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Jay Jackson To Retire

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After a professional career that spanned 17 years, veteran right-hander Jay Jackson is hanging up his glove. Robert Murray of FanSided reported this afternoon that Jackson is retiring from his playing career, adding that the 37-year-old hopes to have a second act in baseball, whether that comes by working for a team or in broadcasting.

Jackson was selected by the Cubs in the ninth-round of the 2008 MLB draft and made his pro debut later the summer at 20 years old. A fringe top-100 prospect entering the 2010 season after he pitched to a 2.98 ERA in 24 starts across three levels of the Chicago farm system, Jackson spent the next three seasons struggling at the Triple-A level without breaking into the majors. He was eventually released by the Cubs in early 2013 and bounced between the Marlins, Pirates, and Brewers before eventually landing with the Padres prior to the 2015 season. In San Diego, the right-hander moved to a full-time bullpen role and dominated the Double- and Triple-A levels, earning the opportunity to pitch in the majors for the first time in his career.

Jackson’s first big league cup of coffee did not go especially well, as he surrendered three runs in 4 1/3 innings across six appearances. Even so, the opportunity was enough to get the righty noticed by the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched for the Carp for three seasons, from 2016 to 2018, and put together an impressive resume with a sterling 2.11 ERA and a 26.9% strikeout rate in 175 NPB innings. That work earned him his second big league opportunity, as he returned to the Brewers organization and pitched to a 4.45 ERA across 30 1/3 innings of work in 2019, but it was only after a second sojourn to Japan (this time as a member of the Chiba Lotte Marines) in 2020 that Jackson was able to stick in the majors.

After signing with the Giants in 2021 for his age-33 season, Jackson enjoyed a late-career stretch of success in the majors. Though he pitched just 52 2/3 innings at the big league level for San Francisco, Atlanta, and Toronto from 2021 to 2023, Jackson posted an excellent 2.73 ERA across those 50 appearances and struck out 26.5% of his opponents. That was enough to earn Jackson a look from the Twins last year in his age-36 season, though he struggled badly with a 7.52 ERA across 20 appearances before being released by Minnesota last year. Jackson initially signed with the Mexican League’s Bravos de Leon earlier this month in an effort to continue his playing career, but evidently has now decided to wrap up his days as a player instead.

Overall, Jackson pitched to a lifetime 4.43 ERA (97 ERA+) with a 4.47 FIP across 113 2/3 major league innings, with a 7-4 record and 136 strikeouts in 104 career games. That’s in addition to his excellent years in Japan, where he posted a 2.16 ERA and struck out 204 batters in 183 NPB innings. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Jackson on his nearly two decades of work in baseball and wish him all the best in whatever comes next.

Preller: Padres Exploring Eguy Rosario Trades

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The Padres faced several tough roster decisions in the final days of spring training, perhaps none more difficult than their call on out-of-options infielder Eguy Rosario. The decision was eventually made to designate Rosario for assignment in favor of several veterans who were selected to the 40-man roster: Jose Iglesias and Yuli Gurriel among them. Rosario has often shown glimpses of upside and has hit well in Triple-A, for the most part. He’s also posted huge strikeout totals and poor OBP marks in the majors, however, and he had a rough showing in spring training.

President of baseball operations A.J. Preller spoke highly of Rosario in the wake of his DFA and suggested that he expects to find a trade partner for the 25-year-old (via Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune).

“Eguy’s a big league player,” Preller said. “…He’s going to get an opportunity to go elsewhere and play in the big leagues I would think immediately, and we’ll try to add some value through a trade here in the next week.”

Rosario has only appeared in 100 big league games to this point in his career, due in no small part to a crowded San Diego infield featuring high-profile and high-priced veterans like Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Luis Arraez, Jake Cronenworth and (through the 2024 season) Ha-Seong Kim. Rosario has gotten occasional calls to the big leagues when players are injured, but he’s never topped last year’s 57 plate appearances in the majors. So far, he’s posted a .245/.283/.500 line with five homers, seven doubles and a triple. He’s also drawn just four walks against 34 strikeouts.

