with the Yankees. The Diamondbacks had been his only other known suitor for much of the offseason, but it may have ultimately come down to New York and San Diego.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post loosely linked the Friars to Goldschmidt last night. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported this evening they were indeed among the finalists. The Padres are looking to add one more hitter even after agreeing to a $4MM contract with Miguel Andujar on Wednesday. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller said last weekend the front office was trying to add “multiple bats, that first base, DH, anything off the bench” (link via Greg Beacham of WKYC).
Andujar projects as the primary designated hitter. He can spell first baseman Gavin Sheets against left-handed pitching while splitting DH reps with Sung-mun Song. The KBO signee has multi-positional flexibility that’d allow them to accommodate another first base/DH type. The bench was a weakness for the Padres last season and still seems that way. Song and backup catcher Luis Campusano project for two spots. That leaves two openings with only four other position players on the 40-man roster: Bryce Johnson, Will Wagner, Mason McCoy and Tirso Ornelas.
They’re all fringe 40-man types. Johnson is out of options and hit .342 over 84 plate appearances last year, but that was driven by a .442 average on balls in play that isn’t close to sustainable. Ornelas has been a league average hitter in Triple-A over two full seasons and hasn’t gotten a significant MLB look before his 26th birthday. McCoy has been a below-average offensive player in the minors, while Wagner fell out of the mix in Toronto and hit .225/.324/.279 over 55 MLB games last year.
Rhys Hoskins, Wilmer Flores, Justin Turner and old friend Ty France are unsigned righty-hitting first basemen. Marcell Ozuna, Mitch Garver and Andrew McCutchen are available designated hitters. Speculative trade possibilities include Ryan Mountcastle, Lenyn Sosa and Ezequiel Duran.
San Diego probably also has a move coming on the pitching side. Preller said last week they wanted to add another starter. It’s likely that’ll be a cheaper back-end type, but they kicked the tires on what would have been a much bigger acquisition. Heyman reports that the Padres were among the teams involved on Framber Valdez before his three-year, $115MM agreement with the Tigers. The Padres were able to wait out the market to land Nick Pivetta as a February pickup a year ago, but Valdez commanded a much larger contract that was likely never in the budget.
Most of the remaining free agents of note are starting pitchers. Zac Gallen, Max Scherzer, Zack Littell, Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito and organizational favorite Nick Martinez are unsigned. Walker Buehler, Patrick Corbin, Miles Mikolas, Germán Márquez and Jose Quintana will be limited to modest one-year salaries if they even command major league deals.
Signing anyone from that group could push JP Sears to long relief or to the Triple-A rotation. They’ll open the year with a strong top three of Pivetta, Michael King and Joe Musgrove. The talent level drops markedly after that. Randy Vásquez is out of options and seems ticketed for one of the final two spots. Sears, Kyle Hart and Matt Waldron are the only other starters on the 40-man roster. They’ve added Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie on minor league deals with invites to Spring Training.
Mets should sign Hoskins or old friend Flores to play 1b with Polanco DHing, also sign Buehler or Quintana for 1 year
Im positive they are done unless they get an outfielder only
Solly that the article implies that Jose Quintana might not get a major league deal.
I’ll bet the Padres sign Flores. Not only does he know the Giants intimately, but his bat is still incredible coming off the bench. He is a professional hitter and plays a manageable first base.
I’m sorry the Giants had to let him go, but they have too any young players needing a roster spot and are fully covered at first base.
I was thinking that the Rockies should sign Hoskins or Flores or both.
Remember when the Padres won all those winters with big signings and also gutted their farm system? Good times. Now they’re missing out on old man Goldschmidt
They’ll always have Bogaerts
No Borgets!
I remember when they were irrelevant and had 20 people showing up to games. Also I remember every time Preller has gutted the system and then reloaded it within 2 years.
I remember Tony Gwynn being a beast. Good times.
There’s a subset of Dodgers fans who can’t let go that for 3-4 years the Padres were the more “exciting” team despite all their championships (including defending B2B!) and having the player of the century on a sweetheart deal.
