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Padres Rumors

Padres Hire Craig Stammen For Player Development Role

By Anthony Franco | January 30, 2024 at 11:11pm CDT

The Padres have added former MLB reliever Craig Stammen in a player development capacity, reports Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The 39-year-old will work as an assistant to both the coaching staff and baseball operations department in a role that sees him interact with the MLB team and minor league affiliates. Sanders notes that former big leaguers Allen Craig and A.J. Ellis — each of whom have worked for the Padres for a few seasons — are taking similar positions.

Stammen had a 13-year playing career in the majors. Despite falling to the 12th round of the 2005 draft, he was a consistently effective reliever for the bulk of that run. Stammen pitched to a 3.91 ERA in parts of seven seasons with the Nationals before signing with San Diego. He played on a series of short-term contracts with the Friars, combining for a 3.36 ERA through 394 1/3 frames in a San Diego uniform.

The Padres re-signed Stammen to a minor league contract last January. Unfortunately, his playing days came to an end in Spring Training. The right-hander sustained a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder during exhibition play. He acknowledged at the time that was likely to end his career and officially announced his retirement in August. Stammen sticks with the organization as he transitions to his post-playing endeavors.

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San Diego Padres Craig Stammen

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Padres Among Teams Interested In Michael Lorenzen

By Steve Adams | January 30, 2024 at 3:30pm CDT

The Padres have expressed some interest in free agent righty Michael Lorenzen as they look to fill out their rotation, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The 32-year-old Lorenzen is among the more notable free agent starting pitchers yet to sign this offseason.

Lorenzen is a free agent for the third consecutive offseason. The longtime Reds setup man hit the market two winters ago in search of an opportunity to move back to a rotation — the role in which he broke into the majors as a rookie. That led to a one-year, $6.75MM deal with the Angels that produced solid results but was cut short at 97 2/3 innings due to a shoulder strain. Lorenzen took another one-year deal last offseason, this time landing a $8.5MM guarantee from the Tigers. The end-of-season results look solid — 4.18 ERA, 17.8% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate — but also don’t necessarily tell the whole story of his season.

A strong first half (and a generally underwhelming Tigers roster) helped to both propel Lorenzen to his first All-Star Game and position him as a trade candidate who was in relatively strong demand. Lorenzen turned in a 3.80 ERA as a Tiger, soaking up 105 2/3 innings in 18 starts (5 2/3 frames per outing) while fanning 20% of opponents against a 6.5% walk rate. The Phillies eventually acquired him to help stabilize the rotation down the stretch, and in the early stages of his Philadelphia tenure the trade looked like a masterstroke.

Lorenzen’s Phillies debut was sensational. He tossed eight innings of two-run ball against a contending Marlins club, limiting the Fish to a pair of runs on six hits and a walk. One-upping that type of debut is no small feat, but he did so in spades, tossing a no-hitter against the Nationals in his second start. Lorenzen looked like an instant Phillies success, but things went downhill quickly thereafter.

Whether due to a career-high workload, some type of minor injury or a simple run of poor performance, Lorenzen wilted in such substantial fashion that the Phils eventually dropped him to the bullpen. In the five starts immediately following that 124-pitch no-hitter, Lorenzen allowed 26 runs (23 earned) on 37 hits and 11 walks with just 14 strikeouts in 26 innings. His first outing as a reliever for the Phils saw him serve up another four runs in just one-third of an inning. He recovered with four shutout innings over his final three relief appearances, but what looked like a breakout season in mid-August ended with a whimper.

Even with that wobbly finish, Lorenzen is a sensible target for a Padres team in need of solid innings and rotation depth. The right-hander built up to 153 innings in 2023, and while he may have faded down the stretch, that workload might also make him less likely to deal with any late-season fatigue in 2024. San Diego’s current rotation includes Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Michael King, with a host of unknowns vying for the final two spots. Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Pedro Avila, Matt Waldron, Glenn Otto and Jay Groome are among the options for the final two spots.