Down in Triple-A, Rosario’s numbers look more well-rounded. He’s played parts of three seasons with the Padres’ top affiliate in El Paso and batted .275/.362/.502 in 1164 turns at the plate. A right-handed hitter, Rosario has posted much better numbers against southpaws, but he still has strong right-on-right numbers in Triple-A. That’s not the case in the big leagues, but a .146/.226/.146 slash doesn’t carry too much weight when it’s a sample of 54 plate appearances and comes in scattered, infrequent playing time. Plus, Rosario has demolished big league lefties at a .348/.348/.870 rate in 46 plate appearances. His batted-ball metrics (exit velocity, hard-hit rate, etc.) aren’t great in the majors or in Triple-A, but he’s demonstrated some clear extra-base pop.

Defensively, Rosario has spent the bulk of his time at third base — more than 3400 professional innings. However, he’s also logged more than 2600 innings at second base, another 1200 innings at short and a handful of games at both first base and in right field. Baseball America’s scouting reports on Rosario praise his plus arm but note that despite good speed and athleticism, his actions and range make him better suited for work at third or second.

Despite his minimal playing time when on the big league roster, Rosario has spent enough time in the majors to have more than one year of service time. Any team that acquires him via trade or waivers would pick up five seasons of control, though he’d have to go directly on the big league roster due to his lack of options.

Padres Designate Eguy Rosario, Tyler Wade For Assignment

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The Padres finalized their Opening Day roster. As previously reported, they selected catcher Martín Maldonado and infielders Jose Iglesias and Yuli Gurriel onto the roster. San Diego created one vacancy on Tuesday when they returned Rule 5 pick Juan Nunez to the Orioles. They cleared the final two spots by designating out-of-options infielders Eguy Rosario and Tyler Wade for assignment.

Both moves were expected. San Diego announced on Monday that outfielder Brandon Lockridge had made the club. Maldonado, Iglesias, Gurriel, Lockridge and Gavin Sheets would round out the bench and designated hitter position. That left no room for Rosario and Wade, neither of whom could be sent to the minors without going on waivers.

Rosario, 25, has taken exactly 100 major league plate appearances over the past three seasons. He’s a .245/.283/.500 hitter. He has hit five homers but struck out 34 times while drawing four walks. The righty-swinging infielder hit .200 with three homers but 16 strikeouts over 61 plate appearances this spring. He owns a .275/.362/.502 slash line in nearly 1200 career Triple-A plate appearances. There’s a decent chance he’ll land elsewhere on waivers.

Wade appeared in 90 games last season in a utility role. He hit .217/.285/.239 through 156 plate appearances. The Padres signed him to a $900K deal to avoid arbitration in his final year of control. That included a $1MM club option for 2026. Wade has more than five years of service time, so he could decline a minor league assignment while retaining that salary if he goes unclaimed. He hit .209 with one homer in 19 Spring Training games.

Meanwhile, left-hander Omar Cruz cracked the Opening Day bullpen. San Diego added him to the 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’ll make his big league debut with his first appearance of the season. The 26-year-old southpaw worked 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball in Spring Training. He pitched mostly in a long relief role last year in the upper minors. Cruz combined for a 3.96 ERA with an excellent 32.3% strikeout rate over 86 1/3 innings between the top two minor league levels. He’ll provide a long relief option out of Mike Shildt’s bullpen with Bryan Hoeing and Jhony Brito each starting the year on the injured list.

Padres Outright Brett Sullivan

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Catcher Brett Sullivan went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated for assignment on Sunday, the Padres announced. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A El Paso to begin the season, meaning he’ll stick with the organization as a depth option but won’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Sullivan has neither the requisite service time nor the prior outright needed to reject today’s assignment in favor of free agency.

Sullivan, 31, has appeared in 40 games and taken 103 plate appearances with San Diego over the past two seasons. He’s a .206/.243/.299 hitter with a pair of homers, a 22.3% strikeout rate and a 4.9% walk rate in that time. He’s delivered solid offense in Triple-A, however, hitting .287/.367/.497 with 24 homers, 47 doubles and nearly as many walks (11.1%) as strikeouts (11.9%) over the course of 732 plate appearances there.

Defensively, Sullivan has received shaky grades for both his framing and throwing. He’s shown some defensive versatility though, logging 723 career innings in left field, 694 at third base and 35 at first base in the minors (all in addition to 4547 innings behind the plate).