That’s cute that you think that.
What’s the trophy you win for being the most exciting team?
No trophy, but you do win the undying fixation of some Dodgers fans.
You dopes couldn’t even shell out $5mm??
Might take 7 8 9 10. When you already made $ and already played for the Yankees why not stay with Yankees?
Padres already shelled out $. Why they are were they are at now. Overpayed older players. Payed Bogaerts for his Fenway stats.
It seems Padres are less active due to ownership uncertainty
Maybe. I don’t think it matters. Unless SD gets more people and or more people make more $ there is only so much $ you can spend. Unless the owner wants to spend their own $ the owner doesn’t really matter. You pretty much spend what the demographics allow.
@AI GM Well, that thinking is likely endorsed by public disservice advocates such as Bob Nutting. The degree to which the new ownership group is willing to invest is obviously a huge factor.
Without Peter Seidler, the SDP likely never acquire Soto, sign Machado and Bogaerts (the glaring Preller misstep), nor extend Tatis,
To the north, Guggenheim partners aren’t wealthier than NewsCorp, they just invested as if they cared about winning. Peter Seidler did too, though maybe with a bit too much “all in” approach.
If Peter had gone all in during the Fox or McCourt days, and had Preller, they might have a championship.
They just had unfortunate timing.
Is supposed inactivity why they were a finalist on Valdez and Goldy? Are still in on Gallen? Or why the Padres payroll is about the same as last season?
Could it be that the Padres only had a couple of real needs and they have filled all except a back of the rotation innings eater already? They added King, Song, Andujar, and a number of others that are on minor league deals this offseason.
The lineup is Sheets, Cronenworth, Bogaerts, Machado, Laureano, Merrill, Tatis, Andujar, Fermin. The bench is Campusano, Song, Johnson, and Wagner. Not any huge holes in that lineup. The rotation is Pivetta, King, Musgrove, Vasquez and any one of 4 guys that would fit in the #5. Now all they need is depth and Preller is obviously still active since he was in on players like Valdez and Goldy that signed in the last few days plus a few that have not signed yet.
Bravo
@paddyo
You are completely wrong. News Corp, who owned the Dodgers from 1998-2004, never had more money than Guggenheim Partners. That’s completely wrong. News Corp’s market cap back then was around $30-50 billion at its peak—decent money, but nothing close to Guggenheim’s $300+ billion in managed assets today. But it’s not even just about the dollar amounts; it’s about structure. News Corp was a publicly-traded media company answerable to shareholders, SEC regulations, and board approval for major spending decisions. They couldn’t just dump unlimited cash into a baseball team without fiduciary pushback. Guggenheim, as a private investment management firm, has total flexibility to deploy capital however they want and actually profits from mechanisms like deferred contracts through their investment operations. News Corp was never on Guggenheim’s level financially, and even if they were, their corporate structure made that kind of aggressive spending practically impossible. It’s apples and oranges. To this day ppl seem completely ignorant to the type of financial leverage teams owned by private equity firms like Guggenheim Partners and 72Point (Mets) have over every other team including the Yankees. Only the Jays have anywhere near the same capacity but even they could be blown away by Guggenheim if they decided to place an all star at every position. They are just switching investment capital from one account to another. It’s almost like money laundering.
Wagner eh? I’m guessing they bring in another DH/1B bat and either set up Croney as back up at SS but they haven’t used Cronz that way over the years. Or, and more likely, bring in a back up SS, preferably with baserunning speed. Wagner and Song don’t have SS experience. McCoy is the only guy on 40 man who is a quality SS (but he can’t hit).
If these small markets have all this $ make them spend it or take it away from them.
Cue the “We tried!” excuse.
You can’t get upset with the Padres because they didn’t make the moves this off-season.
They have been doing just about everything they could to win for a while now. So much so they unrealistic expectations are normal for the team these days.
They have ownership issues that are working through. Not much to do with that bring the case.
