The Padres Keep Adding to the Roster...

On Friday, the Padres agreed to a deal with a 24-year-old outfielder who cranked 22 home runs this past season. His name, Kalahi Rosario, and all it took to get him was a minor league contract. No spot on the 40-man roster, no big guarantees, no nothing. Diamond in the rough sleeper status right here. That same week, the Padres have also been named one of the six teams lined up to meet with Tarek Skubal. Skubal is reportedly looking, as we've said, for more than $300 million. And the Padres' owners have already expressed interest in that. But this is where we've got an interesting week of, like, big, big top-name spending potential and also little teeny minor league, you know, sort of try-me moves. And I think that that is a sign of the owners Not just, you know, reaching for the stars, but also maintaining that underlying successful strategy of just accumulating talent. The team should be shopping at both ends. Rosario's road started in Hilo, Hawaii, where the twins took him out of high school in the fifth round in 2020. The power has been there since his early days. 21 home runs in 2023 with the Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Cedar Rapids. Look, I get it. Minor League Home Run Derbies in the Arizona Fall League might not be your jam, but the 20-plus home run mark has been there all of his minor league career in 2025. 25 home runs and 32 stolen bases in AA. That is the season that season he should have been on trajectory to keep on going up, up, up and potentially make his major league debut. But the twins have a crowded outfield in their minor league system. And he did not get called up until late in June to triple a once he got there. His OPS absolutely soared to a 9-13 in AAA, 11 home runs to close out the season with St. Paul, totaling up 22 home runs, two in one game, and then four home runs in another short game stretch. Two seasons, his last two seasons totaling up to be 47 home runs, just shy of 100 total in his minor league career. Swing and miss rate is certainly there as well, so he's got a little bit of the Joey Gallo vibes, and maybe that's why the Twins never put him on the 40-man roster. And how someone with that kind of pop winds up as a potential spot for the Padres roster. Being able to come in here on a minor league deal. NBC Sports is reading that he should eventually see the big leagues as a platoon outfielder. He's a righty bat, so he'll be somebody batting against left-handers with pop. Tell me that's not exactly what the Padres need. And I get that minor league production does not always go to major league numbers. But... We need a left fielder, and if we're going to be... We've had a bunch of different discussions about how it's either spin big on Scooble and starting pitching and then go to small token pieces over here or spin in the aggregate. There's a lot of different ideas, but one thing that you can do right now if you're the Padres' ownership is just accumulate cheap, non-guaranteed, non-roster invitees to... Help build up that minor league system and just give guys opportunities. Another name that is kind of getting into that mix, that's another signing that we have to talk about recently for the Padres, is a guy by the name of Cal Stevenson. Completely different kind of situation and hitter. He's 30. He's a lefty. The Blue Jays drafted him all... Back in 2018, he's bounced around since 2022, has not necessarily been the greatest of major league hitters, only batting a buck 78. But then when you bounce him down to AAA, he absolutely rips it up. So Kyle Blank's vibes. I love me a good Kyle Blank's duplicate. This year in Toledo, he had an on-base percentage of over 492 games there. His numbers at Lehigh Valley, really good, decent stolen bases, nearly 30 every season. He has been on a couple of different minor league deals, but is a lefty bat. They can play outfield, good contact, good stolen bases numbers. Thank you. You know, an older Jace Bowen, if you will. While minor league deals very rarely translate into major league super-duper glory and success, we don't need all of them to hit. We hit both in the literal sense of in the batter's box, but you know what I'm saying? You don't need to hit a red 21. It only needs to land there once out of the 5, 10, 20, 30 opportunities that you give guys. Think about how all of the different people that we have cycled through in that left field spot, these might just be two more. But you look back, Ty France, last year, he was one of those minor league deals that we signed. By the end of the season, absolutely ripping it up. He was a technically better hitter than Nando and Manny this year. And he still had to settle for a minor league contract last year, despite being a gold glover and having that kind of offensive power in him. So with France, you know, if he is the model and somebody that can come in and belt out home runs and, you know, look at like Walker Bueller, that worked out and it goes deeper than those two. But those two are, I think, the best, most recent examples of how the Padres have actually had some success at that end of the spectrum. Samad Taylor, minor league deal in January when Loriano gets hurt. He comes in and fills in. Then it was Luis Ranjifo. Then it was Dustin Harris. Ranjifo, he was an outcast from Milwaukee. Dustin Harris from the Astros and White Sox. That's five guys in just like a small span. And, uh... Because if you're looking proportionally, the Padres have signed more than 100 guys to minor league deals in that same span. So I get that this is a small percentage that wind up being actual major league contributors. But if you look at the deals that we're making right now, it isn't minor league guys who are bad. So we are at least, I think, signing a diverse amount of quality minor league talent that has the odds. Ever in our favor, if you will, to be that some of these guys will wind up being us being able to win in the aggregate and cheaply accumulate talent. And sans our owners just going crazy and spending big on everything and not having a salary cap and luxury tax and deferred. If we're able to do that, great. But if not. We're going to have to have some of that cheap success in the margins, given that the Padres have already declined options with Nick Pavetta, Robbie Ray, Casey Myers, Griffin, Kenny Giglio, all those guys are gone. King and Bueller are gone. We have to re-sign, replace, re-bid on some of them. AJ Preller has said about the starting rotation that it's a bit of a blank canvas. We have some flexibility. Tarek Skubal, that's why he is on the board, but those are all big ticket Big name items and are all going to come with... Commensurate costs, the Padres have also shown interest in people like Freddy Gonzalez, Aiden Gonzalez, Ryan Weiss. On the flip side of that, another one of these cheaper Padres ownership going after big top tier and the low tier, like that, you know, meet in the middle with the average salary being, you know, not accurate of anybody actually getting paid that. But big time signings, little time moves, and that's to me where... We find actual Padres success. Well, I don't know if these two guys are ever going to wind up being our heroes in September, October, the keys to it. They also don't need to be. If they are just guys who are ready and available when injuries come up, if they are guys who can provide a little, if it can be... Three home runs when we really need a bat, if it can be some stolen bases to jumpstart something to get a guy in scoring position for Nando, like these are the smart moves. that do allow us the flexibility to treat that starting rotation like a blank slate and spin big. So that's what I got for you today. Padres, I think making some savvy and intelligent moves this offseason. These are just two more of them. Let me know what you think in the comment section. Like, subscribe, share, follow all those other YouTube buttons. Until next time, talk to you soon. As always, keep the faith. Go Padres!