3 San Diego Padres who won’t be back next year after playoff exit

1. UTIL Brandon Drury

Drury was having a career year with the Reds before being moved at the trade deadline, and he largely kept up his hot hitting with the Friars. Drury tallied 17 extra-base hits and 28 RBI in 46 games with the Padres, posting a 109 OPS+ while playing multiple positions.

If we had our druthers, Drury would stay in San Diego. Even with Fernando Tatis Jr. coming back next season and likely pushing either Jake Cronenworth or Ha-Seong Kim aside, Drury could be an invaluable utility guy in the postseason. Unfortunately, other teams may have a high opinion of him as well.

The San Diego Padres will face competition for Brandon Drury.

As excellent as Drury was last season, this power spike was uncharacteristic, given what he had done in seasons prior. This seems like the type of player that a struggling team gives a three-year contract to with the expectation that he’ll be a middle-of-the-order bat.

While the Padres have paid up for Machado and will give Soto a monstrous deal, they can’t overpay to keep everyone. Losing Drury would hurt, but fans should be confident in Preller’s ability to find a cheaper alternative to him on the market.

3 times Dave Roberts shot Dodgers in the foot and gifted Padres NLDS

The San Diego Padres took down the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS and on top of their valiant effort, they have Dave Roberts to thank.