Padres' embarrassing link to NL bottom-dweller won't inspire San Diego fans at all

Judging by the way the Padres and Marlins each performed last season, you would think that the teams would be on different paths this offseason. San Diego won 93 games in 2024, while Miami registered just 62.

While these clubs were on opposite ends of the spectrum in the standings, the Padres and Marlins are, in a way, embarrassingly linked together. This winter, neither team has signed an MLB free agent to their roster, and while that may be understandable for Miami, it's a tremendous head-scratcher that the Padres are also in this position.

Padres' embarrassing link to NL bottom-dweller won't inspire San Diego fans at all

San Diego has not acquired an everyday MLB player through free agency this winter, and now, it looks like they might be trading away their two best pitchers in Dylan Cease and Michael King. Though this could bolster the rest of the roster, the Friars' starting rotation would unquestionably suffer in 2025 without each of them, a fact that will not get anyone immediately excited.

While San Diego is not bringing anyone new to the organization, they are also letting All-Star-level talent go at a rapid rate. Losing Jurickson Profar to a contending Braves team hurts the Padres a ton. Not only is he now helping a playoff club, but the Padres are out on signing a solid left fielder with spring training right around the corner. It also seems unlikely that Ha-Seong Kim returns to San Diego, too, who is another Friar fan favorite.

It has not been a successful offseason for AJ Preller and his front office staff, and this might be the worst possible winter to fall short. While the Dodgers have acquired Roki Sasaki, Hyeseong Kim, Tanner Scott, and Teoscar Hernández, the Padres' best move has been trading for reliever Ron Marinaccio.

Marinaccio can be a decent addition, but if this is all that Preller has done this winter, the Dodgers are winning the offseason race tenfold, which leaves the Padres still in the NL West shadows.

San Diego has been one of the better teams in Major League Baseball this decade, and yet somehow, they have a direct link to the Marlins, a team with one winning season since 2010. This is not a good way to get Padres fans excited for the 2025 campaign, especially because they have all been waiting patiently for Preller to make a move. He's running out of time before Opening Day rolls around, and as it stands, it's not looking so bright.