Could it be that the Padres only had a couple of real needs and they have filled all except a back of the rotation innings eater already? They brought back King, and added Song, Andujar, and a number of others that are on minor league deals this offseason. Now all they need is a back of the rotation starter and bench pieces. As it is the payroll is almost exactly the same as last season before any additional players added.
@webs @superduper
The Padres are operating with significant financial restraint right now because they’re staring down approximately **$823 million in commitments to players age 33 and older**. While only about **$61 million of that is deferred through signing bonuses**, the sheer scale of backloaded contracts—particularly Machado’s $301 million from age 33-41, Bogaerts’ $229 million from 33-41, and Tatis Jr.’s $108 million from 33-35—creates a future payroll crisis. Unlike Guggenheim Partners, which manages over $300 billion and can actually profit from deferred contract structures through their investment operations, the Padres lack both the financial infrastructure and the ownership wealth to deploy capital the way the Dodgers do. With ownership in transition following Peter Seidler’s death and no comparable investment management arm to leverage deferrals, San Diego simply can’t engage in the same aggressive spending while carrying nearly a billion dollars in aging-player commitments. They’re structurally handcuffed in a way Guggenheim never will be.
Knicks, the best way to deal with stupid is simply to mute them. I have absolutely no time for your level of that affliction.
One step closer to winning the having interest off-season
Haha right! As much as I really enjoy the site, the “_____ “ teams have interest in “_____,” does get a bit old.
Not this site’s fault, it’s just human nature. Insert many, some, few or specific names into blanks above.
Site would be a lot less active if they only posted actual transactions.
They report what reporters report and that’s a lot of interested.
Yeah I wasn’t dissing mlbtr, just making fun of my team
I hear ya Brew….it seems to be a given that most teams in MLB (outside of a small handful) are interested in many players. SDP may be in that small handful until the ownership issue has more clarity.
That’s all I was saying, but maybe my Grumpy Uncle Syndrome (GUS) is flaring up.
@paddyo. I’m really glad my team’s GM is actively shopping around to improve the team.
The site is literally called mlb trade rumors, guv.
The Blue Jays can finally relinquish the title…
Pirates are winning that this year
Pirates are the runaway winners there.
I don’t think Goldschmidt had interest in joining the Padres. Pretty sure it was either the Yankees or a reunion with the Diamondbacks.
Hoskins and Gallen are still available if Preller is still “interested”
Hoskins seems KBO bound, or another league not MLB.
The Padres are “less active” because their team is pretty much set.
They need one SP and a bench piece….thats about it.
Even the “big market”, “money is no object” Padres can’t sign the top free agents or trade for major league starters every year.
They gotta give the dodgers a chance!
That’s right. But it’s good to see their interest in a high end SP
Not for lack of trying though, right?
You win!
Rhys Hoskins seems like a great fit for San Diego…
No. Not a believer in Hoskins
Bartsimpsonyoutried.gif
eVerY tEaM cAn sPeND a BiLlioN DoLlaRs, tHeY jUSt DoNt waNT tO.
Lemme see …
You’ve been kidnapped and tHaT pOsT was by your kidnappers, some sort of weird ransom note?
Probably reprinting something a Dodgers fan posted.
They did spend a billion
So what if a team “had interest”? Seriously. What does retroactive thinking like this qualify as news? I know it’s the thin time for new stories…and while I appreciate the attempt to add context…I just don’t see this as reporting.
Sir, this a Wendy’s… I mean a rumors site.
I get it. You only want the cold, hard facts. Enjoy: mlb.com/transactions
Go get Cutch.
I love Cutch but I don’t see him helping this team on the field.
Now healthy, Hoskins would be a good pick up.
Hoskins hasn;t really produced at an above average level since his late season call up with Philly. Great for those 3-ish months, maybe decent the year after, and then downhill ever since.
That is false. He has a career 121 wRC+ which is 21% above the league average.
I sit corrected. Though, as a defensively limited position player, his average production in ‘24 & ‘25 make him a buy very low candidate. Going by OPS+, he excelled at the plate for roughly 4 1/2 seasons.
