Kim, Peralta contract decisions kick off Padres' roster planning

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The Padres' offseason began in earnest on Saturday, with the first two transactions. Both were related to player options.

? Ha-Seong Kim declined his part of a mutual option with the Padres. He will be owed a $2 million buyout and is slated to become a free agent.

? Wandy Peralta exercised his player option, which will pay him $4.25 million for the 2025 season and contains two further player options for ’26 and ’27.

Neither move comes as a surprise. But now that the Padres have clarity on both, they can begin roster planning for 2025. Here’s a quick look at the repercussions of each decision.

What do the Padres do at shortstop?
Kim opting out was, by far, the more consequential of those two moves. The Padres now have a vacancy at shortstop and three options to fill it:

1. They can negotiate with Kim in free agency and attempt to bring him back.

2. They can find a like-for-like replacement at shortstop -- though that would likely require a trade, considering the lack of shortstop options on the free-agent market.

3. Xander Bogaerts could return to shortstop, where he played down the stretch after Kim sustained a season-ending labrum tear in his right shoulder.

Option 1 seems unlikely, but don’t rule it out entirely. Here’s what general manager A.J. Preller had to say at his end-of-season media availability:

“Ha-Seong’s a very talented player. We felt that at the end of the year, not having him here, it definitely was a blow. He plays the game with a ton of energy. He’s an intelligent baseball player. He defends the field really well. He can play all different spots. He can take a walk, he can hit a home run, he can steal a base.

“That’s the way we evaluate him. That’s a really talented and valuable player. Again, from our standpoint, we’d love to bring him back.”

As for Option 3, Bogaerts has consistently expressed a preference to play one set position -- meaning he presumably wouldn’t move between second and short. That means the Padres would use Jake Cronenworth as their full-time second baseman, and they’d add a utility option capable of backing up Bogaerts at short.

A year ago, the Padres didn’t ask Bogaerts to transition from shortstop to second base until the first day of Spring Training. That’s because they weren’t entirely sure what their infield would look like. (Kim was involved in trade scenarios.) Preller indicated he’d try to avoid leaving it so late this offseason.

“I would think,” Preller said, “we’ll be able to have an earlier idea of how things are going to unfold.”

What does Peralta’s return mean for the Padres’ bullpen?
Even with the departure of Tanner Scott, the Padres figure to have one of the best bullpens in baseball next season. In the highest-leverage roles, they’re likely to deploy Robert Suarez, Jason Adam, Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon.

“It’s a bullpen that was really deep with a full year of [Trade Deadline acquisition] Jason Adam,” Preller said. “That’s a good place to start.”

Among that group, however, only Morejon is a left-hander. Peralta won’t be expected to cover high-leverage innings. Considering that fact, his contract situation isn’t ideal moving forward. He has a player option after each of the next two seasons and is coming off a 2024 campaign in which he missed time due to injury.

Nonetheless, Peralta can still contribute. If Morejon is the highest-leverage lefty, Peralta and Yuki Matsui can help with that role in the middle innings. Peralta has posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the past five seasons.

That said, Peralta is 33 and coming off an injury-riddled season (and his 5.46 FIP indicates his season was probably worse than his 3.99 ERA indicates). Matsui hasn’t proven himself completely reliable. The next lefty option is Tom Cosgrove -- who flashed upside in 2023 but struggled in ’24.

The equation seems simple enough: The Padres could still use another lefty reliever.