4 Padres lineup shifts Craig Stammen needs to make to save stagnant offense

The Padres need an actual lineup. That sounds dramatic for a team sitting six games over .500, but the record is hiding a mess. When you look at the full 2026 season so far, look at what happens when San Diego runs into teams that actually believe they’re contenders, and then look at the minus-six run differential. Suddenly, this stops feeling like nitpicking, and a real problem appears.

Craig Stammen’s desire to keep players fresh makes sense in theory. Nobody wants a dead-legged lineup late in the season. But keeping players fresh doesn’t mean making the lineup feel like a daily puzzle nobody asked to solve.

San Diego’s offense has been too stagnant for Stammen to keep pretending the roulette wheel is working. This lineup needs defined roles. So, it’s time to simplify.

Padres’ cold offense is making Craig Stammen’s daily tinkering harder to defend

1. The Padres need one leadoff answer, not another nightly experiment

Fernando Tatis Jr. came into the season making it pretty clear he wasn’t exactly thrilled with being viewed as a leadoff hitter. But if a player doesn’t want to be the leadoff guy, he probably shouldn’t have the team’s clearest leadoff profile.

Tatis has been at his best when hitting first. He’s produced a .306/.367/.375 slash line from the leadoff spot, compared to .250 from the second spot and .091 in the five-hole. That’s the lineup grabbing Stammen by the shoulders and pointing at the obvious answer.

The Padres can revisit this later. Maybe Ramón Laureano gets a longer look there at some point. Or maybe someone else catches fire and makes this conversation feel different in August.

Right now? It should be Tatis.

2. Manny Machado still makes the most sense as the Padres’ cleanup anchor

This is tricky because Manny Machado’s season hasn’t exactly been smooth. But the Padres can’t continue placing him somewhere because it feels like where a star should hit. They have to be honest about what is actually working.

Machado has struggled badly in the three-hole, hitting .107 there. The small sample in the two-hole hasn’t worked either. The cleanup spot still looks like the most reasonable place for him. He’s hit .212 from that spot, and more importantly, it gives the lineup a more natural spine.

At some point, the Padres have to decide whether they are trying to protect Machado from discomfort or put him in the cleanest role possible. The answer should be the second one.

Cleanup still fits him. And if cleanup stops making sense? Then the next real move is probably lower, not higher.

3. Jackson Merrill cannot keep getting treated like a utility-piece experiment

Poor Jackson Merrill, seriously. This might be the best example of why the Padres’ lineup management has started to feel too clever for its own good. He’s been used everywhere from first to seventh. That is a lot for any hitter. It’s especially a lot for a young player who should be getting settled into a defined offensive identity, not showing up to the ballpark wondering which version of his role he is supposed to play that night.

Merrill is not a Brendan Donovan type. He’s not a fully formed adult-bat utility-esque talent who can be dropped anywhere in the order and give you the same calm, professional at-bat regardless of role. Merrill is a franchise building block and should be treated like one.

The Padres should strongly consider making him the two-hole hitter against right-handed pitching. That feels like the most natural fit. He can get pitches to hit behind Tatis.

Against lefties, fine, maybe that changes. The six-hole could make sense if the matchup demands it. Nobody is saying Stammen has to ignore reality. Left-on-left situations have not always been the prettiest fit.

Baseball is rhythm. And confidence is fragile, especially for young players being asked to carry more than their age should probably allow. The Padres don’t need Merrill overthinking his place in the order while also trying to pull a quiet offense out of the mud.

4. Craig Stammen has to stop resting the Padres into offensive silence

This is the one Stammen probably cares about most. He wants his regulars fresh. But the Padres have reached the point where the cure might be making the illness worse.

At-bats matter. Seeing pitches every day is important. This is an offense already searching for life, constant rest days can start to feel like self-inflicted disruption. This version of the Padres looks like it needs its best bats in the lineup as often as reasonably possible. 

Bench players should play. Nobody is arguing for reckless usage. But there is a line between keeping a team fresh and never letting it get hot. The Padres are flirting with the wrong side of that line.

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