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

The San Diego Padres had arguably the most disappointing season in Major League Baseball this past season, going 82-80 and missing the playoffs. This team had a ton of hype heading into the season following an NLCS appearance and a roster that looked even better, but didn't click until it was too late.

As we head into the winter, there's a good chance the Padres roster will once again have a new look. We know guys like Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, and Fernando Tatis Jr. will be here, but San Diego has plenty of free agents and players with options to decide on.

As we inch closer to the offseason, let's take a deeper dive into some roster questions A.J. Preller is going to have to answer.

1) What will the Padres do with Juan Soto?

Let's address the elephant in the room right off the bat. The San Diego Padres have themselves a real dilemma when it comes to Juan Soto and what the franchise will opt to do with him.

On one hand, the Padres are going to try and win in 2024. No matter how you slice it, trading Juan Soto makes that a whole lot tougher. He's one of the best hitters in all of baseball and the Padres would not be acquiring close to the value Soto provides for the 2024 season.

On the other hand, while trading Juan Soto makes the Padres worse in 2024, it helps them a ton in the future. Soto is entering the final year of team control before he hits free agency. The second he becomes a free agent, he can walk out the door in exchange for nothing more than a compensatory pick. Given the fact that the Padres already have a ton of money invested in long-term contracts and the fact that Soto is going to be seeking an absurd payday that only a handful of teams can realistically afford, the chances of Soto departing after the 2024 season are quite high.

A.J. Preller has a choice to make. He can keep Soto around and put his eggs in the 2024 basket. He can also trade Soto and get a decent haul back. It wouldn't be close to what they gave up to get him originally, but the Padres can absolutely get something quite good for one of the game's best players.

Soto is such a hard player to trade, but he's also such a hard player to risk losing for nothing. We'll see what Preller decides to do here.

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.

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.