This has Major Implications for the Padres...

This has major implications for the San Diego Padres. We got to talk about some contract stuff already. I know the season is not over, but there's already headlines about who we're going to lose. And it kind of got the ball rolling for my brain about where everybody is at heading into this offseason, because even without a work stoppage or anything else like that potentially coming up, there are plenty of plot lines to unfold about. How is AJ Preller going to deal with new ownership? How is new ownership going to deal with AJ Preller? And what really is going to be the game plan about how to get this team younger, better? Faster. All of the $6 million man words. What's happening, everybody? Christian Pedersen back with another episode of Padres Digest, the show where Andrew and I bring you daily content no matter how hard the Padres decide to Padre and mess up all of our days or how good the season is. The highs, the lows, and everything in between. We're going to be here for you. If you want to like, subscribe, comment, share, follow, all those other YouTube-y buttons, that would be fantastically appreciated. If not, no worries. The headline for today, like I said, that kind of... Got my brain going was that we are allegedly going to lose none other than one of the best receivers in baseball, which is Yuki Matsui. And that's crazy to me, given that if you talk about Yuki being in the 97th percentile for width and hard hit percentage, and he's the worst in the league when it comes to walk percentage, it's like this dude's kind of all over the place. And so. It wasn't on the top of my mind that losing Yuki Matsui was going to be something that we needed to worry about. But like I said, A leads to B leads to C here. I do think that there are some major implications about all the people that are going to be free agents this coming offseason. What kind of decisions the Padres are going to make on all of these players? So I'm going to run through all of the impending free agents by category of unrestricted team option, mutual option, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Drop a comment as we go through all of this on all the players that you think should be coming, going, et cetera. I don't necessarily want to like. Get into the nitty gritty of, oh, I want to offer this guy this many years or that guy that many years and this option and that. But let's do some ballpark math on all of this. The unrestricted free agents, the guys that are just going to be on the open market from this group. I can go ahead and cross the bottom three guys off of that list and say that I have no interest in bringing Casey Mize, Jason Adam, or Robbie Ray back. Not just personal biases aside. I want to flush out some of the gunk on our pitching staff and rebuild with a ground-up kind of mentality. And I'm sure that Casey Mize... He's not as bad as he has been these last couple of outings and has some chance to be better, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Just for whatever reason, the vibes don't work here. One above that, Adrian Morihone, I would say that he and Ty France are the two most important people on this list for me in terms of needing to prioritize, bringing them back, spending big. Morihone's going to be an interesting one because of Mason Miller. I think Morihone has a desire to be both a career padre. and a closer, but those two things are diametrically opposed to one another right now, given that Mason Miller is young and on arbitration years and is probably going to get a long-term fat contract to remain the closer. So what do you do there? Do you overpay, quote unquote, for a setup guy who is going to then also double as your closer on the couple of nights where Mason Miller isn't going to throw a back-to-back? Yes, I do think you overpay for Because a good bullpen. is one thing, but an elite bullpen is a whole nother thing and is a hard thing to assemble just continuously through the draft. So if we let Robert Suarez go, we're going to have to replace him in the aggregate with plenty of other expensive guys. So I think he's a must, Ty France. Also, like I said, I prioritize him. I want him to be our starting first baseman. I think he's had a fantastic career resurgence. He's a San Diego State legend. I don't find me the reason not to hold on to him. Bueller, Liriano and Hayes are all in a middle category of I would not mind bringing them all back on less expensive deals. Ramon. With his injury this year, I would assume is not going to get a bazillion suitors coming after him big time. I would be curious what kind of playing time he wants versus can get versus like what's really going to be the plan for left field for the Padres in the offseason. But nonetheless, I like his presence. I like his hustle. I like his veteran status. Walker Buehler, same thing. He had a little show-me deal this year that I think has worked out well for all parties involved. And he's not going to put up Cy Young numbers. So again, I don't know how many people are going to want a 33-year-old Walker Buehler for a six, seven, eight-year deal. And I do hope the Padres don't make Walker Buehler the next Musgrove, Pavetta, or Darvish and overcommit to him. But I want him back next year on the Padres as that like... Like, call him the four starters or something like that. Next one here is going to be maybe a little bit divisive. Wandy Peralta has a player option for next season. He is the only player option for next season. I don't mind Wandi. I think that Wandi is a medium reliever. I think that Wandi is a guy that if he can come back... For that couple of million dollars player option, do some opening of games, do some relieving of games, eat up some innings, keep things close. Yeah, he's kind of like Yuki, where his numbers ping pong from really good to really bad and kind of never anywhere in between. But nonetheless, I like him because I think that lefties are just. For whatever reason, somewhat slightly harder to find a good one for. The opt-outs, Yuki, Michael King, and Nick Pavetta, mutual kind of deals. I think that Pavetta, we've talked enough about to know that he wants to be back. He's a baller. He's older. Man, if Pavetta can come back, the team is not going to take this one. If Pavetta can come back, though, at a cheap kind of what we did with Walker Buehler this year deal, I'm in. Michael King, it's going to be expensive for us next year to hold on to him with this existing contract, so I'll be curious if the new ownership tries to get something more long-term done with him. I would say that I have seen enough from Michael King to be like, yes, I am fine investing, even though I've said let's get younger, et cetera, et cetera. If Michael King wants to be our ace and we want to pay him like our ace. I don't have an argument against it. Yuki, that's the one where they're saying he's going to test the waters and opt out on this mutual deal. I would just be curious to ask what really is the market for Yuki Matsui? Say between Yuki and Wandi, I'm more in on Wandi, but I guess neither here nor there. Next group that we got, some more of the mutuals, Lucas Giolito, Miguel Andujar, and Griffin Canning. I don't... I don't see any world in which Lucas Giolito comes back for the Padres this next season. I think that if the Padres genuinely had any interest in Lucas Giolito being a Padre long-term, they would have done some more rehabbing of him, bringing of him, talking about him. He went bye-bye as soon as that injury happened, and we have not heard anything of him in any direction, which to me means that there is no interest there. Miguel Andujar, that's been a tough break. Literally and figuratively for him this year, having that wrist issue and then just kind of a couple of dudes have stuck around and hit well enough that there's not an issue of rushing him back. I think Andujar probably most likely is not a Padre next season. And finally, Griffin Canning, to keep in show consistency, I have to say, no way, let's not bring him back. Five million bucks to have Griffin Canning continue. That hurts. But if Griffin Canning can have an off season. To actually get it together, because last offseason, he was still rehabbing from an injury that from his Achilles injury and then started the season on that rehab assignment. And he didn't get a spring training. If Griffin can hit the reset after this season, I suppose I can be talked into being like, OK, let's let's do it. And then finally, last guy to talk about for today's episode. Thank you, everybody, for sticking around is Kyle Hart. I don't mind it. Bring him back a couple million to be like, I guess, between Yuki, Kyle Hart, and Wandi. If we can bring back Wandi and Kyle Hart on the cheaper side and let Yuki go get his bag somewhere else or some combo two out of those three, I consider it a win. But, you know, I kind of shrug shoulders on those three. All right. That's all the free agents. Let me know what you think. Apologies for doing some list radio, but nonetheless. If we lose out on a bunch of these guys or have to overspend on a bunch of these guys, there are some huge implications for the Padres. So let me know what you think on all this. Drop a comment, like, subscribe, share, follow. Until next time, we'll talk to you guys soon.