3 San Diego Padres players who are no longer worth defending

It's been rough sledding for a few San Diego Padres players, and at some point, fans can no longer defend them having consistent roles on the field. Yes, the Padres are banged up with injuries, and options are more limited, but a few guys still shouldn't be in the lineup.

One month into the 2025 regular season, Elias Diaz, Yuli Gurriel, and Connor Joe have each proven that they don't really belong on a major league diamond.

Connor Joe

Connor Joe, unfortunately, just doesn't have it anymore. In nine at-bats with the Friars this year, he is hitless, has struck out six times, and has reached base zero times.

He was called up to fill the vacancy that Jackson Merrill and Brandon Lockridge left when they landed on the injured list, but Joe wasn't even playing well in the minor leagues before the promotion. He was a .240 batter, and at 32 years old, he's starting to show that his decline is rapidly here.

Yuli Gurriel

Manager Mike Shildt came to the defense of Gurriel a few weeks ago, but even having a coach stand up for him at this point feels inappropriate. A .125 batter this season, Gurriel is 3-for-his-last-27 with six strikeouts and a shocking 16 hard-hit percentage, which marks a career-low by a wide margin.

Elias Diaz

Coming into the season, one of San Diego's biggest question marks was what was going to happen at catcher. Martin Maldonado is getting old, Luis Campusano was underwhelming on both sides of the ball, and the verdict was still out on whether Elias Diaz could still hit well.

Diaz has put together a ghastly April, going 5-for-33 (.152), which is worse than Maldonado's stat line. Diaz was supposed to be the veteran catcher who could hit, but Maldonado's .225 average and .300 slugging percentage is somehow better than Diaz's. At this point, the Padres may as well call the Diaz experiment a failure, and call up Campusano, who is hitting .339 this month in Triple-A, alongside five home runs. Ideally, Campusano is ready to take the next step and be a productive MLB catcher - it can't hurt the club to try again.