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Ha-Seong Kim is headed to Tampa Bay.

The beloved (now former) Padres shortstop agreed to a two-year deal with the Rays on Wednesday with an opt-out clause after the 2025 season, sources told MLB.com's Adam Berry and Mark Feinsand. The move formally brings Kim's four-year tenure in San Diego to an end.

And it might clarify the Padres' infield picture, too.

A reunion with Kim was always unlikely, given the Padres' needs elsewhere. His only real path to a return would have come had other teams had balked at the price because of Kim's right shoulder injury (which will keep him out for the first month or two of the 2025 season).

Didn't happen. The Rays saw Kim's value for what it was -- an excellent defensive player with a useful offensive skill set. The Padres, meanwhile, are probably on the verge of settling their own shortstop situation. Now that Kim's departure is official, here's what it means:

Bogaerts back at short?
A year ago, the Padres waited until the first day of Spring Training to inform Xander Bogaerts he'd be moving to second base. The switch made sense, given Kim's elite skill set as a shortstop. But the timing was odd.

The Padres, it turned out, were mulling potential trades involving Kim, as he entered his final season before free agency. They didn't see a reason to ask Bogaerts to move until they were absolutely certain they needed him to.

Now? Bogaerts seems likely to head back to his favored position. Despite the plethora of former shortstops on the roster, it was Bogaerts who took over at short down the stretch last year after Kim's injury.

He proved a significantly better defender at second base during the few months he spent there. But without any starting-quality shortstops available on the open market, Bogaerts seems destined to return to short (perhaps until top prospect Leodalis De Vries is ready to take over in 2026?). Meanwhile ...

The Padres might still need an infielder
Doesn't have to be a shortstop. (Tyler Wade is a serviceable backup and Jake Cronenworth can slide over from second in a pinch.) Doesn't have to be a regular starter. (The starting infield, actually, might be more or less set.)

But without a designated hitter and with three starting infielders at 31 or older, the Padres could stand to find an extra infield piece. Maybe Eguy Rosario steps into that role. Maybe Mike Brosseau is this year's Donovan Solano.

But the Padres need to figure it out, because their roster is a man short in the infield. And, notably, if Bogaerts is at short, a trade involving Cronenworth seems very unlikely, as he'd be the obvious starter at second base and really the only viable option. (Unless the Padres were to find a second baseman in return.)

Kim's tenure was a memorable one
I haven't seen many Padres embraced by the fan base the way Kim was -- and for good reason. His all-out style of play clearly resonated. His 2023 season, amid disappointing performances from a number of other players, was remarkable.

I¡¯ll always think of one specific moment with Kim. In the Padres¡¯ first series at full capacity after COVID in 2021, Kim came to the plate with the Padres and Reds tied. Those three thunderous claps reverberated around the stadium. It was one of the very first full-stadium ¡°Ha-Seong-Kim¡± chants -- and certainly the first memorable one. He laced a line-drive home run down the left-field line, and the ballpark went berserk. It was the start of a love affair between Kim and the city of San Diego.

¡°Obviously, San Diego's a huge part of me,¡± Kim said three years later after his 2024 season was cut short due to shoulder surgery. ¡°We made so many great memories. The team almost feels like family to me now.¡±

For so many reasons, Kim¡¯s season-ending injury was a colossal bummer. Most notably, he was denied one final run with the team that signed him out of Korea in 2021.

Whenever Kim returns -- hey, the Rays come to town the final weekend of April, so maybe it¡¯s then, if he¡¯s not on a rehab assignment -- here¡¯s guessing Kim will be greeted very warmly in San Diego.