The Padres’ bullpen could be headed for a real shakeup this offseason, and the left-handed side is where the tension sits.
Adrián Morejón, Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta are all in play in one form or another, while Kyle Hart is the easiest name to sort through. San Diego holds a $2.5 million club option on the 34-year-old swingman, who posted a 5.30 ERA over his two seasons with the Padres and no longer has a minor-league option remaining. Paying the $200,000 buyout on Hart looks like the straightforward move.
The harder calls involve the other three arms, and Morejón stands above the rest. He is headed for free agency, and the Padres can’t treat that as a routine roster decision.
He earned an All-Star nod, worked a career-high 86 innings in relief and finished the regular season with a 2.83 ERA. Even more valuable, he gave San Diego a left-handed leverage option who could finish a game if Mason Miller wasn’t available.
That kind of arm doesn’t come around cheaply.
Free-agent relievers can be risky bets, especially on long deals, but Morejón has already shown the Padres exactly how he fits. San Diego knows his role, knows his stuff and knows how his arsenal plays in this bullpen.
That makes him the one lefty A.J. Preller has to push hardest to keep.
Matsui brings a different kind of dilemma. After an uneven start in San Diego, he settled in and delivered a 1.83 ERA over 64 innings in 2026.
His splitter and slider can wipe out hitters, but the walk rate near 14 percent keeps things from ever feeling fully settled. He has two guaranteed years left and $13.5 million on the table, though he can opt out.
He could find a similar deal elsewhere, but he also has reason to value the security and comfort of staying put.
Peralta is the most familiar of the group, and also the least essential. He logged 77 1/3 innings and posted a 3.61 ERA, giving the Padres steady middle relief in a bullpen that was asked to carry plenty of load.
But the strikeout rate - just 15 percent - tells a less flattering story. San Diego also only temporarily added him to its playoff roster when Miller was placed on the paternity list, and when October pressure arrived, the club went with other options.
Still, Peralta may simply take the money. He has passed on an opt-out in each of the last two offseasons, and $4.45 million is waiting for him in 2027. Staying again feels like the most likely path.
That leaves Preller with a fairly clear pecking order. Hart’s option can be declined.
Matsui’s choice is mostly his to make. Peralta looks like a reasonable middle-relief keep at the right price.
Morejón is the one San Diego cannot afford to shrug off. Letting him walk while hanging onto cheaper left-handed depth would save money, sure, but it would also strip away one of the bullpen’s defining strengths.
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