Maybe he’ll turn it around this year.
I feel like the Orioles and Padres could match up in a trade. Maybe Pivetta and a reliever to BAL for Kremer, Mayo (fills the role they saw for Goldy), Kjerstad (another bath they could maybe use) and a pitching prospect?
Haven’t fully thought it out but SD would save about $14MM on the Pivetta/Kremer downgrade. Use some of that to sign another starter to fill the rotation. Kremer has 2 years control btw while Pivetta likely opts out after 2026.
O’s upgrade Kremer to Pivetta and it just costs them $14MM and Mayo/kjerstad/prospect for the one year. If he opts out that means he was the top of rotation quality they wanted. They’d need a quality RP back though to make it all worth it so maybe Jeremiah Estrada?
Again I’m just spitballing
Interesting idea. Fangraphs says Pivetta is due 20.5M in 2026 and then 14M in 27. Might be too much from the Os for only one yr of Pivetta though but Estrada is solid and under team control for four more seasons. I think both teams should think your proposal over.
I would take that in a heartbeat, but I don’t think the O’s are ready to give up on Mayo just yet.
Padres are looking to contend. They won’t be trading Pivetta.
There isn’t a pitcher left in this market better than Pivetta. Kremer is an okay 5th starter but the padres need to add someone like him while keeping Pivetta.
Goldy was a platoon bat. They weren’t going to pay much for him, neither did the Yankees.
They can still sign any of a number of guys that are as good or better than Kremer, while keeping Pivetta. They could trade a bucket of balls and get mountcastle.
Preller will land one of the mid tier pitchers left.
Yeah I think the idea would be to use Kremer as the SP who bumps Sears out of the rotation. And then use the $14MM savings to sign the best possible replacement for Pivetta, whether that’s Scherzer or Verlander or Littell, etc. Idk
Or they can just keep Pivetta and sign one of them.
@Simm. or work a trade for a mid-tier SP
29 teams fail at that annually. Does that make them all failures? No.
Anthony, just curious. Why would you include a link to a Cleveland article instead of a link to a San Diego baseball reporter who has video recordings of the actual interview?
Marty Caswell was at that interview, asked several questions, and posted the entire interview for you to watch. She does pretty much every time there is a press conference with Preller or any of the coaching staff or players. No need to have someone interpret his words. You can hear them yourself.
Marty is awesome! Go Pads
One of the few trades for padres assets I’ve seen on this site that sounds reasonable.
Except no. Estrada not getting traded. It would take big names or ‘unreasonable’ trades to make it worth it for padres.
I like the rest of what you said, I’m sure there’s some other spit balling that could work. Cheers.
Andujar/Goldschmidt is a tossup to me and I don’t really see how you could fit both on the bench. I suppose I prefer Goldschmidt but Andujar is much less likely to fall of a cliff at his age. I actually like the bench going into this season a lot more than last year: Campusano > Maldonado, Wagner’s (potentially Song’s) offensive upside is far greater than Wade, and Johnson as a glove-first/pinch runner option brings much more to the table than Hayward. I would love if Song or Wagner could fill in at SS, but definitely too much to ask Song Y1 in MLB. I’m guessing bench shakes out as Campusano, Johnson, Andujar, and Song. I think Croneworth will be fine spelling Bogaerts at SS and sliding Song to 2B.
The rotation still needs massive work. I think they’ll be a reunion with Martinez and I would love to see them sign Gallen. Even just Martinez and some complementary depth signings would go a looooong way.
I don’t know about massive work. Just one more mid-tier SP is the rug that ties the room together…..dude. There are FA options but I wouldn’t rule out a trade for a SP. Gallen really didn’t look good last year so he concerns me.
King, Pivetta, Musgrove, SP via trade or FA guy like Littell or Martinez, then let Vasquez, Sears, Marco Gonzalez, Mendez, Hart, McKinzie and Cruz compete for the #5/6 slot.