It’s a deep collection of arms, all of whom other than Groome have at least some MLB experience, but no one from that bunch has proven much as a starter. Even King, whom the Padres acquired from the Yankees in the Juan Soto blockbuster (alongside Vasquez and Brito) has never pitched a full big league season as a starter. An injury to Musgrove and/or Darvish — both of whom have spent time on the IL in recent seasons — would render the Padres heavily reliant on a cast of general question marks. Lorenzen has some questions himself, but he’s also pitched 250 2/3 innings of 4.20 ERA ball over the past two seasons. There’s little doubt he’d be a steadying presence.

The question for the Padres is one of payroll. San Diego was reportedly aiming to scale back payroll by as much as $50MM this offseason, which was the driving factor behind the Soto trade in the first place. They also swapped out an experienced but relatively expensive reliever (Scott Barlow) for a less-proven and lower-cost bullpen arm (Enyel De Los Santos) and have allowed Josh Hader, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez to depart via free agency (with Blake Snell likely to follow). The Friars have spent some money, bringing in NPB reliever Yuki Matsui and KBO reliever Woo Suk Go on low-AAV multi-year deals, but the offseason has been more focused on subtracting big salaries than bolstering a win-now roster.

As things stand, the Padres’ payroll sits at a projected $156MM, with $212MM of luxury tax obligations, per Roster Resource. That’s a massive $100MM shy of their end-of-season 2023 payroll level, which ought to leave the Padres with some money to make modest additions between now and Opening Day. Lorenzen, who’s also drawn interest from the Orioles, makes as much sense as any fit on the market, but the Padres presumably have limited resources with which to work and holes in the outfield, on the bench and at designated hitter.

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San Diego Padres Michael Lorenzen

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Padres Sign Matt Festa To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | January 26, 2024 at 11:07pm CDT

The Padres announced their list of non-roster Spring Training invitees this evening. Among the acquisitions not previously covered at MLBTR: reliever Matt Festa and utility player Tyler Wade. San Diego also brought back catcher Chandler Seagle on a new minor league pact after he’d elected free agency.

According to Wade’s transaction log at MLB.com, he inked his deal back in November. The transaction eluded MLBTR at the time. The Marietta native sticks in California after spending the prior two seasons with the Angels and A’s. Wade tallied a career-high 163 plate appearances with the Halos two years ago but only got into 26 contests for Oakland.

Previously a utility player with the Yankees, Wade has appeared in seven MLB seasons. The speedy left-handed hitter owns a .217/.293/.300 batting line in just over 700 plate appearances. He’s coming off a solid .291/.384/.409 showing through 91 games with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate. Wade stole 42 bases in 51 attempts in the minors a year ago. He’s a versatile depth option who can cover either middle infield position or play anywhere in the outfield.

Festa signed with San Diego today, according to the transaction tracker. The 30-year-old righty (31 next month) had lingered in free agency since he was released by the Mariners last August. Festa was on the minor league injured list with an undisclosed malady at the time, explaining why he didn’t catch on with another team for the stretch run.

Injuries have been an issue for Festa, who lost a good portion of the 2020-21 seasons to Tommy John surgery. The former seventh-round draftee returned to the mound in Triple-A at the tail end of the ’21 campaign. He made Seattle’s roster the following year and logged a personal-high 54 innings. Festa worked to a 4.17 ERA behind a very strong 29.2% strikeout percentage, although he allowed an alarming 1.67 homers per nine innings.

Seattle only gave Festa eight MLB appearances last season. Before going on the IL, he’d pitched 28 times for the M’s top affiliate in Tacoma. His ERA there could hardly have been better. He allowed only two earned runs in 34 frames (0.53 per nine) for the Rainiers. Despite the nearly immaculate run prevention, his strikeout and walk profile was middling. Festa only fanned 21.9% of opponents while issuing free passes at an alarming 12.5% clip. An unsustainably low .114 batting average on balls in play against him was a big reason for the ERA being as impressive as it was.

