San Diego Padres Set To Significantly Cut Salary For Next Season, Despite Big Free Agents

The San Diego Padres are just one result away from playoff elimination, despite a top-3 payroll in Major League Baseball.

Owner Peter Seidler committed to roughly $280 million in expenditures this season, including luxury tax penalties, flying past previous spending in San Diego. For all that investment, the Padres are joining the New York Mets as expensive failures.

And after one year near the top of the payroll ranks, things are set to change quickly. Partially due to the team running afoul of MLB regulations.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Kevin Acee wrote recently that the team intends to cut salary significantly. They intend to pursue “player commitments of around $200MM,” he said, “in part because they are out of compliance with MLB regulations regarding their debt service ratio.”

That's a significant cut from the $250 million in player commitments for 2023, and almost certainly takes them out of contention to retain Cy Young contending starter Blake Snell. Or star closer Josh Hader. Both of which have been the most consistent, effective performers on a disappointing team.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 19: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres throws his bat in frustration after flying out during the fifth inning of a game against the Colorado Rockies at PETCO Park on September 19, 2023 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Will Padres 2024 Be Even Worse After Cutting Payroll?

The Padres already have substantial payroll obligations for 2024, with several essentially untradable high dollar value contracts.

That doesn't include those with player options like Nick Martinez ($8 million), Seth Lugo ($7.5 million), Matt Carpenter ($5.5 million), and Michael Wacha ($6.5 million). Nor does it include arbitration eligible players like Juan Soto, Trent Grisham, Tim Hill or Scott Barlow.

Oh, and San Diego is still paying Eric Hosmer nearly $13 million next year to play golf.

Assuming all those options are exercised and the Padres offer raises to Barlow, Grishm and Soto, they're already over $200 million. For a roster that's nowhere near complete.

And that's had tremendous clubhouse problems all season.

READ: THE PADRES CLUBHOUSE CULTURE SOUNDS LIKE AN ABSOLUTE DISASTER

So how, exactly, do they propose to fix this?

Deals Coming?

A.J. Preller is widely known for being of baseball's biggest traders. But his mandate this offseason will be to improve on a team that may finish under .500 while cutting $50 million in payroll.

The Padres may not offer arbitration to a few players to save some money and it's possible that Lugo and Wacha decline their options for more lucrative free agent deals. But their production would need to be replaced, with little to no payroll flexibility.

Which means...is Juan Soto getting traded?

There were rumors around the trade deadline that Soto could be dealt. But for the Padres to realistically get their payroll around $200 million while rounding out the roster, it might become a necessity.

Soto is set to make ~$30 million in arbitration for 2024, is a free agent after the season, and unlikely to stay in San Diego considering his likely massive contract demands.

With the necessity of lowering payroll while remaining competitive with an aging core, the Padres will be baseball's biggest wild cards in the offseason. They went all in for 2023 and saw it fail spectacularly. Now they're paying for it.