Greupner: Padres payroll expanding in pursuit of World Series

SAN DIEGO -- For much of the offseason, as the Padres' payroll teetered around the collective bargaining tax, external speculation centered around which players they might trade in order to stay below that number. Instead, San Diego marked Monday’s first full-squad workout by officially announcing the signing of right-hander Nick Pivetta -- making it likely that the organization will exceed the first CBT threshold in 2025.

A day later, as CEO Erik Greupner addressed reporters on a wide array of topics, he made it clear the team is willing to do so.

"If that's what it takes to put together a competitive team that we think can accomplish the goals we have as an organization, then we would be willing to do that this year," Greupner said of exceeding the CBT. "I think that's just a further commitment and really a proof-in-the-pudding type moment for the fanbase that we mean what we say.

"We're not backing away from the plan to try to win a World Series championship. And we're doing everything we possibly can, putting every resource we can into fielding a competitive team that can compete for that championship."

Greupner laid the roster-building at the feet of general manager A.J. Preller. It remains possible, Greupner said, that the Padres would trade from their current group. But those transactions would be baseball-centric.

"Our goal is to be at or around the payroll level that we're at right now, and field a competitive and complete roster," Greupner said. "If we've learned one thing about A.J. over the years, including as recently as last year, Spring Training doesn't mean that the roster's set.

"I know he's going to continue to work to complete this roster in a way we can go out and have the most complete, competitive team possible."

After exceeding the CBT in three consecutive seasons from 2021-23, the Padres dipped back below that number in '24. As a result, they would not pay additional tax as a repeat payor in '25. But if they were to exceed that threshold again, it would still come with penalties -- namely a 20 percent tax on overages and stricter penalties for signing qualified free agents next offseason.

The Padres seem willing to pay those penalties. For the 2025 season, the first CBT threshold sits at $241 million. The Padres' projected ‘25 payroll sits below that mark, around $200 million. But their payroll for CBT purposes is a different number -- calculated with the average annual value of each contract, rather than the actual dollars going to players that season.

"We have been pursuing a long-term plan that was set several years ago," Greupner said. "We're continuing to execute against that plan, and we're exactly where we had expected to be from a payroll perspective going into this year.

"We feel like we're at a level -- likely ending up being a top-10 payroll in baseball -- that is sufficient from a resource perspective to go out and win a World Series championship."

Orsillo extended

Greupner used Tuesday’s media availability to announce a bit of welcome news for Padres fans: TV play-by-play man Don Orsillo, whose deal was scheduled to run out after the 2025 season, has agreed to a long-term contract.

“He’s really become the beloved voice of the Padres, doing play-by-play on TV,” Greupner said. “So I’m happy to announce that we recently entered into a long-term extension with Don. Our hope and expectation is that he’s going to continue to be the voice of the Padres until he’s no longer a broadcaster. We’d like to see him end his career here in San Diego.”

Orsillo is entering his 10th season with San Diego, after spending 15 years calling Red Sox games in Boston.

Saturday TV games

Greupner didn’t divulge specifics, but he noted that the club hopes to announce a package of Saturday games that will be made available over the air on TV in San Diego.

Meanwhile PADRES.TV will return for the 2025 season, allowing fans to stream regular-season games in the San Diego area without blackouts. (That offer -- available now for $99.99 -- is only for fans in the Padres’ home TV territory and a separate service from the MLB.TV out-of-market package.)