San Diego Padres: Who Gets Cut From The 40-Man Roster?

The San Diego Padres need to make a number of roster moves over the next few weeks but they need room on the 40-man roster.

As the calendar turns to November, the San Diego Padres will need to make a few notable decisions concerning the 40-man roster. Injured players need to return to the roster, Rule-5 eligible prospects need to be protected, and space needs to be made for any potential free agent signings. So, how do the Padres make room?

We briefly touched on this topic when discussing whether or not Travis Radke deserves a roster spot in 2019, however, let’s look at all of the players currently on the 40-man roster who may be removed to make room.

At the moment, San Diego is sitting with 38 players on the active roster after the departure of A.J. Ellis and Freddy Galvis. Clayton Richard, Dinelson Lamet, Franchy Cordero, and Alex Dickerson all need to come off the injured list. Let’s start with the last name on that list, Dickerson. Andy Green has always been a big believer in Dickerson, but after missing the last two seasons and a deep outfield already in place, there doesn’t seem to be a place on the 40-man for Alex Dickerson.

You play GM. Who gets cut off the list?

You get to play general manager for a moment and you need to make some room on the 40-man. Who do you take off?

Beginning with the pitching staff, names like Walker Lockett, Kazuhisa Makita, Colten Brewer, and Colin Rea seem like easy choices. Lockett wasn’t given much of a chance but went 0-3 with a 9.60 ERA and a 2.13 WHIP. Brewer is still young (25 years old) but struggled with his command in 11 relief appearances with the Padre last season (9.2 IP, 5.59 ERA, 2.28 WHIP). With so many relievers on the roster and many more quickly coming through the minor leagues, San Diego can afford to let a few go.

Two more names that may not make the cut are Rea and Makita. Rea is coming off Tommy John surgery but will be close to 29 come Opening Day and was hit hard in the minor leagues. In 75 innings between El Paso and San Antonio, Rea surrendered 90 hits and finished with a 5.73 ERA. Makita was a fun experiment, for a few weeks, but hitters quickly figured him out and feasted on his soft offerings.

As for position players, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell has already stated that Raffy Lopez is expected to be removed from the 40-man in the coming days. There has to be more. This offense was one of the worst in baseball, in fact, it was one of the worst in franchise history.

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Despite suffering a concussion before the 2018 season, Allen Cordoba could be removed, especially with Fernando Tatis Jr.quickly approaching the major leagues. Javy Guerra isn’t much of a better option, but is more major league ready and has a proven glove in the field. Either Guerra or Cordoba can be removed and in this scenario, Cordoba gets the short stick.

Let’s add one more name to the list, Carlos Asuaje. Asuaje took a big step back at the plate in 2018 and spent much of the year in El Paso. With Christian Villanueva and Cory Spangenberg on the roster, how many more utility players do the Padres need?

With all of these additions, that would put the San Diego Padres at 34 players. A decent start to add the Rule-5 eligible players (Chris Paddack, Austin Allen, Anderson Espinoza, Edward Olivares, Pedro Avila, Ty France?) before making the tough decisions on other fringe players.

What do you say, GM? Who are you moving to make room?