The Padres are heading into an offseason where the roster math is going to get tricky fast, and Ramon Laureano is right in the middle of it.
San Diego has a stack of important free agents to sort through, with Michael King and Adrian Morejon leading the list. Walker Buehler and Nick Pivetta are also set to look for new deals, while Robbie Ray and Casey Mize are likely headed to new uniforms in 2027. With the rotation still very much unsettled, the Padres may need to shop carefully and leave most of their spending power for starting pitching.
That makes Laureano an interesting case. Spotrac pegs his market value at one year and $11.1 million, a number that would give the Padres some flexibility if they decided to bring him back. A short-term commitment would keep the door open for a midseason move if San Diego stumbled out of the gate, turning Laureano into a possible rental piece for prospect value.
Even after a rough 2026 season, Laureano still looks like a player who can help. He dealt with injury and hit just .203 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs in 182 at-bats, appearing in only 53 games because of a labrum tear in his hip. The deeper numbers, though, suggest there is still some pop in the bat.
Now that the hip has been surgically repaired, Laureano should be aiming to get back to the level he showed in 2025, when he posted a career-high 24 home runs and a .281 average. He is also said to be a well-liked presence in the clubhouse.
If the Padres decide not to go that route, they already have cheaper internal options waiting. Samad Taylor would be the leading candidate to handle left field, likely in a platoon with Dustin Harris. Both were unexpected contributors this season, with Taylor batting .316 in 175 plate appearances and Harris hitting .322 in 100 plate appearances.
That kind of production could make it easier for San Diego to lean younger and cheaper if Laureano’s price tag proves too steep after his injury-plagued year.
In Other News...
Padres Just Sent A Clear Message About Their Pitching Plans
The Padres have already started sorting out the edges of their pitching staff for the seasons ahead, and the latest moves say a lot about how they view two familiar arms. San Diego exercised its $2.5 million club option on Kyle Hart for 2027, keeping a left-hander in the mix after a 2026 season that showed improvement even if the results were not always clean. It is the kind of decision that suggests the Padres still see value in continuity, especially with a pitching group that has to survive injuries, workload swings and constant turnover.
Yuki Matsui is also staying put for now after declining to opt out of his contract, which keeps him tied to the Padres with a $7 million player option for 2028. Since arriving in 2024, he has given the club durability and effectiveness out of the bullpen, making him one of the steadier late-inning pieces on the roster. Still, the underlying numbers hint at some possible regression, so the Padres are betting that his track record holds while they continue shaping the rest of their pitching plans. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Suddenly Have More Roster Holes To Solve This Winter
The Padres offseason picture got a little wider this week when Miguel Andujar, Lucas Giolito and Griffin Canning all moved into free agency, leaving San Diego with three more decisions to replace than it had a day earlier. The club declined its end of the mutual options on Giolito and Canning, while Andujar turned down his side of the deal, and each player will walk away with a buyout as the front office starts sorting through a roster that already had plenty of winter questions.
For a team trying to stay competitive in a crowded National League race, the timing matters as much as the names. Andujar gave San Diego a useful bat, Giolito and Canning were part of the pitching depth the Padres were counting on, and now all three are on the market with the organization left to decide how much of that production it wants to try to recreate internally or chase elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Quietly Get Bullpen Help At A Time They Needed It Most
Wandy Peralta is sticking around in San Diego, and the timing matters for a Padres club that has leaned heavily on its relief corps. The left-hander has exercised his $4.45 million player option to remain with the team for the 2027 season, giving the bullpen another experienced arm and extending a run of continuity that has quietly become part of the Padres late-game identity.
Peralta has now chosen to stay with San Diego in each of the past three offseasons, a sign the fit has worked for both sides. With the bullpen still a central piece of how the Padres want to win, keeping a dependable lefty in the mix helps stabilize a group that can never have too much depth, especially when the season starts to test the back end of the staff. [Read more 🡒]