Padres need a left-field upgrade before settling for Austin Hays or Ramón Laureano

The Padres need to shop for a starting left fielder before they start getting comfortable with familiar names. Austin Hays and Ramón Laureano can be part of the offseason conversation. But neither should become the answer before San Diego makes a serious effort to upgrade the position. 

Left field deserves more ambition than a reunion heading into the 2027 season. The Padres should aim for an everyday hitter who earns regular starts. That’s not to knock on their current candidates like Samad Taylor. But it may be time to stop rotating that spot. That’s a reasonable request for a team trying to win it all.

The Padres should make the market beat their first choice

There’s an easy rhythm to bringing back a familiar veteran. The organization knows the player. The player knows the clubhouse. That leaves no need to explain why it fits. 

However, we should be putting actual alternatives into this conversation, starting with Randy Arozarena. His power, speed and ability to reach base would give the Padres a legitimate everyday answer in left field.  The price is where that excitement stops, though. He’s projected to receive either four years or five years for somewhere between  $110 million and $130 million depending on the length. Just estimates, but they illustrate the size of the commitment. With starting pitching needing to come first, that’s probably too expensive for San Diego’s offseason priorities.

Padres should revisit Jarren Duran and Steven Kwan trade conversations

Instead, they should call Boston about Jarren Duran or Cleveland about Steven Kwan. Find out whether either club’s asking price has moved. These are familiar targets, too. San Diego was linked to both during the 2025 trade deadline, with reporting describing extensive discussions. Revisiting those conversations would be a sensible place to start, although that history tells us nothing about either team’s willingness to make a deal this winter.

Of course, neither comes with a real bargain. A trade shifts the expense toward players and prospects, and the Padres will have to weigh that cost against its pitching needs.

But making the calls costs nothing. Getting a current asking price gives the front office something to evaluate.

Hays and Laureano can remain in the conversation while those options are being explored. And to be fair, we’re unsure if Laureano will be signed by Opening Day. It’s dependent on his recovery from a torn labrum that ended his season in June. Regardless, the Padres simply need to establish what that role would be instead of allowing the signing itself to settle the starting job.

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