The rotation has upside but the depth is concerning, as is expecting Musgrove to be firing on all cylinders after TJS and King being 100% past last year’s injury woes. If either (both?) go down you’re looking at a AAA rotation minus Pivetta. I am fine with Vasquez at #5 but his underlying metrics are atrocious. I think Sears has some untapped potential but very homer prone in his current form. I’m fine walking into playoffs with Pivetta/King/Musgrove but it’s going to be a lot of grueling pitching performances to get there (if they get there). McKenzie is interesting depth but has a lot to prove. They could really use 2 MLB starters, but I guess they’d lose Randy at that point (unless they wanna carry him as BP long man, which might work).
The Pads will carry 13 position players not 12 as you suggest. So they will add another guy to the bench, perhaps a backup SS (rather than relying on Cronenworth in that role). Song and Wagner won’t play SS. If they did use Croney as a backup at SS, then it’s plausible they could add another DH/1B/OF bat with some slug.
Good catch. Add McCoy (or a reunion with Iglesias) to that list.
Am I the only one seeing Germán Márquez getting signed by the Pads for a decent price and having Niebla work his voodoo, thus polishing the new 4th starter or long-reliever? Probs.
I can see that. I suppose it depends on if they can get someone better. Vasquez is gonna be in the rotation. So they need one more arm; no room for two more arms unless Vasquez is gone. He has no options left. The pen is already deep.
Vasquez could be mopup/spot starter out of the BP. Cart before the horse, though.
I’ve never seen a deeper pen in baseball history, I’m sort saying that seriously
It is a really good BP, but I don’t see why they couldn’t carry Vasquez as the bulk innings guy out of the pen.
Stammen and Preller praised Vazquez as a starter. He will be the #4 or #5 starter. Take your pick. he won’t be coming out of the pen unless the Padres somehow land two starters that are front end guys.
Marquez is looking pretty cooked ATM.. I think best case scenario he’s a Randy Vasquez package.
Good to know.
I think AJP will pull a rabbit out of his hat. Be nice to get a veteran innings eater. After that I think we’ll be all set. LFGSD!
So, in summary, the Pads aren’t broke after all, they’re spending and trying to continue to win at a high level despite being a small media market, they have a great fanbase (2nd in attendance in MLB don’t lie), it’s been 72-75 F on the beaches there all winter, and because of all this, they attract a lot of hate as a result. Ok.
not sure about chemistry but the LADs have recently figured out the amalgamation of money.
Free agent’s agent, talking to the Dodgers:
$$$$$$
Free agent’s agent, talking to the Padres
$$$
Free Agent’s agent, talking to the free agent
“Dodger’s are interested!”
Free Agent: “… other teams?”
Free Agent’s agent: “Not really … maybe the Padres, but you wouldn’t be all that interested …”
Money ain’t everything, but it’s sure nice to have when talking to the agent, of a MLB free agent ballplayer. Money HELP’s loads with that “chemistry” thingy. Money helps up and down the organization, i.e. the minor league managers, coaches, staff, scouts, the Buscones, etc.. The Dodgers have a class organization, they REALLY do. They do all the right things. The Padres under Preller with Seidler’s money, have done much the same thing, including key hires FROM the Dodger’s scouting organization. Arguably, the Dodgers are better, but that comes from having larger budgets for DECADES, having a $Billion-plus in annual revenue TODAY (including from their wholly owned ball park, their LA market, the fact that they’re a legacy MLB ball team, etc..).
The Dodgers actually spend a whole lot less than they could. The money argument takes nothing away from the Dodgers as being probably the best ORGANIZATION in the major leagues (regardless of their current roster or results on the field). However, saying that, does not make the argument that the Padres are terminally budget constrained, looking at lean years, can’t “buy” what they need, and etc.. You can’t make that argument, based upon the Padres (and Preller’s) history. It’s just subjectively bashing the Padres, who deserve a lot better for the way they’ve run their team, and the collective decisions that the Padres organization has made.
Which is the better organization, the better way to construct a ball team. It’s an apples and oranges comparison, and dishonestly ignores the DECADES of financial advantages the Dodgers have had.
I had interest in Rihanna too