Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres\u2019 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated is current as of Oct. 18, prior to the end of the World Series. Because of that, it will include players who will be free agents once the postseason concludes. Each player will be graded on their performance in the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted based on how much time the player spent with the team (availability is the best ability).<\/p>\n
When the Padres drafted France in 2015, he was an elite prospect who grew into a solid contributor. Across eight seasons of big-league ball, France has slashed .267\/.338\/.414 with 102 homers. He\u2019s been an above-average offensive contributor despite his middling glovework at first base. Then, he fixed his defense, winning a Gold Glove at the cold corner in 2025. He entered free agency as a bargain option for teams looking for first base help.<\/p>\n
San Diego got so much more than that. France had to fight for a job in Spring Training. Gavin Sheets was assumed to be the de facto starting first baseman, with Nick Castellanos and France as other options. France barely cracked the Opening Day roster and ran with it. Eventually, he beat out Sheets and Castellanos for the starting role at first base.<\/p>\n
Last season was a resurgent campaign for the 32-year-old. France posted a .295\/.363\/.502 slash line with a career-high 21 homers in 2026. It was an incredible season, marked by some spectacular moments. France\u2019s .865 OPS led the club. He was also ranked first in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage among players with 400-plus at-bats.<\/p>\n
France enters free agency with the chance to net a modest contract. San Diego has made it clear of their intentions to retain the veteran slugger. He held down the cold corner well, being named a Gold Glove finalist. The Padres could likely retain his services on an affordable two-to-three year deal. However, France could be a hot commodity among teams in the market for a first baseman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres\u2019 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,328661,174385,328662,82],"class_list":["post-962417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego-padres-analysis","tag-san-diego-padres-news","tag-san-diego-padres-roster","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}