Seagle, a 27-year-old depth catcher, has spent his entire career in the San Diego system. A 30th round pick in 2017, he’s a .204/.277/.287 hitter in more than 1000 minor league plate appearances. While he clearly isn’t going to provide much at the plate, the Padres seem happy enough with his defensive ability to keep him in the minors. San Diego called Seagle up for the final weekend of 2023 after losing Luis Campusano to injury. He got into a game and received one at-bat. The Padres placed him on waivers at the start of the offseason but brought him back last week in a non-roster capacity.

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San Diego Padres Transactions Chandler Seagle Matt Festa Tyler Wade

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Padres Sign Top International Prospect Leodalis De Vries

By Anthony Franco | January 15, 2024 at 10:59pm CDT

  • Leodalis De Vries, SS, Padres: De Vries lands the second-highest bonus at $4.2MM. Sanchez and Badler each indicate he’s now regarded as the most talented prospect in this year’s class. It’s the second straight year in which San Diego landed the #1 player in the international period after last year’s signing of catcher Ethan Salas. De Vries, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a 6’1″ switch-hitter. He draws praise for a well-rounded offensive profile with power potential and a chance to stick at shortstop.
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2024 International Prospects Atlanta Braves Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets San Diego Padres Seattle Mariners Texas Rangers Washington Nationals Dawel Joseph Fernando Cruz (b. 2006) Jose Perdomo Leodalis De Vries

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Trade Candidate: Ha-Seong Kim

By Mark Polishuk | January 14, 2024 at 10:58pm CDT

After an underwhelming 2021 rookie season, Ha-Seong Kim has emerged as a standout big leaguer over the last two years, posting an 8.1 fWAR due to his combination of above-average (109 wRC+) hitting, excellent baserunning, and top-tier defense.  The Padres have certainly gotten a great return on the four-year, $28MM contract they signed to attract Kim from the KBO League during the 2020-21 offseason, yet with Kim now entering the final year of that deal, his time in San Diego could be running short.

While a mutual option is in place for the 2025 season, such options are almost never exercised by both parties, and the 28-year-old Kim seems like a lock to again hit the open market next winter now that he has an established MLB track record.  If the Padres don’t feel they can extend or re-sign the infielder, a trade remains a possibility, and The Athletic’s Dennis Lin writes that “internally, at least, San Diego has been discussing the idea for weeks.”

Whether or not a trade actually happens remains to be seen, as a Padres official told Lin that the return would need to be “way above the line” to get the club to actually move Kim.  In addition, Kim will also naturally be one of the centerpieces of the season-opening two-game series between the Padres and Dodgers in Seoul on March 20-21, and Lin doubts that the Friars take the awkward position of moving a Korean star prior to the first MLB regular-season games to ever take place in South Korea.

That being said, adding multiple long-term assets for one year of Kim’s services is obviously a tempting concept for a Padres team that has a lot of needs to address.  Trading Kim would create a big hole in San Diego’s infield, though the team is still in dire need of outfielders and as many as two starting pitchers to slot behind Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and the newly-acquired Michael King.  The high cost of pitching would make signing a starter more expensive for the Padres than perhaps signing an infielder as a stopgap Kim replacement, plus top prospect Jackson Merrill could be part of the big league infield picture at some point in 2024.

Cost-cutting has been one of the major storylines of the San Diego offseason, and since the Padres seem to be stepping back from their financial splurges of the last couple of seasons, retaining Kim looks like less of a possibility.  The team is reportedly looking to reduce spending to around $200MM in payroll in 2024, and ideally get under the $237MM luxury tax threshold if possible.  After signing Yuki Matsui and Woo Suk Go to upgrade the bullpen, the Padres are projected (via Roster Resource) to have a $156.3MM payroll and a tax number of just under $212MM, so there isn’t a ton of flexibility for the team to add meaningful outfield and rotation help.

Kim is a big part of this financial picture, in the sense that he’s quite a bargain at only an $8MM salary.  Since Manny Machado might be limited to early-season DH duty while he recovers from elbow surgery, Kim carries even greater import within San Diego’s infield, as he might be needed to handle third base while Machado heals up.  Jake Cronenworth would likely move first base to second base in the event of a Kim trade, but that would then leave the Padres in need of a first baseman and at least a temporary replacement at the hot corner.

