3 affordable offseason signings the Padres clearly should've made

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As much as it stinks to see the San Diego Padres go from one of the league's most ultra-aggressive buyers to having to cut payroll, it is at least understandable given the circumstances. The Padres pushed really hard over the last few years to try and bring home a World Series title and unfortunately the debacle that was the 2023 season exposed the fact that what they were doing wasn't sustainable. Combine that with owner Peter Seidler's passing and it isn't hard to see why some changes in the team's philosophy had to occur.

That said, there were clearly some opportunities that the Padres have missed out on even if you completely ignore the top of the free agent market. For every Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto level deal given out over the last couple months, there are multiple more reasonable deals that have been handed out that the Padres should have entertained to fill the numerous holes on their roster going into 2024.

Here are 3 affordable free agents that the Padres should have signed this offseason

For this exercise, we are only going to be looking at contracts that have been agreed to this offseason that have been worth $50 million or less. The goal here isn't to put San Diego completely on blast for having to cut down on their spending, but instead to highlight that they have really missed out on some good opportunities to bolster their roster even within their self-imposed spending constraints. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but here are three players that signed very reasonable contracts that they should have pushed harder to sign heading into next season.

Reynaldo Lopez

The Braves have had themselves a weird offseason and one of their first significant moves was to sign reliever Reynaldo Lopez to a three year, $30 million deal back in November. Lopez was one of the better relievers on the market, but Atlanta seems to be thinking a bit bigger when it comes to Lopez as they are looking to convert him back into being a starter going forward. There are no guarantees that move will work, but it is hard to not see the parallels to what the Padres did with Seth Lugo last season.

Whether or not Reynaldo is successful in his return to the rotation, San Diego should have been players for his services. At $10 million a year for a guy that can give you multiple quality innings out of the bullpen at minimum, he would be a huge help for a Padres pitching staff that is going to be completely overhauled going into next season due to free agent departures. In the best case scenario, he would be a cheap quality rotation arm that San Diego would love to have right now. Worst case, he would at least make the loss of Josh Hader from the bullpen hurt a bit less.

Erick Fedde

Speaking of cheap starting pitchers, it really feels like the Padres should have been more in on Erick Fedde who is making his return to MLB with the White Sox after signing a two year, $15 million deal at the beginning of December.

On the surface, it is easy to understand why Fedde may have flown under the radar of most teams. After a fairly unremarkable stint with the Nationals from 2017-2022 where he posted a 5.41 ERA across 102 appearances, Fedde decided to play in Korea in 2023 where he posted a 2.00 ERA with 209 strikeouts against just 35 walks in 180.1 innings of work on his way to being named the league's most valuable player.

A certain amount of skepticism about Fedde's numbers in the KBO is certainly warranted as the level of play there isn't anywhere near what it is in MLB. However, that hasn't stopped San Diego in the past from signing players out of Korea as both Ha-Seong Kim and the newly signed Woo Suk Go both played in the KBO before coming over to the states. How did the Padres let the White Sox of all teams pick their pocket and snag Korea's best starter right out from under them?

It is certainly possible that the Padres were well aware of Fedde's performance over in Korea and they just didn't believe that he was any different from the guy that had washed out of the majors the year before. Fedde will play the entire 2024 season at 31 years old and if San Diego believes that he is still a 5ish ERA guy that struggles to throw strikes, so be it. That said, they are going to be look pretty silly if Fedde has a good season at such a reasonable price tag given their history with signing players out of the KBO.

Kyle Gibson

The focus here is on pitchers not only because there just has not been many position players signed at all this offseason, but also because that is the area where the Padres have lost the most this offseason with Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Josh Hader, and Michael Wacha departing in free agency. One free agent name that is a bit surprising to see that the Padres didn't try to get in on this offseason is Kyle Gibson.

No one is arguing that Gibson would have been a sexy signing for the Padres. In fact, he is incredibly boring in a lot of ways. He has been around for a long time and since 2018, he has been the stereotypical backend starter that usually puts up around a mid-4 ERA every year, eats innings, and doesn't have the stuff to make any highlight reels unless he is on the receiving end of a hitter who is on a heater.

That said, the Padres don't need upside with every move they make right now. They need guys that will keep games that they start reasonably close who also don't cost much and at $12 million on a one year deal that he got from St. Louis, that is Gibson to a T.

Maybe the Padres just hated the fact that Gibson only throws in the low 90's and has to be spot on with his breaking stuff to succeed or maybe they were interested in him and the Cardinals were just his preferred landing spot. In any event, this is the sort of low investment move that the Padres should have made instead of watching the offseason pass them by.

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Here are 3 affordable free agents that the Padres should have signed this offseason

Reynaldo Lopez

Erick Fedde

Kyle Gibson

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