Now that Sullivan has cleared waivers, he’ll be in El Paso alongside the recently optioned Luis Campusano. They’ll be first up in the event of injuries or changes to the big league catching tandem of Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado.

Padres Return Rule 5 Pick Juan Nunez To Orioles

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5:10pm: The O’s have officially announced that Nunez has cleared waivers and is back with them. He has been assigned to their minor league camp.

4:25pm: The Padres are returning Rule 5 pick Juan Nunez to the Orioles, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Rule 5 players have to clear waivers before being offered back to their original club. It’s not clear if that has happened yet. Regardless, the Padres open a 40-man roster spot. If Nunez officially winds up back with the Orioles, he will not need to take a 40-man spot with that club.

Nunez, 24, is a right-handed pitcher who has worked both as a starter and reliever. Originally a Twins prospect, he was one of four players sent to the Orioles as part of the August 2022 Jorge López trade.

In his time in the minors, he has posted a large number of strikeouts but also plenty of walks. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 230 2/3 innings across various levels with a 3.32 earned run average. He punched out 29.6% of opponents but gave out free passes at an 11% clip.

He started 2024 at the High-A level. He was shut down in May with a shoulder injury, limiting him to just seven starts on the year. That made him something of a surprise pick in the Rule 5, since he still hadn’t even reached the Double-A level. Per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, he was slowed by that shoulder again to start camp. He eventually made four appearances in the Cactus League but gave out six walks compared to just four strikeouts.

Nunez was already going to have a tough path to breaking camp. He has no upper-level minor league experience and is coming off a mostly lost season. It certainly didn’t help that the shoulder problems carried over to this year and he struggled with his control.

The Padres also need to open a number of 40-man spots. They are planning to select the contracts of several non-roster invitees, with Jose Iglesias, Yuli Gurriel and Martín Maldonado reportedly all making the club. Nunez will open one spot. It also seems that Tyler Wade and Eguy Rosario are going to be removed, since both are out of options and aren’t going to make the Opening Day roster.

Padres Option Stephen Kolek, Connor Joe

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The Padres announced that they’ve optioned Stephen Kolek, Ron Marinaccio, Luis Campusano and Connor Joe to Triple-A El Paso. None of those players will start the season on the major league roster.

Kolek’s demotion is most notable, as it essentially finalizes the Opening Day rotation. Kyle Hart and Randy Vásquez will open the year as the respective fourth and fifth starters behind Dylan Cease, Michael King and Nick Pivetta. (Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote earlier this evening that the team was leaning in that direction.) There were two spots up for grabs with Yu Darvish beginning the season on the injured list as he battles elbow inflammation.

A 2023 Rule 5 pick, Kolek spent last season in the MLB bullpen. He posted a 5.21 ERA across 46 2/3 innings. While Kolek’s 18.5% strikeout rate was mediocre, he got ground-balls at an excellent 55.9% clip. He showed enough that the Padres built him back up as a starter this spring. Kolek had a good camp, pitching 12 1/3 innings of three-run ball with a 61.5% ground-ball rate.

That evidently wasn’t enough to leapfrog Hart and Vásquez on the depth chart. Hart, a 32-year-old southpaw, signed a $1.5MM free agent deal after spending last season in Korea. His four career major league appearances came with the Red Sox in 2020. Hart has given up eight runs over 7 2/3 Spring Training frames, but his 2.69 ERA in the KBO last year made it likely he’d crack the rotation. That was less clear with Vásquez, who started 20 games with an ERA approaching 5.00 for San Diego a year ago. He has recorded seven strikeouts with one walk over eight innings this spring.

Campusano was ticketed for Triple-A once the Padres tabbed Martín Maldonado to work as the backup catcher behind Elias Díaz. Assuming he spends at least 20 days in the minors, this will be Campusano’s final option year. It’s a make or break season for the former top prospect. Joe signed a $1MM free agent deal to work as the short side of a left field platoon with Jason Heyward. He’s been passed on the depth chart by Brandon Lockridge even though he hit .316/.469/.447 this spring. Lockridge, another righty-hitting outfielder, is a superior runner who’ll provide more athleticism on Mike Shildt’s bench.