It isn’t a reach to suggest that Kim might be just about the most prized trade asset on the market if the Padres made him available, as Lin notes that the Friars have already drawn “widespread interest” in Kim from rival teams.  Though he primarily played second base last season, Kim won the NL utility Gold Glove for his all-around defensive work at second, third, and shortstop.  Considering how many contenders and would-be contenders have a need at at least one of these infield positions, up to half the league could be seen as plausible suitors to bid on Kim, even if some teams are better equipped than others to meet San Diego’s high asking price.

Kim’s $8MM salary might fit the budget of smaller-market teams like the Rays, Guardians, Pirates, or Royals, though perhaps only Tampa (who has a long history of trades with the Padres) is the only true World Series contender of that group that might be inspired to make an all-in move to land Kim.  The Brewers, Blue Jays, Mariners, Giants, Angels, Tigers, Cubs, and Marlins all have holes to fill in their infield, even if San Francisco might be less likely if San Diego doesn’t want to deal Kim within the NL West.  Clubs like the Twins, Braves, Yankees, Red Sox, or Phillies are more speculative candidates since another infielder probably would have to be moved to create space for Kim, but an aggressive play can’t be ruled out.

Though Kim is only under contract for 2024, some teams might view him as a longer-term opportunity if they feel they have a chance to extend or re-sign him next offseason.  Even if clubs could also see a Kim trade as strictly a move for the coming season, he is certainly a candidate to receive a qualifying offer, so a team could recoup a draft pick as compensation if he signed elsewhere.

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San Diego Padres Trade Candidate Ha-Seong Kim

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Padres Had Interest In Kevin Kiermaier Prior To Blue Jays Deal

By Nick Deeds | January 14, 2024 at 4:39pm CDT

  • As the Padres look to rebuild their lineup after shipping Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the Bronx last month, they’ve investigated a variety of options to complement right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. on the outfield grass next year. One such option, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, was center fielder Kevin Kiermaier. Lin adds that while San Diego was interested in the veteran center fielder’s services prior to him signing with the Blue Jays on a one-year deal, it’s unlikely the club would have been willing to match the $10.5MM guarantee Toronto offered Kiermaier to remain up north. That reluctance on the part of San Diego could be a bad sign for the club’s reported interest in Michael A. Taylor as the 32-year-old sports a similar profile to both Kiermaier and fellow center fielder Harrison Bader, who signed an identical contract to Kiermaier with the Mets shortly after the new year. Should Taylor prove to be out of the club’s price range, the team could look to the trade market in its search for a center fielder or explore lower-tier options like Adam Duvall or Aaron Hicks.
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Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers Notes San Diego Padres Kevin Kiermaier Phil Maton

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Padres Made Seth Lugo Four-Year Offer Prior To Royals Deal

By Nick Deeds | January 13, 2024 at 10:46pm CDT

The Padres saw four members of their rotation mix department for free agency back in November, led by reigning NL Cy Young award winner Blake Snell. Along with their ace southpaw, San Diego parted ways with right-handers Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Nick Martinez, each of whom has found a new club. At least in the case of Lugo, however, it appears San Diego hoped to continue the relationship into 2024 and beyond. According to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, the Padres made a four-year offer to Lugo before he landed in Kansas City on a three-year, $45MM deal last month. Lin adds that while San Diego was willing to beat the Royals’ offer in terms of years, their offer came at a lower average annual value than that of Kansas City.

That the Padres would want to reunite with Lugo is hardly a surprise given his successful 2023 with the club. After spending his entire career with the Mets prior to hitting free agency last winter, Lugo signed on with San Diego on a two-year deal with an opt-out after the 2023 campaign. After spending most of his time in Queens as a reliever, Lugo stepped into the Padres’ rotation and made 26 starts for the club last year with a 3.57 ERA (115 ERA+) and 3.83 FIP in 146 1/3 innings of work. San Diego entered the winter with just Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish locked into the 2024 rotation, and the return of Lugo would have greatly improved the club’s rotation even after the Padres managed to add Michael King, Randy Vasquez, and Jhony Brito to their Opening Day rotation mix in the Juan Soto trade.

