Padres’ Kyle Schwarber near-miss should force A.J. Preller to act early this offseason

A.J. Preller was preparing to board a plane and make his pitch to Kyle Schwarber. Before he could leave, the Padres’ president of baseball operations was told to stand down. Schwarber was finalizing a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I was getting on a plane to go talk to Kyle Schwarber and got told to get off the plane because he was going to finish up a deal with the Phillies,” Preller said while discussing that offseason.

Bad timing? Sure, we could call it that. We can also point out that free agency moves quickly and plenty of teams miss plenty of players. All would be true. But the Padres should have learned a valuable lesson. They can’t spend this offseason waiting for the perfect moment to begin solving their roster.

Padres must address their left-handed lineup problem early

Schwarber is not the story, if anything, he’s the warning. San Diego still needs left-handed balance in its lineup. The Padres ranked 23rd in wRC+ produced from the left side against right-handed pitching in 2026. Right-handed pitchers handle most of the innings in baseball, and the Padres spent last season asking too much of a lineup that opposing managers could attack without making particularly difficult choices.

They don’t necessarily need to go out seeking the next Schwarber. Players capable of hitting over 50 home runs aren’t normally sitting around waiting for the Padres to call. They need a dependable left-handed threat who makes the lineup deeper and forces an opponent to think before cycling through right-handed relievers.

That market, as Dennis Lin from The Athletic noted, is relatively thin. A thin market usually becomes an expensive market. If the Padres wait too long, it will become an empty one. Preller knows that better than anybody after getting waved off the Schwarber flight.

The calendar is also squeezing the Padres. MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and management is expected to impose a lockout if a new deal is not reached. Such a stoppage would halt major-league trades and free-agent signings. The labor fight is bigger than anything Preller controls, but that’s precisely why he needs to control the weeks available to him.

San Diego does not have to rebuild the entire roster before Dec. 1. The rotation has questions. The bench needs attention. The club will have financial and contractual decisions to sort through. Nobody expects every answer in November, but at least one meaningful addition should be the minimum here.

Preller has always been comfortable making noise. This offseason will test whether he can move with purpose before circumstances make the decisions for him.

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