Padres decline options on trio of players

The San Diego Padres have turned down options on three players, per Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune. They have declined a $7M mutual option for catcher Elias Diaz, going for the $2M buyout instead. Infielder/outfielder Tyler Wade’s $1M club option has been turned down in favor of a $50K buyout. Left-hander Kyle Hart’s $5M club option has been turned down in favor of a $500K buyout. All three will head to free agency.

None of the three moves comes as a major shock. The Padres signed Díaz last offseason, a one-year deal with a $3.5M guarantee for his age-34 campaign. That took the form of a $1.5M salary and a $2M buyout on the $7M mutual option. It’s been over a decade since both sides of a mutual option were exercised. They are usually a way for the team to kick part of the payment down the road. That appears to be the case here, as the option buyout was more than the salary in this case.

Díaz got into 106 games for the Padres, slashing .204/.270/.337 for a 74 wRC+. His defense was considered around par. With Díaz now removed, the Padres are down to two backstops on the roster. Freddy Fermin projects as the top option. Luis Campusano is still there but the club doesn’t appear to trust him behind the plate, as they opted to give playing time to older veterans like Díaz and Martín Maldonado, even though Campusano was crushing in the minors. It wouldn’t be surprising if Campusano were traded, now that he’s out of options, with the Friars circling back to Díaz or some other veteran.

Wade, 31 in November, has long been a glove-first utility guy in the majors. He got into 60 games for the Padres this year and played all the outfield slots as well as the three infield positions to the left of first base. However, he hit just .206/.309/.252.

The Padres signed Hart in February, hoping he could build off a strong year in Korea. Pitching for the KBO’s NC Dinos in 2024, he posted a 2.69 ERA in 157 innings. The Friars brought him back to North America on a one-year deal with a $1.5M guarantee. That included a $1M salary this year and a $500K buyout on a $5M club option.

Unfortunately, his return to the majors didn’t go smoothly. He logged 43 big league innings with a 5.86 earned run average this year. His 20.7% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate were decent but he was mostly used in a low leverage swingman role. The Friars need pitching but they have a tight budget and Hart didn’t perform well, so it’s understandable that they haven’t given him a raise.