The Padres’ season ended one round earlier than they wanted, but the way they got there still left San Diego with a clear offseason to-do list. After spending parts of the summer looking like a seller, the club clawed its way to the top Wild Card, won a playoff series, and pushed into the NLDS before Milwaukee slammed the door on the late surge.
Now comes the hard part for A.J. Preller: sorting out who stays and who goes before the roster gets reshaped again.
At the top of that list is Michael King, and the Padres have a simple assignment here - keep him.
King was San Diego’s anchor all season, and he backed that up in October. He opened the Wild Card round by blanking the Chicago Cubs over seven innings against the league’s highest-scoring offense, then followed that with a strong NLDS outing in Game 2, allowing one run across five innings. He even came back two days later for a gutsy relief appearance to help keep the Padres alive.
That kind of versatility matters, but what really separates King is the steadiness he brings every time he takes the mound. He’s still under contract for two more years and $58 million on the three-year deal he signed last winter, though after that October run, it wouldn’t be a shock if he starts thinking about another shot at free agency through his player option.
If that happens, San Diego can’t pinch pennies. Joe Musgrove remains a complete wild card after missing both of the last two regular seasons, and Nick Pivetta is dealing with his own contract-option uncertainty. King has been the club’s best starter by a wide margin, and his next deal needs to match that reality.
The other end of the spectrum is Casey Mize, and this one looks like a clean break.
Mize came to San Diego with more promise than production, and the numbers in a Padres uniform were ugly: a 7.46 ERA and 7.18 FIP over 10 starts. That came after he’d been an All-Star in 2025 and had even raised his level in the first half of this season, but his brief run in San Diego fell apart fast.
Even if the Padres wanted him back, the feeling is probably not mutual. Ruben Niebla and the coaching staff tried to find something that would click, and it never did. Mize also missed the postseason because of an ankle sprain, though there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have cracked the roster anyway.
Not every big swing lands. For San Diego, this looks like one of those misses that shouldn’t be revisited.
In Other News...
Padres Could Be Headed For An Ugly Xander Bogaerts Decision
With uncertainty hanging over a possible MLB salary cap and the Padres future under new ownership, A.J. Preller may have to at least think about some uncomfortable roster math. One of the biggest questions sits at shortstop, where Xander Bogaerts has not looked like the kind of anchor San Diego hoped it was buying when it committed to him long term. With the club already short on prospect depth, the usual escape routes are not nearly as simple as they might seem.
Bogaerts contract makes any potential move especially tricky, because San Diego cannot just decide to move on and expect a clean market to materialize. The Padres would likely have to get creative to make such a deal palatable, whether that means taking on part of the money or finding another way to sweeten the return. For Preller, the issue is not just whether Bogaerts is still the right fit, but whether the organization can afford to keep carrying this kind of risk if the landscape around the team keeps shifting. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Face A Familiar Bullpen Decision With Jason Adam
Jason Adams place in San Diego already feels like one of those bullpen storylines the Padres will have to sort through again this winter. Even after an injury-shortened season, the reliever still gave them meaningful innings when healthy, finishing with a 2.62 ERA in the regular season and then helping out in the postseason, the kind of late-year value that tends to stick with a front office.
Adam is now approaching free agency with no shortage of uncertainty around his market, especially after the right shoulder strain that cost him nearly three months. He has made clear he wants to keep pitching in San Diego, and the Padres have reason to listen, since veteran bullpen stability rarely comes cheaply and his recent stretch showed he can still matter when it counts. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Face A Familiar Free Agency Decision With Veteran Outfielder
The Padres could be in the market for an outfield upgrade this offseason, and the fit may not have to come from somewhere unfamiliar. Dustin Harris and Samad Taylor gave San Diego a workable platoon in left field down the stretch, but there is still a case for adding a more established veteran if the club wants a steadier option in the mix. That is where a former Padres outfielder with strong defensive credentials comes into focus, especially with his availability lining up with a team that has reason to keep exploring the position.
His name carries some built-in familiarity around the organization, and so does the appeal of what he brings when healthy and productive. The question now is whether San Diego views that prior history as enough of a bridge to revisit a reunion, or whether the front office prefers to keep searching for a different kind of outfield answer as the offseason unfolds. [Read more 🡒]