Brandon Lockridge Makes Padres’ Roster

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Outfielder Brandon Lockridge has made the Padres’ Opening Day roster, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. He will seemingly be the club’s fourth and final bench player, as it was reported yesterday that veterans Yuli Gurriel, Jose Iglesias and Martín Maldonado will be selected to take the three other spots.

As noted by Cassavell, a spot going to Lockridge will have domino effects for the six other players left in camp: Luis Campusano, Connor Joe, Mason McCoy, Oscar Gonzalez, Tyler Wade and Eguy Rosario. The first three of that group have options and seem likely to be sent to Triple-A. Gonzalez is on a minor league deal and can also be sent to the minors, though Cassavell notes that he does have an opt-out at some point during the season.

As for Wade and Rosario, they cannot be optioned and seem likely to be either traded or designated for assignment in the coming days. That would open up two of the three spots needed on the 40-man for Gurriel, Iglesias and Maldonado.

Lockridge, 28, made his major league debut last year. He only got sent up to the plate 12 times and produced a rough line of .167/.167/.417 in that small sample. Naturally, his minor league production has been better, with a combined line of .278/.357/.417 in the minors over the past four years. He also stole 122 bases in that stretch, including 46 in just 104 games last year. Defensively, he has plenty of experience in all three outfield spots. That makes him a solid guy for the bench, as he can serve as a pinch runner and defensive substitution. As a right-handed hitter, he could perhaps platoon with Jason Heyward in left field at times.

Wade, 30, has generally served as a light-hitting utility player during his career. He has a .217/.291/.289 batting line over eight seasons, production which translates to a 64 wRC+. But he has been able to steal some bases and bounce around the diamond, lining up at every position except first base and the battery.

He has just over five years of major league service time. The Padres tendered him a contract at the end of last year, avoiding arbitration with a deal that includes a $900K salary this year and a club option for 2026. The club presumably planned on having him back a multi-positional bench guy but they pivoted to Iglesias when he was unsigned in the beginning of March, so Wade will apparently be nudged out.

Assuming the club designates him for assignment and puts him on waivers, any club could claim if they were willing to take on that salary. However, since he has at least five years of service, he has the right to elect free agency and keep that money if he clears waivers. At that point, clubs would be free to sign him for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with the Padres still on the hook for the rest.

Rosario, 25, has appeared in the past three major league seasons but has received a total of just 100 plate appearances with the Padres in those. His .245/.283/.500 line is pretty good but top heavy, as he has five home runs but a 4% walk rate and 34% strikeout rate.

That hasn’t really been a problem in the minors. Over the past four years, he has drawn walks in 10.9% of his plate appearances on the farm while getting punched out just 20.9% of the time. He has a combined .279/.363/.493 line in that time for a 115 wRC+. Defensively, he has played all four infield positions in addition to some corner outfield work.

It’s a decent profile overall. FanGraphs had him ranked as the #11 prospect in the system as of July. Baseball America gave him the #19 spot going into this season. Though he’s out of options, he will probably hold appeal for other clubs. He has between one and two years of service time, meaning he could be retained through the 2029 season if he sticks somewhere else.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Offseason In Review: San Diego Padres

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The Padres had a fairly quiet offseason coming off a 93-win season. They were working with limited payroll room for the second straight winter, but they decided not to move any key pieces in cost-cutting trades. A few late signings -- including a backloaded four-year deal for a mid-rotation starter -- rounded out the offseason.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $11MM
Total spending: $62MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Seasons

Extensions

  • Signed SS Tyler Wade to one-year, $900K deal with $1MM club option for 2026

Notable Losses

The Padres faced a pair of injuries late last season that had a significant impact on their offseason. In August, Ha-Seong Kim injured his shoulder diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt. He underwent a season-ending labrum repair a few weeks later. Joe Musgrove left a start early in the postseason with elbow tightness. He required Tommy John surgery that'll cost him the entire '25 season.

Kim's injury was "only" expected to carry into the early part of this season, though it came with a nebulous enough timeline that it's possible he'll miss most of the first half. The Padres never seemed likely to meet the asking price to retain free agency's #2 shortstop. However, there's a decent chance they would have issued Kim a qualifying offer if he were fully healthy.

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Poll: Who Will Win The NL West?

