Quote from WindsorUK on January 24, 2026, 1:30 pm

Yu retired????

I thought this would be what he'd do. Dude has too much integrity.

Quote from Randy Manese on January 24, 2026, 1:31 pm

Reported by San Diego Union in the last 1/2 hour.  Opens up a lot of flexibility for Preller.  Now it looks like Acee jumped the gun - probably some retirement package payoff to complete the action with Darvish wanting to announce it on his own terms.  Don't blame him - giving up 46 million dollars is a lot to expect.

Quote from fenn68 on January 24, 2026, 1:49 pm

Agree that the announcement should have been by Darvish out of respect for him and his career ... made worse that it appears Acee jumped the gun.

I do expect that what the team and Darvish are working out is the financial restructure of what he is owed. Maybe a Bobby Bonilla long term type deal as a front office assistant and that could allow the full retirement to eliminate all the future AAV pressure and maybe lower the Cash due him in the near years.

Did note that Roster Resource has removed Darvish from the payroll page entirely.

We will see the next steps

 

Quote from WindsorUK on January 24, 2026, 2:42 pm

It would free up...$20 million?

Could they, let's say, agree to sign him to a "front office" deal for 10 years at $ 4 million per? Like the Bonilla deal? Or would be that frowned upon by MLB?

Quote from WindsorUK on January 24, 2026, 2:56 pm

https://www.mlb.com/news/where-kyle-tucker-should-bat-in-dodgers-lineup

Interesting article on lineup construction. Guy states your best 3 hitters bat 1,2,4, as the 3 hole hitter often comes to the dish with no runners on, whilst #2 hitter is the team's best hitter( apparently stats show that since 2023-when Soto hit 2 for us- the 2 hole has been most productive)

Roberts has a difficult decision with 6 All Stars( 3 being slam dunk HOF'ers)....pity the poor guy🙄

Quote from MrPadre19 on January 24, 2026, 2:59 pm

Apparently,according to Yu,the Yu news is not a done deal.

Acce 🙄

Quote from fenn68 on January 24, 2026, 3:18 pm

Assuming (and I do) a retirement is worked out and any financial considerations are outside the CBT ... Padres would be only about $2MM into any CBT penalty.

The other issue is CASH ... and since I approach CASH from a total organization standpoint (does not make a difference which category it is classified) ... Padres and Darvish need to agree on a structure that minimizes Cash out in 2026 otherwise ... even though CBT may be less the cash flow would be the same ... and that still could be at issue.

He was scheduled for about $15MM ... he will get some amount ... so expect clearing something less of that $15MM to deploy. For the pessimist in me ... maybe nothing more to deploy if the starting point before retirement was sitting above their 2026 payroll target (just don't know).

Probably means little at this point but removing Darvish's AAV gets the Padres just $2MM above the CBT penalty level ... could they be motivated to make additional moves that net dropping the payroll another few million to fall under and re-set the status for penalties (not knowing what he new CBA brings)?

So, Preller's challenge will be to improve the team and lower the payroll ... easy!

Quote from fenn68 on January 25, 2026, 11:39 am

Another candidate for upgrading the bench (albeit just marginally):

Padres signed Samad Taylor (2B/OF) to a minor league contract with an invite to ST. Has "touched" the ML a couple of times ... speed is the selling point and has played basically all over the diamond but primarily 2B and LF. Decent hitter in the minors.

Of the more prominent non-roster guys ... Taylor adds to Miranda (3B/1B) and Solak (2B/1B/LF) in trying to bump probably Wagner and Ornelas.

Would add Hunt (C) who if makes it as the #2 catcher may put Campusano in the DH/1B roles and bump ?.

I know most are focused on a major 1B/DH add but given the roster Preller may have that as a back burner issue behind SP. Consider the expected current line-up (with 2025 wRC+):

OF: Laureano (138) - Merrill (116) - Tatis (131)

INF: Machado (123) - Bogaerts (104) - Cronenworth (117) - Sheets (111)

C: Fermin (77)

DH (rotation candidates): Song (L) - Campusano

Bench: Johnson (OF - 135) - McCoy (SS - 42) - Wagner (INF - 79)

So 7 of the 8 position players hit above average with only the catcher under (but well better than Diaz/Maldonado in 2025). Does that give Preller enough wiggle room to see what he has in Song and Campusano before panicking on adding another bat?

If they can use the $15MM that might come off the books with Darvish ... could land a very good SP (Bassitt or similar level) and end up with a SP staff of Pivetta, Bassitt, King, Musgrove, and Vasquez ... compelling?

At that point if the budget is fine ... and still have a filled bullpen to trade from ...maybe able to add that "9th impact bat" like a Mayo or Vientos. So,

Step 1: ensure Darvish is off the books

Step 2: sign an impact SP

Step 3: trade from the bullpen to add an impact "9th bat"

Simple!

Quote from Randy Manese on January 25, 2026, 4:50 pm

My guess is that Merrill and Fermin both up their wRC+ by 20 points while the rest of the 8 regulars hold pretty steady, however, given the injuries we had last season expect more production out of those wRC+ numbers.  Don't think Johnson is going to get anywhere near his 135 mark, but should  still be serviceable unless he completely goes in the tank during ST.  Wildcards are Song and Campy and their past recent history (albeit KBO and AAA) show they have baseline skills to be at least within striking distance of major league wRC+ average, say 85-90 - I think the Padres will take that.  The other two bench spots are TBD and lots of possibilities out there to better ourselves here without giving up too much.

So agree that if we gain that added flexibility thanks to Darvish, a SP who can at least compete for the #3 spot in the rotation is the goal.  I wouldn't categorize Bassitt as "very good" but he can eat up 170 innings (about 6 per game), have an ERA around 4.00 and get into double digits with wins given our bullpen.  I prefer Zac Gallen, if we have the money for him, and Nick Martinez is the fall back if we can't land either Bassitt or Gallen.  Of course there are the oldies - Scherzer and Verlander!

Still get a feeling we are going to re-sign Arraez on a team friendly deal for 2026 and that Arraez will bounce back to have a typical Arraez year.  Last year, his BABIP was way down and so was his hard hit rate.  Had off-season surgery last year and I think that still bothered him throughout the 2025 season along with other injuries he suffered.  We shall see...