What Will the Future Look Like for the Padres and Matt Carpenter?

An awkward situation continues for the Padres and Matt Carpenter.

Shortly after the 2023 World Series winner is crowned early in November, the offseason can begin in earnest for the Padres. As you certainly know by now, it's shaping up to be a winter of change and tough decisions for the Friars.

Will they try to re-sign top free agents like Blake Snell or Josh Hader? Can they reach a contract extension with Juan Soto or will they trade him in a blockbuster move? Those are some of the bigger questions on the plate for A.J. Preller. Among some of the smaller questions for Preller and the front office is what exactly will the club do with veteran infielder Matt Carpenter.

Signed last offseason to a one-year deal with a player option for 2024, it quickly became a big swing and a miss for San Diego. Carpenter was terrible in 2023, hitting just .176 with a .641 OPS in 76 games. For most of the second half of the season he disappeared from the lineup playing in just 17 games over the last three months of the season while being on the active roster the entire time.

As Dennis Lin noted in a column with The Athletic, Carpenter is likely to exercise his $5.5 million player option for next season and put the ball in Preller's court when it comes to what the club will do from there.

If the Padres are taking themselves seriously in 2024, they wouldn't waste a roster spot on Carpenter and instead just cut their losses and eat the $5.5 million. For a team that played so poorly for months and couldn't really figure out why, it's still somewhat shocking that they were playing essentially a man down every day for the final few months of the season.

We'll see what Preller and Padres owner Peter Seidler's plan is for the offseason, but this one should be dealt with before the club gets to Peoria in February.