Who are the Padres remaining left field options after Tommy Pham deal?

With now less than a week until pitchers and catchers report to Peoria, Arizona for spring training, the San Diego Padres still do not have a starting left fielder. Sure, they have players on the bench that can play the position, but replacing recently departed All-Star Jurickson Profar with an unproven bench option is not what Padres fans were hoping for.

The abysmal offseason that the Padres have produced, signing just one major league player while letting a number of important franchise pieces walk in free agency, is being made even tougher as the rest of the league continues to make moves. In a deal that only lowers the Padres chances at signing a left fielder, former Padre Tommy Pham has reportedly signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a one-year, $4.025 million contract.

Padres running out of outfield options

The list of available free agent outfielders is growing shorter, and now with just 11 players left on that list, the Padres may be cutting it too close. Of those 13, more than half are left fielders, but the list of players that would make any logical sense is even smaller.

Three of the previously available left fielders have signed deals in the past two days, with Sam Haggerty signing a minor league deal with Texas, Ben Gamel returning to Houston, and the Pham deal. That leaves Mark Canha, Alex Verdugo, Travis Jankowski, Adam Duvall, David Peralta, Robbie Grossman, and Eddie Rosario for the Padres to pick from.

Looking at that list, it is difficult to find a name that immediately jumps out as a Profar replacement. Starting with the two former Padres in Peralta and Jankowski, both are at the backend of their careers and may provide little. However a modest .267/.335/.415 line put up by Peralta in 91 games with the Padres in 2024 may be enough to bring him back on a one-year veteran deal. Jankowski had a rough year with the Rangers, and his .508 OPS may be too much a red flag for a San Diego reunion.

Mark Canha, who had the highest war in 2024 out of the available options, is entering his 11th year in the majors, but is still a serviceable option. After moving from Detroit to San Francisco towards the end of the 2024 season, Canha finished the year with a .690 OPS. His recent drop in power, now slugging well below league average, should be a concern for San Diego

Adam Duvall, Robbie Grossman, and Eddie Rosario are all grouped together because frankly, signing one of these three may as well be the Padres throwing in the towel. All past their 10th season in the league, all with an OPS well below league average, and all well past their primes. These three should be off limits for San Diego.

That leaves Alex Verdugo, the youngest of the available options. Entering his 9th year in the league, Verdugo saw his numbers fall in his one and only season in New York, but there are still shades of a good player visible. In the shortened 2020 season, Verdugo put up a .308/.367/.478 line and earned MVP votes. He saw his OPS fall below league average in 2024, but a return to previous seasons numbers, and his ability to play all three outfield positions, should place Verdugo high on the Padres list of potential signings.