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With Opening Day just over the horizon, teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. And until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division, and that series begins today with the NL West. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Los Angeles Dodgers (98-64)

The Dodgers have already notched two wins over the Cubs in the Tokyo Series for 2025, and they did so coming off a season where they finished the year with the best record in baseball and went on to win the World Series over the Yankees in five games. The club’s core of MVP-caliber talent remains in place with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman all set to once again anchor the lineup this year. Meanwhile, a pitching staff that already included Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Clayton Kershaw has been bulked out further not just by Ohtani’s impending return to the mound but also the additions of Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki.

In the bullpen, the team’s solid late-inning mix of Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech, and Evan Phillips got a pair of major additions in the form of Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, while the lineup is largely unchanged from last season with Hyeseong Kim set to replace Gavin Lux eventually and Michael Conforto stepping into the outfield in place of Jason Heyward. There are few clear places to nitpick a team that appears to be a clear juggernaut on paper, although the combination of Betts and Max Muncy on the left side of the infield figures to be below average defensively and the club’s strategy of stacking talented, oft-injured rotation arms always runs the risk of health problems.

San Diego Padres (93-69)

While many view besting the Dodgers as a mountain that’s near impossible to climb, it’s worth remembering that San Diego came within just one game of toppling them during the NLDS back in October. The Padres were restricted in their offseason activities by financial limitations, but the core of the 2024 club remains largely in place with Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, and Fernando Tatis Jr. poised to anchor the lineup, Xander Bogaerts and Luis Arraez providing support and a front-of-the-rotation duo of Dylan Cease and Michael King who will be motivated to build on their excellent 2024 campaigns ahead of free agency this winter.

That’s not to say the club made no additions this winter, of course. The Padres waited out the market to sign talented right-hander Nick Pivetta to anchor the middle of their rotation alongside Yu Darvish, allowing them to make a splash on a tight budget. Other additions were less flashy, but could still prove valuable. While a supporting cast of Jason Heyward, Connor Joe, Jose Iglesias, and Yuli Gurriel may not look like much on paper, no one expected Jurickson Profar, David Peralta, and Donovan Solano to be as impactful for the club as they were last year. If the Padres are to win an NL West that got even more loaded this winter, they’ll need to hit on those dice rolls once again.

Arizona Diamondbacks (89-73)

While the Diamondbacks missed the playoffs by a hair in 2024 when they finished tied with the Mets and Braves for the final two NL Wild Card spots, the 2023 NL champions put together an excellent team in 2024. The Diamondbacks led the majors in runs scored last year, and many core pieces like Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll are back for more this year alongside supporting veterans Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Eugenio Suarez. The losses of Christian Walker and Joc Pederson will certainly sting, but Josh Naylor should help to make up for some of that lost production and it wouldn’t be a shock to see longtime top prospect Jordan Lawlar break into the majors this year, either.

The pitching side of things is where Arizona figures to improve the most over last year. Zac Gallen is now complemented at the top of the Diamondbacks rotation by a co-ace in Corbin Burnes, and Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez should be able to offer far steadier mid-rotation production than they did in injury-marred 2024 campaigns. The club also enjoys a deep group of back-of-the-rotation options, with Brandon Pfaadt set to get the first crack at starting. Should injuries once again complicate matters, Ryne Nelson is one of the best sixth starters in the league and there’s nowhere for Jordan Montgomery to go but up after last year’s disastrous campaign.

San Francisco Giants (80-82)

The Giants enjoyed a reasonably strong offseason during Buster Posey’s first winter at the helm, but after finishing with a middling record for the third consecutive season it would take a lot of things going right for the club to make significant gains in the standings. The addition of a star-caliber shortstop in Willy Adames alongside Matt Chapman should make for one of the stronger left sides of the infield in the sport this year, but it would take a renaissance from Justin Verlander to even match Blake Snell’s production down the stretch last year. Meanwhile, the club has no established talent at DH and faces questions about the productivity of its outfield after Jung Hoo Lee’s debut season was sidetracked by injuries.

That’s not to say 2025 is a season without hope for fans in San Francisco, however. Verlander and Robbie Ray are both former Cy Young winners, and vintage performances from the duo in conjunction with Logan Webb’s ever-steady production could make an impressive front-end of the rotation. Young players like Heliot Ramos, Tyler Fitzgerald, and Patrick Bailey could build on solid 2024 campaigns and take further steps forward. And if they do so while the rotation plays up to its potential, it’s possible to see the Giants surprising this year.

