![\"Padres](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sut-l-padres-007_8efa71.jpg\")
Padres fans stop at the merchandise store during FanFest 2026 at Petco Park on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nA little more than a week remains before the Padres\u2019 first official workout of spring training, and the reality is that they have done almost nothing to make their roster better this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t been super transactional,\u201d Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller acknowledged Saturday.<\/p>\n
Now, that must be contextualized with the facts of recent history.<\/p>\n
For four consecutive years \u2014 three of which ended with the Padres playing in the postseason \u2014 the team has added at least one significant contributor during spring training.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get to this point and you can get, hopefully, some players that are motivated, that want to be here, get some deals that we feel like are lined up for us from a price standpoint,\u201d Preller said. \u201cKind of working right up until spring training. And hopefully we\u2019re gonna look to add some guys here in the next couple weeks that help us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preller was speaking near the end of FanFest, the annual gathering at Petco Park where fans hear from team personnel. During a Q&A session in Gallagher Square, Preller spoke about needing a bat or two and adding to the starting rotation, sentiments he echoed when addressing the media a short while later.<\/p>\n
He also was more expansive Saturday than he had previously been on one personnel issue the Padres expected to have resolved by now \u2014 an extension to his contract, which expires after this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think part of the timing piece, a little bit is on me in terms of you get into these offseasons \u2026 (with) the focus on winning and putting a team together (and) I\u2019m not great at focusing on anything other than that this time of year. So I think that\u2019s been part of it. \u2026 I think the biggest thing is when you have win-win deals, when everybody is fair and they\u2019re they\u2019re honest and realistic, and I expect something to get done and to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was revealed Saturday that Gavin Sheets will get first crack at being the regular first baseman, and manager Craig Stammen talked about keeping the designated hitter spot somewhat flexible to give Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts and others days off from playing in the field.<\/p>\n
Preller expressed confidence that the Padres can get done what they need to in order to contend for a third consecutive playoff appearance, which would be the first such run in franchise history.<\/p>\n
Padres chairman John Seidler said in December that the team\u2019s 2026\u00a0 payroll would be \u201csimilar\u201d to last season.<\/p>\n
That \u201826 number sits at approximately $220 million, according to FanGraphs.com. That is $9 million more than the final 2025 tally. (That number does not include bonuses or the team\u2019s Competitive Balance Tax bill.)<\/p>\n
However, the team expects to have available most or all of Yu Darvish\u2019s $16 million salary for this season once the veteran pitcher, his agent, the MLB Players Association and the club agree on terms of his waking away from the remaining three years and $46 million remaining on his contract.<\/p>\n
Multiple members of the front office insist the team still plans impactful acquisitions, though they acknowledge those additions are likely not going to be culled from the top of the free agent market. Various trade talks are ongoing, as well, but none is considered close to fruition.<\/p>\n
Preller indicated some of the machinations the Padres were considering throughout the winter are no longer on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou consider all different options as you go into the offseason \u2014 making trades and deals that would have taken the payroll down,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in terms of where we\u2019re at now, we feel like it\u2019s more about adding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padres fans stop at the merchandise store during FanFest 2026 at Petco Park on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
As for Darvish, who won\u2019t pitch this year following October elbow surgery and has made it clear to the Padres he does not plan to collect all that owed to him, resolution on his status is expected sometime during spring training. The Padres expect he will be in spring training for a time, though he will be with Team Japan during the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still kind of working through all the details,\u201d Preller said. \u201cFor Yu, it\u2019s all about the Padres (and) giving back. It\u2019s a very unique perspective. \u2026 He wants to help guys get better, develop, and he also wants to make sure from an organization standpoint that if he can\u2019t perform on the field that the organization is in a good spot to continue to add talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
To date, the Padres have signed Sung-Mun Song, a backup infielder from Korea who could see time at DH, and brought back starting pitcher Michael King through free agency. (Ostensibly, they also added starter Joe Musgrove, who missed last season following Tommy John surgery.)<\/p>\n
Asked his thoughts Saturday on the state of the team, considering the minimal additions, King began his reply by asserting his confidence in the man building the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say the main reason why I signed back is because of Preller,\u201d King said. \u201cKnowing him as a G.M., I know that he\u2019s put a winning team out there every time. I (signed) this contract, and I wanted to win throughout the duration of it, and I had the trust in him to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A little more than a week remains before the Padres\u2019 first official workout of spring training, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-158884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-san-diego-padres","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}