The San Diego Padres’ offseason has been utterly horrible. They entered the offseason on a high after taking the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink of elimination in the National League Divisional Series. Since, they’ve lost just about all their momentum and then some amid a silent winter.
Not only did the Padres wait until Jan. 24 to make their first major league acquisition – right-handed pitcher Ron Marinaccio in a trade with the Chicago White Sox – but the Friars are yet to make a big league signing, although reports have circulated Tuesday that the team is in agreement on a one-year deal with catcher Elias Diaz.
Diaz, who closed the 2024 season with the Padres, would be returning on a $3.5 million, and would represent San Diego’s first official major league deal of the offseason.
More news: Surprise AL Team Named Best Fit for Mets Slugger Pete Alonso in Free Agency While the Padres have been quiet in free agency, they’ve had to say goodbye to many significant free agents, especially All-Star outfielder Jurickson Profar, who signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Atlanta Braves.
Moreover, All-Star reliever Tanner Scott joined the rival Dodgers on a four-year, $72 million deal, and the Dodgers also signed Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki, despite a more lucrative offer on the table from San Diego.
More news: Dodgers Could Trade $15M All-Star in Potential Blockbuster Move While all that has been going on, Padres late owner Peter Seidler’s widow has filed a lawsuit for control of the franchise over her brothers-in-law. That’s been just another extra layer in a terrible offseason for San Diego.
Now, the Padres may very well be the fourth-best team in their own division, and need to make some changes to reassert themselves as an NL powerhouse.
MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds has just the idea. On Tuesday, Reynolds pushed the Padres to trade away one of their finest players in a move that would send shockwaves around MLB.
“Manny (Machado), you can’t transfer that contract. (Xander) Bogaerts, not shifting that deal,” Reynolds said. “There’s one player that can change the whole trajectory of this company and that’s (Fernando) Tatis, and I’m putting him on the market to trade.
” Tatis, who signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres that will take him through the 2034 season, is still just 26 years old.
The two-time All-Star and 2023 Platinum Glove Award winner was looking like the next face of the league in 2021, when he mashed .282/.364/.611 with 42 home runs, 97 runs batted in, and an OPS of .975 across 130 games.
However, Tatis subsequently had a turbulent 2022 season that included a motorcycle accident and a suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He missed all of 2022 and the first 20 games of 2023. Tatis has been a superb performer over the last two seasons, finishing with an OPS of .770 in 2023 and an OPS of .833 in 2024. However, he’s owed a lot of money over the next decade, and, on a team with plenty of big stars in the lineup, Reynolds thinks Tatis makes the most sense as a potential trade asset. “You know how many teams are gonna hop in at that number, at that young player to go get him,” Reynolds added. “And now I keep my pitching, I’ll get back something for Tatis, and we will keep this thing rolling.” The Padres have taken calls on standout pitchers Dylan Cease and Michael King, who are both entering their final year of team control. However, Reynolds pushed San Diego to hang onto their pitching – the main reason they were able to make a run last season – and reinforce the rest of their squad with the money they’d be saving by moving Tatis. More news: Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox Among Interested Teams in All-Star, Cy Young Free Agent Pitcher
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