Colorado Rockies (61-101)

While the division’s other four teams all have reasonable paths to contention this year, the Rockies would need to move heaven and earth just to get to .500 after a season where they finished 37 games back in the NL West and made no significant additions during the offseason. The club has a few potentially exciting pieces in place, with center fielder Brenton Doyle and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar creating an exciting up-the-middle duo, but the supporting cast leaves much to be desired.

The club traded its highest-ceiling offensive player, left fielder Nolan Jones, for utility man Tyler Freeman over the weekend. And exciting top prospects like Zac Veen and Chase Dollander remain in the minor leagues. Even a return to form from $182MM man Kris Bryant wouldn’t be enough to return playoff baseball to Colorado this year unless it was paired with strong performances from those aforementioned prospects in addition to veteran arms like German Marquez and Kyle Freeland turning back the clock to 2018.

__________________________________________

With four of the division’s five teams making an effort to get back to the playoffs this year, which club do you expect to come out on top? Will the Dodgers remain the league’s dominant force, or will they be overcome by a big season from one of their rivals like San Diego or Arizona? Have your say in the poll below:

Padres To Select Jose Iglesias, Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldonado

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The Padres have told three veteran non-roster invitees that they have made the Opening Day roster.  First baseman Yuli Gurriel (as per reporter Francys Romero), infielder Jose Iglesias (as per Jon Heyman of the New York Post) and catcher Martin Maldonado (as per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune) will officially have their minor league contracts selected once the Padres clear three spots on their 40-man roster.  Acee also reports that Gavin Sheets will be part of the active roster, after Sheets’ contract was selected earlier this week.

Iglesias and Gurriel are both Article XX(b) free agents, and thus yesterday was the first opt-out date on their minor league deals.  It isn’t known if Iglesias or Gurriel actually enacted their opt-out clauses to force the Padres’ hand, but regardless, the two infielders will now be part of San Diego’s roster when the season begins on Thursday.

Iglesias only signed with the Padres on March 5, and the $3MM salary attached to his minors deal if he made the roster seemingly hinted that the team was always aiming to include him in a backup infield role.  Making the team officially locks in that salary, as Iglesias looks to have an encore to possibly the most remarkable season of his 12 years in the Show.

Signed to a minors deal by the Mets last winter, Iglesias was called up to the team in late May and proceeded to hit .337/.381/.448 over 291 plate appearances — far outpacing the career .277/.319/.382 slash line he’d produced in his previous 4043 PA.  A .382 BABIP played a hefty role in Iglesias’ career year, yet BABIP wasn’t as important an acronym as OMG, Iglesias’ song that became an instant hit with New York fans and became symbolic of the Mets’ turn-around season.

Gurriel will earn a $1.35MM salary for making the team as the 40-year-old prepares for his 10th big league season.  A winner of two World Series rings during his time in Houston, Gurriel has hit only .243/.297/.356 in 978 PA for the Astros, Marlins, and Royals over the last three seasons.  He hit well enough in the Padres’ camp, however, to work his way into the bench mix.

Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth, and Luis Arraez are lined up San Diego’s starting infielders, and the latter two players are left-handed hitters.  That could provide an opening for the right-handed hitting Iglesias and Gurriel to grab some at-bats when a southpaw is on the mound, plus Gurriel could also split some DH time with Sheets (another lefty swinger).

The 38-year-old Maldonado also had an opt-out in his deal, and he’ll forego exercising that clause now that he has been tabbed as the Padres’ backup catcher behind Elias Diaz.  Maldonado has long been highly regarded for his defense and ability to work with pitchers, even as his offense has rarely even been average over his 14-year career.  Maldonado has a .203/.278/.344 slash line over 3449 career PA, and last season saw him crater out by hitting .119/.174/.230 in 147 PA with the White Sox.

Obviously San Diego is prioritizing glovework over anything Maldonado can or can’t produce at the plate.  It might also be a sign of how Luis Campusano’s stock has fallen, as the former top prospect struggled through a rough 2024 season and now looks to be starting 2025 in the minors.

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