Key Members of Padres Pitching Staff Rank Among Top 2023 Free Agents

Big winter coming up for these two Padre arms

The San Diego Padres have one goal in mind this season: to capture their first World Series title in franchise history. A title in San Diego would undoubtedly send the city into a frenzy. If that does happen, after the fun is over, there would be some serious talks about their impending free agents. 

The Padres took care of what would have been their biggest impending free agent this past offseason when they extended Manny Machado. There was word that Machado would have opted out of his 10-year contract he signed in 2019 this upcoming offseason. However, the Padres took care of their superstar, but the job won't end there for the front office. Two key Padres will still become free agents, and they'll need to decide what they'll do with them. Those two future free agents are closer Josh Hader and their lefty ace Blake Snell. 

The 2023-2024 free agent class is filled with talent, and these two Padres landed in the top 10 in MLB trade rumors free agent power rankings. 

Josh ranked at number nine; here's a little of what writer Tim Dierkes had to say. 

9.

Josh Hader

, RP – Padres

Hader can still be one of baseball’s most dominant relievers, hugely valuable for teams with postseason expectations.

Edwin Diaz

’s record five-year, $102MM deal could be in play for Hader with a big year, or perhaps he could land in the $80-90MM range occupied by

Kenley Jansen

and

Aroldis Chapman

in the 2016-17 offseason.

Among active closers, Hader ranks at number nine with 136 saves in his seven-year career. Overall, the four-time All-Star has an ERA of 2.96 and 573 strikeouts and counting for the lefty. He avoided arbitration this winter and signed a one-year deal worth $14 million, but he will/could be looking at some big money after this season. 

Rounding out Dierkes list is another one of the Padres lefty, Blake Snell. Here's what the MLB expert had to say. 

10.

Blake Snell

, SP – Padres

Perhaps Snell’s Cy Young season created unreasonable expectations, but he remains a very good pitcher with ample postseason experience. With a typical season, he should be able to top Taijuan Walker’s four-year, $72MM deal.

So far, Snell is not even playing up to his projected Walker contract Dierkes projected. The 31-year-old is off to another slow start in 2023, but luckily for him, there are a ton of starts left for him. 

The 2018 Cy Young winner is still one of the best left-handed pitchers in the game and has been fantastic for the Friars in his tenure. Snell has a 58-47 record with a 3.47 ERA and 1,005 Ks in 825.2 innings pitched. 

If he can pick it up, he will be able to receive more than that projected contract above.