San Diego Padres: Projecting the 26 man roster in January

The starting eight

At catcher it should be Francisco Mejia behind the plate, alternating with Austin Hedges.

The infield should be pretty straight forward with Eric Hosmer at first, Jurickson Profar at second, Fernando Tatis Jr at shortstop, and Manny Machado at third base.

While the outfielder will be more a puzzle and will likely change throughout the season, right now it looks like it will be Tommy Pham in left, a healthy Franchy Cordero in center, and Josh Naylor in right field.

The extra outfielders will be Wil Myers and Manuel Margot. Trent Grisham is the dark horse in this equation should the Padres find a way to trade Margot.

This is where we probably see more movement the rest of the offseason and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a different center fielder and right fielder there on opening day. And there will likely be a lot of mixing and matching with the outfielders to try and find the right combination.

Plus, banking on Cordedro to stay healthy is a risk in and of itself.

Utility infielders will be Greg Garcia and Jake Cronenworth.

Ty France has power but Cronenworth has shown better bat to ball skills, although mostly in the minor leagues.

Austin Hedges will rotate time with Francisco Mejia. How much time Hedges gets will depend on his bat.

That gives you a bench that consists of: Myers, Margot, Garcia, Cronenworth, and Hedges.