Ultimately, of course, Lugo chose to head to Kansas City. Still, that the Padres felt they had enough room in the budget to make an offer to Lugo could be a positive sign for the club’s ability to fill the remaining holes on their roster before Opening Day. Adding at least one more starter to slot into the middle of the club’s rotation alongside King figures to be a priority for the Padres, particularly after they’ve addressed the bullpen by landing Yuki Matsui and Woo Suk Go in recent weeks. Beyond the rotation, the club’s lineup is in dire need of an overhaul after the club parted ways with Soto, Trent Grisham, and Matt Carpenter in trade this offseason. A left-handed bat such as Joc Pederson or Eddie Rosario would make plenty of sense to occupy either left field or DH, and the club was also recently reported as being among the teams interested in center fielder Michael A. Taylor.

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Cincinnati Reds Notes Philadelphia Phillies San Diego Padres Bryan Rincon Eduardo Tait Jonathan India Seth Lugo

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Angels, Padres, Pirates Interested In Michael A. Taylor

By Anthony Franco | January 5, 2024 at 10:40am CDT

Free agent center fielder Michael A. Taylor is drawing interest from the Angels, Padres and Pirates, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Murray adds that the Halos are also considering Adam Duvall as a free agent outfield target.

Taylor should have the broader market of the two veterans. His ability to play an excellent center field makes him a strong fit on a number of teams. He could operate as a glove-first regular for clubs without a strong in-house option in center or serve as a high-end fourth outfield target for others. The Dodgers, Reds, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Mets have also been linked to Taylor earlier in the offseason. Toronto and New York subsequently signed Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader, respectively, likely taking them out of the mix.

Boston acquired Tyler O’Neill as a right-handed hitter with the ability to play anywhere in the outfield. That could reduce their urgency on Taylor, but Murray suggests they’re still involved. He adds that a return to the Twins, with whom Taylor spent the 2023 campaign, also remains a possibility.

For teams that aren’t going to entertain a run at Cody Bellinger, Taylor is the top center fielder on the open market. He remains a high-end defender even as he enters his age-33 season. Taylor has been a below-average hitter for the bulk of his career, but he’s coming off one of his better offensive showings. He popped a career-best 21 home runs in just 388 plate appearances. Taylor still struck out in more than a third of his plate appearances and hit .220 with a meager .278 on-base percentage. Yet the defense and the ability to run into 15-20 homers while hitting in the bottom third of a lineup makes him a serviceable regular.

The Angels have a projected outfield of Taylor Ward, Mike Trout and Mickey Moniak. Ward missed the final couple months of last year after sustaining facial fractures on a frightening hit-by-pitch. Trout hasn’t reached 120 games or 500 plate appearances in a season since 2019 because of various injuries. Moniak posted solid bottom line results last year, hitting .280/.307/.495 through 323 plate appearances. However, that came with a 35% strikeout rate and a 2% walk percentage that are even worse than Taylor’s career baselines.

Moniak is a clear regression candidate who is better suited in a fourth outfield capacity. Even if the Halos are optimistic about his ability to produce against right-handed pitching, the former #1 overall pick has a .172/.200/.230 slash in 91 career plate appearances versus lefties. The righty-hitting Taylor has been better against southpaws than against right-handed pitching, as one would expect. Since the start of 2020, he’s a .257/.317/.455 hitter with the platoon advantage.

Duvall also hits from the right side. While he has had reverse platoon splits in recent years, he’s a better overall offensive player than either Moniak or Taylor — albeit with a similar low-OBP, power profile. He hit 21 homers in 353 plate appearances for the Red Sox last season, running a .247/.303/.531 slash. Duvall can play some center field but is better suited for a corner spot entering his age-35 season.

