San Diego Padres: Don’t Expect A Gift Under The Tree This Year

In an afternoon chat over at The Athletic, San Diego Padres reporter Dennis Lin provided some insight into the team’s offseason plans.

Bryce Harper is not coming to the San Diego Padres, sorry. While nothing would make Padres fans happier than seeing the organization shell out for a legitimate major league superstar, don’t expect to see it happen this offseason. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin conducted a Q&A session for subscribers earlier today and touched on topics like Harper, potential signings/trades this offseason, and some discussion on some of our favorite prospects.

I urge you to check out the full chat transcript above (subscription required), but I wanted to touch on two of the more interesting topics addressed.

There may have been a massive buzz surrounding the Padres and Bryce Harper, thanks to a USA Today article, however, this was nothing more than another entry in a series of looking at Harper’s fit with every single major league franchise. As Dennis Lin stated in his chat, “they are not going to be a major player.” The odds of a Harper signing were always very low, but it was fun to imagine this scenario, for a little while at least.

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Lin addressed the rumors surrounding another potential free agent acquisition, LHP Yusei Kikuchi, Per Lin, “the interest is definitely tempered” from the Padres toward Kikuchi and the team has no interest in getting into a bidding contest with other franchises. This one is slightly frustrating, only because every other rumor involving a pitcher is now dead or a longshot and the only pitchers added, so far, have been minor league arms and Garrett Richards who could turn out to be a solid signing…in 2020.

Kikuchi may be another left-handed pitcher that would join Joey Lucchesi, Eric Lauer, Clayton Richard, Matt Strahm, Robbie Erlin, and others, however, the Padres need all the pitching competition they can as they head into spring training.

With the Padres not in the mix for any big free agent names and their strong desire to hold on to the majority of their top prospects (reaffirmed by Lin in his chat),  it could be another long, slow offseason in America’s Finest City.

What is your strategy of choice for the San Diego Padres? Are you fine with letting the next group of prospects come up to showcase their stuff in 2019? As we head into the winter meetings, what do you want to see the Padres accomplish?