SAN DIEGO — With the ending of any season come questions about player's futures. That certainly is the case with this 2022 Padres roster. The team started with a solid core and added even more firepower at the trade deadline, but will this same team be back together in 2023? CBS 8 took a look into the team’s free agents as well as the team's stars who are under contract for a few more years.
The team has eleven pending free agents, some of which played integral parts in the team’s regular season and postseason success.
The San Diego Padres free agents are as follows:
Wil Myers
Myers, the longest tenured Padre player, technically has another year on his deal, but the Padres have a club option to buy out the contract which would make Myers a free agent. Myers would be due $20 million in 2023, but the club’s buyout option would be $1 million. There is hope that both sides can agree to a team friendly deal that would pay Myers less than the $20 million he is currently owed.
Josh Bell
Bell is currently a free agent after his one-year $10 million contract expired as soon as the Padres were eliminated from the postseason. According to the contract site spotrac.com, Bell’s current market value is $18.4 million per season.
Sean Manaea
Manaea is currently a free agent after his one-year $9.75 million contract expired when the Padres season ended. According to spotrac.com, Manaea’s current market value is $11.9 million per year.
Jurickson Profar
Perhaps the team’s biggest possible free agent, Profar has a player option he can exercise for the 2023 season. He is owed an adjusted salary of $8.3 million for the 2023 season, but many think Profar will test the free agent market because his successful 2022 campaign could potentially bring him quite a bit more money. According to spotrac.com, Profar’s market value is all the way up to almost $15 million per year. If Profar does elect free agency, the Padres would need to immediately address the hole he leaves in left field.
Nick Martinez
Martinez signed a four-year, $25 million deal with the Padres before the 2022 season, but Martinez has player options to get out of the contract before the 2023, 2024, and 2025 seasons. He is due $6.5 million in each of those seasons, but after his 2022 success, Martinez may opt to test the waters to see if he can get more money somewhere else. The buyout for Martinez’s deal is $1.5 million.
Mike Clevinger
Clevinger’s two-year, $11.5 million contract expired after the season ended making him a free agent. If the Padres opt to not bring him back, they will immediately need to bolster the back end of their starting rotation. That need becomes even bigger if the team opts to let both Clevinger and Manaea walk in free agency.
Robert Suarez
Suarez is another interesting case for the Padres. He is under contract for the 2023 season being owed $5 million, but he has a player option with a buyout of $1 million that would make him a free agent. Suarez became an integral part of the backend of the Padres bullpen, especially during the postseason. The team would need to address the hole in the bullpen if Suarez opts to exercise his player option and leave in free agency.
Craig Stammen
Stammen’s two-year, $9 million contract was up when the Padres 2022 season ended. The 38-year-old will be a free agent heading into the 2023 season.
Pierce Johnson
Johnson’s two-year, $5 million contract expired after the 2022 season. Johnson was injured for much of the 2022 season, throwing just over 14 innings with a 5.02 ERA.
Brandon Drury
Drury was one of the handful of players brought in at the 2022 trade deadline. Drury had a career year in 2022 hitting .263 with 28 home runs and a .812 OPS. Drury proved to be a great piece for the Padres with his ability to play all infield positions as well as the DH spot. His one-year, $900K contract expired at the end of the 2022 season. According to spotrac.com, Drury’s market value is somewhere near $6.5 million per year.
Padres General Manager AJ Preller was asked what the team needs to do to get over the hump and bring a World Series Championship to San Diego. His answers may have given a little insight into his thinking on certain free-agent decisions.
The first thing he brought up was the pitching staff saying, "You know, so we've got some holes that will be created through free agency. I think we'll look at the rotation. Clearly, I think we have you know, with Joe, Blake Snell and Darvish, that's a good place to start. I think we'll look to round the rotation out every year, and the pen. You've constantly got to kind of reconfigure the pen."
Preller also addressed the possibility of adding a middle-of-the-order bat. Preller said, "You know, we'll have some free agency questions. With Josh Bell and Brandon Drury going to free agency, we're probably looking at a bat or two that kind of complements the rest of the lineup."
WATCH: Padres General Manager AJ Preller & Manager Bob Melvin hold press conference wrapping up 2022 season
