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3 moves to make the San Diego Padres dream offseason a reality

A lot has to go right to get the San Diego Padres back to contender status in the National League. These dream moves being made would go a long way.

By Zachary Rotman |
Sep 25, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Juan Soto (22) reacts
Sep 25, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Juan Soto (22) reacts / Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
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The San Diego Padres find themselves in a difficult position following an extremely disappointing 82-80 season. The Padres have a ton of players locked in on long-term deals which is great, but also limits their flexibility quite a bit.

A.J. Preller hopes his guys bounce back in 2024, but there's also work that has to be done to ensure the roster is ready to compete. The core is in tact, but the roster is nowhere close to deep enough.

These three moves might not be the most realistic when it comes to setting the Padres up to win in 2024 and beyond, but would be a dream come true.

1) Extending Juan Soto should be a priority for the Padres

Money is an issue. The Padres are looking to cut payroll after splurging a ton in recent years, and that makes keeping Juan Soto around a major issue. Despite that obvious hurdle, San Diego is hoping to keep Soto around for the 2024 season and maybe get him extended.

Soto's agent, Scott Boras, revealed that the Padres showed him their plan for next season and that plan includes Juan Soto. This is good news for the Friar Faithful as Soto is obviously the team's best position player. The problem is, he's entering the final year of his deal and will certainly search for one of, if not the largest contract in MLB history in the 2024 offseason.

Keeping Soto around should be San Diego's priority. What they need to do is ask him point blank what it would take to get him to extend long-term. If there's a number, reach it and go from there. If there isn't trading Soto needs to be on the table. He's too good of a player for the Padres to risk losing for nothing.

In this dream scenario, Soto gives them a number and the Padres find a way to keep their best player in brown and gold for a very long time. If that means parting with a different expensive player on the roster, so be it. This team becomes less of a threat if Soto isn't a part of it.

2) The Padres need to acquire multiple starting pitchers

The Padres rotation is in bad shape heading into the 2024 season. At the top, the Friars have Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish. When healthy, both are great pitchers. Even after a down year I still believe Yu Darvish is a frontline starter. The problem is, Musgrove and Darvish both missed substantial time last season and especially in Darvish's case, aren't getting any younger.

Behind Musgrove and Darvish the picture is bleak. Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and even Nick Martinez are all free agents. Snell would be the dream to bring back, of course, but with him likely winning the Cy Young award there's a good chance San Diego will be priced out.

The Padres could bring back one of Lugo or Wacha to start for them, but who knows how much money they're going to make coming off strong years in the Padres rotation.

The trade market could be where A.J. Preller finds an arm or even two. The Padres do have some good prospects they can part with, and there are several good arms like Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease, and Shane Bieber who could be available for the right price. Heck, maybe even Corbin Burnes will be in play.

Musgrove and Darvish will obviously play a massive role in the rotation. Having a guy like Pedro Avila open the year as the team's fifth starter wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. San Diego desperately needs to add at least two starters to help round out the staff. Anything less would be putting them in a bad spot.

3) The Padres need to sign an impactful DH

The Matt Carpenter/Nelson Cruz platoon wound up being a horrific idea. Banking on Cruz to bounce back at his age was never wise, but the Padres weren't completely in the wrong at the time to bank on Matt Carpenter at least being semi-productive. He was coming off such a productive stint with the Yankees, even if it was short-lived. I don't think anyone expected he'd be as bad as he was.

The Padres had some of the worst production in baseball out of the DH spot, and that must change for this offense to see serious improvement in 2024.

Shohei Ohtani is obviously the dream DH signing, but I'd say there's no way San Diego meets his insane demands. While Ohtani would've been nice, the Padres are fortunate that the DH spot is incredibly deep this free agency.

J.D. Martinez has a very good argument as the second-best DH in all of baseball behind Ohtani. What if San Diego stole him from the rival Dodgers? Jorge Soler just hit 36 home runs while playing half the time in one of the toughest hitter's parks in all of baseball down in Miami, it's safe to say he'd make an impact. Even a guy like Justin Turner who plays more of the field but was a primary DH last season with Boston would be a great add.

There are many ways the Padres could go with the DH spot. They must make a real upgrade. Don't force a Carpenter platoon with a righty again with hopes that things will suddenly be better. That's a sunk cost. Add a truly impactful bat.

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