As for the other clubs recently linked to Taylor, each of Pittsburgh, San Diego and Minnesota are viable fits. The Padres need to bring in multiple outfielders after trading Juan Soto and Trent Grisham. They’d seemingly prefer to keep Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field rather than moving him up the middle. José Azocar (a career .249/.292/.341 hitter) and prospect Jakob Marsee are the top internal options in a center field position that requires an outside pickup.

Minnesota leaned heavily on Taylor last year as knee injuries kept Byron Buxton to designated hitter. While the Twins have expressed hope that Buxton could handle outfield work again in 2024, they can’t count on him to make 120+ starts at the position.

The Pirates could turn center field back to Jack Suwinski, although public metrics were mixed on his defensive performance. Bryan Reynolds can handle center on occasions but fits best in left. Right field is a question mark, with trade pickup Edward Olivares likely battling Joshua Palacios for work. Andrew McCutchen will see the majority of his time at designated hitter while rotating through the corners. Signing Taylor could allow the Bucs to kick Suwinski to right field and boast a strong defensive outfield.

Kiermaier and Bader each signed one-year pacts worth $10.5MM. Taylor could be in line for something similar, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if he landed a two-year deal at a lower annual value but a slightly better overall guarantee.

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Boston Red Sox Los Angeles Angels Minnesota Twins Pittsburgh Pirates San Diego Padres Adam Duvall Michael A. Taylor

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Padres Sign Oscar Mercado, Kevin Plawecki To Minor League Deals

By Anthony Franco | January 4, 2024 at 8:31pm CDT

The Padres have signed outfielder Óscar Mercado and catcher Kevin Plawecki to minor league contracts with invitations to big league Spring Training, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, San Diego also has minor league agreements with outfielder Bryce Johnson and left-hander Daniel Camarena.

Mercado returns to the Padres after logging some Triple-A time there a season ago. The 29-year-old had an excellent 30-game run with their top farm team in El Paso, hitting .339/.399/.669 with 10 homers and steals apiece. San Diego declined to give him a major league look and he finished the year on a minor league pact with the Dodgers.

Before his stint with the Padres, the Colombian-born outfielder had gotten into 20 MLB games for the Cardinals last year. He has reached the majors in five straight seasons, operating in a depth capacity for most of the time since a solid debut campaign in Cleveland. He’s a .237/.289/.388 hitter in a little under 1000 MLB plate appearances, but he’s a plus runner who can handle all three outfield positions.

Plawecki, 33 in February, spent all of last season in Triple-A. As with Mercado, he briefly joined the San Diego organization midseason. The right-handed hitter combined for a .272/.349/.389 showing in 269 plate appearances with the affiliates for the Nationals, Padres and Rangers. San Diego dealt him to Texas for cash around the deadline.

Last year was the first time since 2014 that Plawecki didn’t see any big league work. He’s a .235/.313/.341 hitter over 449 career games. He’ll add non-roster depth behind the MLB catching duo of Luis Campusano and Kyle Higashioka, although Brett Sullivan has a 40-man roster spot and is above him on the depth chart.

Johnson is a former sixth-round draftee who had spent his entire career with the Giants. The Sam Houston State product reached the majors briefly in each of the last two years, hitting .148/.209/.213 in 67 trips to the plate. As one would expect, Johnson has had more success in Triple-A. He’s a .286/.373/.429 batter over parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level. The 28-year-old has experience at each outfield spot.

Camarena’s lone big league experience consists of six appearances for the Friars in 2021. He’s most well-known for connecting on a stunning grand slam off Max Scherzer. The 31-year-old southpaw has spent a good chunk of time in the San Diego farm system. He pitched for Double-A San Antonio a year ago, posting a 6.20 ERA through 69 2/3 innings.

