2025-26 MLB Offseason Recap: San Diego Padres

After the Padres’ 2025 season, a lot of changes came down in San Diego. Craig Stammen became the new manager, and many familiar names, and some new ones, took their place. Here’s what the Padres did over the 2025-26 offseason.

Additions

• RP Ty Adcock
• OF Miguel Andujar
• SP Walker Buehler
• SP Griffin Canning
• 1B/OF Nick Castellanos
• 1B Ty France
• SP German Marquez
• INF Sung Mun Song

The Padres’ most notable move this winter was the re-signing of Michael King, which will provide some rotation stability to a team that lost some pitching, thanks to injuries and free agent losses.

San Diego also acquired starting pitch depth via free agency, as German Marquez, Walker Buehler, and Griffin Canning all joined the team before the start of the season.

Buehler had to fight for a spot on the Padres’ Opening Day roster, as he signed a Minor League deal in February. His spring didn’t go fantastically, as Buehler was hit around a bit in Arizona. However, he struck out 16 over 15 innings, continuing what was a positive trend for him last year with the Phillies.

Marquez, who’s coming over from Colorado, had one of the worst seasons among starting pitchers last season. But one could partially forgive him for that, thanks to the environment he was subjected to with the Rockies. The right-hander finished the spring with a team-high 23 strikeouts over 16.1 IP.

Canning, who suffered an Achilles injury last year, will start 2026 on the IL. But like Buehler and Marquez, Canning is a low-risk, upside pickup, as the righty pitched well with the Mets last season.

The Padres also added some new hitters. KBO star Sung Mun Song joined San Diego, although he’ll begin 2026 on the IL. Miguel Andujar, a left-handed pitching killer, also joined the Padres.

San Diego also picked up Ty France and Nick Castellanos, the latter of whom took work at first base this spring. Both France and Castellanos will look to fill a hole at first base.

Losses

• INF Luis Arraez
• SP Dylan Cease
• SP Nestor Cortes
• C Elias Diaz
• C Martin Maldonado
• INF Jose Iglesias
• 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn
• RP Sean Reynolds
• RP Robert Suarez

Luis Arraez is gone, as the quirky infielder signed with the Giants late in the winter. Arraez spent a lot of time at first base with the Padres, a place where his defensive inefficiencies could have been minimized to a certain degree.

He was one of several notable losses over the winter. The two biggest ones were Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez.

Cease took a massive seven-year deal from the Blue Jays, ending his two-year tenure with the Padres. It was an interesting tenure, as Cease did very well in 2024 after he was traded away from the White Sox. The right-hander did plenty well in the strikeout department over his two seasons — but home runs were a problem.

As for Suarez, the right-hander was a fantastic foreign find by the Padres earlier in the decade. But with Mason Miller around, the Padres didn’t necessarily need Suarez, even though he did well as the team’s closer and led the NL in total saves.

Suarez signed with the Braves.

Overview

As expected, the Padres went with low-cost grabs to pair with the big boys currently on the team.

San Diego didn’t trade anyone away to cut salary. The core of the group, aside from Cease and Suarez, is still intact, meaning that the Padres should still be a competitive team in the National League.

How far the Padres go in the season remains to be seen. But if Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Jackson Merrill can stay healthy, the Padres have the potential to make it back to October for a third straight year.