Padres bring back catcher Elias Díaz on 1-year deal (source)

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres' catching situation is coming into focus, and their offseason is slowly coming to life.

San Diego agreed to a one-year contract with backstop Elias Díaz, a source told MLB.com on Tuesday. The club has not yet confirmed the deal, which is pending a physical. It includes a mutual option for the 2026 season.

The signing marks the Padres' first Major League free-agent deal of the winter -- days after they pulled off their first big league trade of the offseason, landing reliever Ron Marinaccio from the White Sox. There’s still plenty of work to do in San Diego, but it's a start.

Díaz, 34, finished the 2024 season with the Padres after he was released by the Rockies in August. He batted .190 with a .720 OPS across 12 games, serving as the backup to Kyle Higashioka for the stretch run and the postseason.

Where does he fit?

A defense-first backstop, Díaz is clearly not the All-Star (and All-Star Game MVP) he was in Colorado. But the Padres were sorely lacking in the catching department after Higashioka's departure. Díaz’s arrival gives them a potential starter at the position.

To date, Luis Campusano's five-year big league career has seen some notable highs -- including a solid finish to the 2023 campaign. But it's been otherwise riddled with injuries and disappointment, and Campusano was bumped from the postseason roster in favor of Díaz last year.

That said, Campusano is still only 26 years old and is currently in line to compete with Díaz for the starting role. The Padres also recently signed veteran Martín Maldonado to a Minor League deal, and he'll enter camp with a shot at earning a roster spot (though the 38-year-old Maldonado struggled immensely with the White Sox last season).

Given Díaz's defensive prowess, he'll enter camp as the presumed starter at the position, unless the Padres were to add further. A 10-year veteran, Díaz owns a career .251/.304/.388 slash line and an 81 OPS+. However, he did hit 18 home runs for Colorado in 2021. He made his first All-Star team two years later and earned game MVP honors.

Are the Padres done at catcher?

Possibly. They can at least feel OK entering camp with this group and perhaps turn their focus elsewhere. But the reality is: General manager A.J. Preller is never done. As ever, a trade to bolster the position remains possible.

Campusano is viewed by some as a potential change-of-scenery candidate. The Athletic recently linked Minnesota's Christian Vázquez to the Padres in a deal.

It's unclear how Díaz's arrival might shake up any of the Padres’ trade machinations. If nothing else, it makes their search behind the plate less urgent, and they can turn their attention elsewhere.

What's next?

"Catcher, the corner outfield and starting pitching -- those are three pretty obvious needs," Preller said at last month's Winter Meetings.

The Padres have addressed the first of those three. Now, they’ll presumably turn their focus toward the other two. They need a left fielder to replace Jurickson Profar, who signed a three-year deal with Atlanta last week.

And most importantly, they need to add to their rotation, particularly in the wake of Roki Sasaki's decision to sign with the Dodgers. There's little depth beyond the trio of Dylan Cease, Michael King and Yu Darvish (with Joe Musgrove slated to miss the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery).

Cease and King, who are both entering their final season before free agency, are among those who have been rumored as potential trade pieces. In any deal, San Diego would almost certainly be looking to acquire a starter (or two) with additional team control in return.