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San Diego Padres Transactions Bryce Johnson Daniel Camarena Kevin Plawecki Oscar Mercado

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Padres Sign Woo-Suk Go To Two-Year Deal

By Anthony Franco | January 3, 2024 at 10:51pm CDT

The Padres announced the signing of reliever Woo-Suk Go to a two-year contract with a mutual option covering the 2026 season. He is reportedly guaranteed $4.5MM. Go will make $1.75MM this year and $2.25MM in 2025. There’s a $500K buyout on the option, which is valued at $3MM. San Diego will also owe a $900K posting fee to the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization. The Friars still have five vacancies on the 40-man roster.

The contract also contains a number of performance bonuses. Go would receive an additional $100K if he reaches 70 appearances next season. He can unlock up to $400K in bonuses for 2025 as well: $100K apiece at 40, 45, 55 and 60 games. His 2025 salary could jump by as much as $500K if he reaches 45 games finished next season. Unless the mutual option is exercised, Go will return to free agency two years from now. While he’ll still be well shy of six years of MLB service, most major league deals for players from a foreign professional league include a clause that sends the player back to free agency once the contract expires.

Go, a 25-year-old righty, has pitched parts of seven seasons in the KBO. He has worked as a pure reliever throughout that time, operating as the LG Twins closer for the past five years. After struggling during his first two seasons as a teenager, Go has been a solid bullpen arm for a half-decade.

He has rattled off four seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA, including three campaigns allowing fewer than 2.20 earned runs per nine. Go surpassed 30 saves in each of 2019, ’21 and ’22. He has fanned more than 26% of batters faced in each of the last five years, topping the 30% mark in the last two seasons.

While Go has consistently shown the ability to miss bats, he hasn’t always been around the strike zone. He has walked more than 10% of opposing hitters in four of his seven seasons. Go issued free passes to an alarming 11.6% of batters faced last year, contributing to a 3.68 ERA that made for more of a solid than exceptional platform showing.

Public scouting reports have generally pegged Go as a likely middle reliever at the big league level. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs writes that Go leans primarily on a mid-90s fastball and low-90s cutter while occasionally mixing in a curveball. That’s an intriguing arsenal, but the fringy control could make him a risk in higher-leverage spots.

The Twins made Go available via the posting system on December 4. That opened a 30-day period for him to sign with a major league club. (Unlike Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, whose posting windows last 45 days, there’s a 30-day opening for South Korean players). That was concluding this afternoon. If Go hadn’t signed with an MLB team by 4:00 pm CST, he’d have remained with the Twins for another season.

San Diego has been one of the sport’s most aggressive teams in targeting players making the jump from Asian professional leagues. They recently signed lefty Yuki Matsui to a five-year, $28MM pact as he came over from NPB. San Diego has added Ha-Seong Kim from the KBO and the likes of Nick Martinez and Robert Suarez from NPB in previous offseasons.

With Josh Hader, Martinez and Luis García hitting free agency, the Padres have Matsui and Suarez as their top two leverage relievers. Go joins that mix alongside righty Enyel De Los Santos, whom San Diego acquired from the Guardians in exchange for Scott Barlow this winter. Go is reportedly in the mix for the ninth inning.

Under the MLB-KBO posting agreement, the release fee is proportional to the size of the contract. For players guaranteed $25MM or less, it is calculated as 20% of the contract value. The $900K fee brings San Diego’s total outlay for Go to $5.4MM.

The deal’s $2.25MM average annual value brings San Diego’s projected luxury tax number to roughly $212MM, according to Roster Resource. That’s $25MM shy of next year’s lowest threshold. Their actual payroll sits in the $156MM range. Even in an offseason defined by budgetary limitations, adding Go shouldn’t have much of an impact on San Diego’s ability to continue bolstering the roster. The Padres still need one or two outfield acquisitions and would benefit from a back-of-the-rotation starter.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that Go and the Padres were nearing an agreement. The Post’s Joel Sherman reported the sides had agreed to a two-year, $4.5MM guarantee. Dennis Lin of The Athletic was first to report the 2026 mutual option and the specific salary breakdown. The Associated Press reported the bonuses and escalators.

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Korea Baseball Organization Newsstand San Diego Padres Transactions Woo Suk Go

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