5 important San Diego Padres roster decisions to be made after disappointing season

2) How do the Padres plan on rounding out the rotation?

When it comes to the starting rotation, there are a bunch of questions that need to be answered. Two-fifths of the rotation is filled with Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove, but the rest leaves a lot to be desired.

Blake Snell is a free agent, and chances are he's gone. That right there means the Padres lose the likely Cy Young winner in the National League and get nothing for him. Seth Lugo has a player option worth $7.5 million which it's already been reported that he's expected to decline. San Diego could bring him back, but who knows? Michael Wacha has a club option worth $16 million. Wacha was awesome for the Padres this past season, but $16 million isn't exactly cheap. Even Nick Martinez (who can start) has a $16 million club option.

Do the Padres trust guys like Matt Waldron or Pedro Avila to be in their rotation full-time? I wouldn't, but who knows what Preller is thinking? The rotation has the chance to go from a clear strength to a potential glaring weakness if the Padres don't handle things correctly.

My guess is the Padres will at the very least bring Wacha back and will try to bring in another two starters. Whether that's done in free agency or on the trade market remains to be seen. They have the frontline guys, but rotations need depth. The Padres have none of that.

3) What will the Padres do at the DH spot?

The DH position was a huge weakness for this Padres team in 2023. Whether it was Matt Carpenter, Nelson Cruz, Ji Man Choi, or Garrett Cooper, nothing seemed to go right. They were 15th with a 105 WRC+, but a lot of that has to do with Manny Machado playing in 33 games at DH. That (hopefully) won't happen in 2024, making it crucial that the team makes a real upgrade at that position.

Carpenter remains under contract, and the only role he can feasibly play would be as the left-handed hitting DH to face right-handed pitching. Hoping for a bounceback isn't the worst plan ever, but it's also not one that's fixated on winning in 2024 would do. It feels like the chances Carpenter has a random bounceback are slim.

Shohei Ohtani is the obvious DH dream, but chances are he's not coming here. It would be really nice to steal J.D. Martinez from the Dodgers, but who knows if they can afford him. Even if they sign a guy like Justin Turner or Teoscar Hernandez to be the DH, that would be huge. Adding more length to this lineup is important, and it should start with the DH spot.

4) Do the Padres plan on finding a meaningful replacement for Josh Hader?

Like Blake Snell, it feels like Josh Hader's time in San Diego has come to an end. It's not for performance reasons, obviously. The Padres would likely love to have him back as the team's closer for a long time. He's simply too expensive for a team trying to cut down on payroll.

Replacing Hader is obviously an impossibility. Nobody really compares to him, and losing him really just stinks. While that's an obvious bummer, the Padres can still make a meaningful bullpen addition. The question is, will they?

Filling out a MLB-caliber rotation should be priority one for A.J. Preller. Rounding out an improved lineup should also be high up on Preller's list. It feels like adding to a bullpen that should already be decent might not be so high on Preller's list.

The Padres have guys like Scott Barlow and Robert Suarez who theoretically can cover the late innings. While, of course, they'd love to add more, will they with all of the other holes on the roster? I'm sure the Padres will add an arm or two, but a question that needs to be answered is if they'll go after any of the more expensive relievers.

5) Can Luis Campusano be trusted as the Padres starting catcher?

The catcher position is another one that the Padres need to make some sort of decision on. Austin Nola opened this season as the team's starting catcher, but he was so abysmal to the point where the team sent him down. He won't be in the equation for starting catcher.

Gary Sanchez had himself a nice run in San Diego after a couple of failed stints in San Francisco and with the New York Mets. I'm sure the Padres will express interest in bringing him back, but he's a free agent and can sign anywhere.

Luis Campusano showed a lot of promise down the stretch for San Diego, but he played in just 49 games in 2023. Is that enough to hand him the keys as the team's starting catcher? The 25-year-old obviously has potential, but he's proven next to nothing at the big league level.

The Padres can also look externally if they choose, although the free agent market for catchers this offseason is quite weak. It's a lot of pressure for a 25-year-old with little MLB experience to be tasked with being the number one catcher on a team trying to win the World Series, but Campusano might be the best option San Diego has. The question is if A.J. Preller trusts him enough to give him that spot.