3 players on the San Diego Padres Opening Day roster who won't finish on it

2. Domingo Tapia will not finish the 2023 season on the Padres roster

The Padres have a ton of pitching on the IL and with them only having three relievers with options, Domingo Tapia feels like an obvious one to go down when the team is healthy. The only other bullpen arms who can be sent down without being DFA'd are Steven Wilson and Tim Hill. I don't see either happening.

The Padres signed Tapia to a minor league deal this offseason. He made the Opening Day roster thanks to the bevy of injuries the team has sustained. He is a hard thrower whose average fastball velocity is at 96.8 mph this season which ranks in the 92nd percentile according to Baseball Savant, but he doesn't have much else going for him. He's made just 55 MLB appearances across his four years of experience and has a career ERA of 4.40. Not awful, but San Diego can do better.

This season, Tapia has struck out nine batters in 6.1 innings pitched which is a good number, but he's walked three and has allowed three runs. He's arguably the lowest leverage arm they have right now, and again, with him having an option left it makes him easy to send down.

Tapia will likely be one of those relievers that gets shuttled back and forth between AAA and the bigs as much as possible. He'll make his appearances, but once the Padres get their arms back, he won't be needed.

3. Brent Honeywell Jr. will not finish the 2023 season on the Padres roster

Brent Honeywell Jr. was at one point in time a highly touted prospect but injuries have derailed his career. He's made the transition from starter to reliever and will hopefully stay healthy.

The Padres took a chance on the right-handed in a move that required no risk with chance for some sort of reward.

Honeywell has looked pretty good to begin this season, allowing two runs in 8.1 innings pitched, but has very little MLB experience and history suggests his body won't hold up for the entire 162-game season. Honeywell's only MLB experience came in April of 2021 when he made three appearances (two starts) for Tampa Bay and threw 4.1 innings.

Honeywell does have the fact that he's out of options going for him, but I just don't see who the Padres remove from their roster once their arms come back from the Injured List instead of him.

Joe Musgrove, Adrian Morejon, Robert Suarez, and Drew Pomeranz will all need roster spots at some point this season. It's hard to see Honeywell outlasting four other Padres arms unless there're other injuries which is something that is impossible to predict.

Having too much depth is a good problem to have, and will be one the Padres stumble into eventually. Once this does happen, Honeywell is bound to be a roster casualty. It's possible he clears waivers, and it's also possible a team claims him and he latches on in a bullpen elsewhere.