Padres can’t ignore this DH question heading into 2026

Gavin Sheets did the thing the San Diego Padres needed him to do in 2025: he showed up as a real, useful big-league bat. Career highs across the board (19 homers, 71 RBIs, 124 hits, 28 doubles, 145 games) don’t happen by accident. For long stretches, Sheets looked like one of those classic A.J. Preller value finds: a lefty who can punish right-handed pitching and give the lineup thump without costing you a fortune. It matters.

But so does the other part: the Padres can’t treat the DH spot like it’s set in stone, even for a guy coming off his best year. Sheets earned a seat at the table for 2026. He didn’t earn the keys to the whole DH role. Because even though the season ending numbers looked great, the slump during the season was real, and it was loud.

Gavin Sheets earned another look but the Padres can’t hand him DH in 2026

There was a mid-season stretch where the power basically disappeared — one homer over a 23-game window is the kind of thing that makes you start checking the calendar and wondering if the book is out on you. Even if his underlying contact quality stayed solid, the Padres don’t have the luxury of ignoring long droughts when they’re trying to chase the Dodgers. When your lineup runs hot-and-cold, the cold parts get remembered.

The DH spot on a team like San Diego is never just “the DH spot.” It’s also the pressure valve for the outfield, the first base situation, the bench, the platoons, the “we need this bat in the lineup but not his glove” decisions. Add in other bats the Padres have brought in (like Sung-mun Song), plus regulars who need days off their feet, and suddenly Sheets isn’t competing with one guy — he’s competing with the concept of flexibility.

2026 feels like a pivot year for him in San Diego. Sheets absolutely did enough to secure a roster spot, and he’s affordable enough in arbitration that it would be silly to pretend he isn’t useful. He’s also under team control through 2027. If you’re picking between “cheap power you’ve already seen work” and “overpaying for vibes,” you take the former every time.

But if the Padres want to be ruthless — and contenders usually have to be — the fair takeaway is this: Sheets earned a shot to build on 2025, not a guarantee to repeat his exact role.

The cleanest path is probably the one the Padres already hinted at: let Sheets be a primary DH option against right-handers, get him some first base reps when it makes sense, and keep the door open for a rotation depending on matchups. If he’s hot, ride it. If he slides into one of those long quiet stretches again, you can’t let DH become a holding cell where at-bats go to die.

The DH debate is getting louder, not because Sheets failed, but because he succeeded just enough to force the Padres to decide how serious they want to be about upgrading. And that’s a good problem… as long as they don’t confuse “good season” with “job security.”