The Padres’ offseason already has a clear shape: a roster built on a pile of pending free agents and a few contract decisions that could decide how much of this group even sticks around.
By the time the dust settles, San Diego could see as many as 17 players reach free agency. That means holes are coming, and plenty of them. The club does have a few built-in ways to keep pieces in place, though, through team and mutual options on five players.
The biggest name in that group is right-handed starter Nick Pivetta. His four-year deal originally gave him player options in each of the final two seasons, but that changed after an injury-triggered clause kicked in.
Because he missed 130 consecutive days on the injured list, those player options became team options. That was the result of an elbow injury that knocked him out after an April 12 start and kept him sidelined until Sept.
When Pivetta finally came back, he looked sharp again. Over his final four regular-season starts, he posted a 1.45 ERA in 18.2 innings, striking out 18 and walking just two.
He then added two postseason starts, giving up three runs over 7.2 innings with eight strikeouts. With the Padres expected to lose most of their rotation this offseason, the option on Pivetta stands out.
He would be due $14 million this year and potentially $18 million next year, and that makes him a real candidate to be retained.
Left-hander Kyle Hart is another player with a club option in play, though at a much smaller number. San Diego can keep him for $2.5 million in 2027, or move on for a $200,000 buyout.
Hart’s season was uneven, and the numbers back that up: a 4.92 ERA over 64 innings, with 59 strikeouts and 26 walks. He also did not make the postseason roster.
The other three cases are mutual options, and those are almost never exercised because both sides have to agree. In this group, the Padres are expected to decline all of them.
Miguel Andujar has an $8 million mutual option with a $2.5 million buyout. The 31-year-old played in 74 regular-season games and hit .259 with five home runs, 22 RBIs and a .726 OPS. A wrist injury took him out for nearly the entire second half, though he did return in the postseason and went 0-for-3 with a walk.
Jake Canning carries a $5 million mutual option with a $1.5 million buyout. San Diego brought him in last offseason to help stabilize the rotation, but that didn’t happen. He went 0-7 with a 6.79 ERA in 11 starts before moving to the bullpen, where he logged a 4.23 ERA in 19 relief appearances.
Luis Giolito has the same kind of decision waiting on him: an $8 million mutual option and a $1.5 million buyout. The Padres signed him in late April hoping he could fill a rotation need, but he lasted only seven appearances before a 5.16 ERA and a June trip to the injured list ended his season. He did not return.
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