Padres may need a risky power fix that comes with strikeout baggage

When the Padres’ offense gets a little too contact-heavy and too predictable, they start craving for a hitter who can erase a deficit with a single swing, even if he spends the rest of the week daring pitchers to beat him with their best breaking ball.

That’s why Eugenio Suárez makes so much sense for where this offseason has drifted.

Because if you’re looking at this lineup and thinking, “Cool, but where’s the fear factor?” you’re not wrong. The Padres have their stars. They have a lineup that can win games in a bunch of ways. What they don’t have right now is that stupid, unfair right-handed power that makes pitchers change their behavior in the middle innings. Suárez is basically a walking behavior change.

Padres can’t keep pretending this messy corner-infield hole will solve itself

He just hit 49 homers in 2025 (36 before the deadline, 13 after), with a .526 slugging attached to it.  That’s not “helpful pop.” That’s game script control. That’s “your 3-2 lead isn’t safe” energy.

And the fit is cleaner than it looks at first glance.

The Padres wouldn’t be signing Suárez to play third. Manny Machado owns that zip code. But Suárez as a DH/1B bat — especially if you’re already planning on Gavin Sheets being part of the mix — gives San Diego a nasty little menu of matchups. Sheets brings left-handed thump; Suárez brings right-handed thunder; and suddenly you’re not begging for three singles every time the lineup flips over. 

Here’s the catch (and it’s not small): Suárez comes with strikeout baggage the size of a carry-on you can’t jam into the overhead bin.

His 29.8 percent strikeout rate in 2025 was in the fourth percentile. He struck out 196 times. That’s not a “he’ll whiff sometimes” profile — that’s a roster choice you have to live with when October pitchers start throwing nothing but wipeout stuff.

But here’s why I’d still do it if the price cooperates: the contact issues didn’t stop the ball from being absolutely pulverized. Suárez posted a 14.3 percent barrel rate and a 47.6 percent hard-hit rate in 2025 — real indicators that the power isn’t a fluke. 

There’s no draft-pick penalty either, because he was traded midseason and can’t be tied to qualifying-offer compensation. If the Padres are going to gamble, that’s the kind of gamble you make—one where the downside is mostly money and vibes, not the farm system getting dinged again.

Spotrac’s market value has floated around the two-year / ~$30M range (roughly $15M AAV), though projections are all over the place depending on how desperate the bidders get. And there will be bidders: the Seattle Mariners have stayed in touch, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have checked in. 

If San Diego can land him on a short deal, this is the kind of “risky” that can look brilliant by Memorial Day: the Padres stop pretending they can manufacture power, and just… buy it.

Will there be ugly strikeout nights? Absolutely. But the Padres don’t need another “solid” bat. They need a bat that can steal games — even when it’s not pretty.

That’s Suárez in a nutshell.