No team has been as active during the MLB offseason like the San Diego Padres. The team has completely revamped its starting rotation, acquiring Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove on the trade market.
There’s also a chance that top pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore will make his way to the Padres roster this season, further building up one of the league’s best rotations.
The Padres brought in some new faces on the MLB free agency season. The team let a few players depart, but the team still has a better roster now than what it had last season.
Spring is right around the corner. ⚾️#PadresST pic.twitter.com/QxMqDdiszD
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) February 13, 2021
The work they did on the market shows that the team is focusing more on trades when building the club, but there are still plenty of good things to see outside of that market.
Free Agency Moves
Most of what the Padres did during the offseason came through trades, but there are still a few free agency moves of note. The team resigned outfielder Jurickson Profar to a three-year contract a year after he went .278 with seven home runs.
The Padres already have a packed outfield that features Wil Myers, Trent Grisham, and Tommy Pham, so having Profar return will be more of a depth move.
The team also signed shortstop Ha-Seong Kim from the KBO. The move is surprising, given how Fernando Tatis Jr. has a hold over the shortstop position in San Diego.
But Kim remains one of the most interesting acquisitions to watch, as he had twenty home runs and twenty stolen bases with the Kiwoom Heroes last season. He has multiple All-Star Game appearances and Golden Gloves in the KBO.
The Padres also signed outfielder prospect Brian O’Grady from the Tampa Bay Rays and reliever Nick Burdi from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Burdi had a 3.86 ERA and will be leaving a team that is rebuilding for one that is competing for the World Series right now.
Departures for the Padres
The Padres did send a few people out through trades, including Luis Patino and Francisco Mejia leaving for Tampa Bay. But the team focused more on cutting out some of the weaker links or mid-level prospects when building an immediate contender.
Pitchers Garrett Richards and Kirby Yates respectively left for the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, while outfielder Abraham Almonte signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Braves. Almonte had injury issues last season and is aiming to bounce back, but he will be doing so with another World Series contender.
The Final Note
The San Diego Padres will be contending with the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the NL West, but that’s not the only prize the Padres are looking at this season.
The Padres will still have a great challenge ahead of them, as the Dodgers also build up their team during the offseason. The club signed Trevor Bauer from the Cincinnati Reds and brought back Blake Treinen through a two-year contract.
The San Diego Padres will be one of the most interesting clubs for people to watch this coming MLB season. The team’s free agent moves will help them compete for a World Series, but those moves aren’t as significant as some of the trades the team completed this offseason.
There’s a chance the team might use more of its prospects to bring in even more talented players this season. Pitchers Adrian Morejon, Anderson Espinoza, and Reggie Lawson are among the top-rated pitchers in the minors right now.
Don’t be surprised if the Padres choose to ship those players out, making the MLB free agency period even less of a concern for the Padres.
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