Padres Looking to Make More Offensive Additions Ahead of 2025 Season

Maren Angus-Coombs | Feb 17, 2025

Sep 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) celebrates after hitting a three-run home run with designated hitter Luis Arraez (4) during the third inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres have had to rearrange their lineup after losing left fielder Jurickson Profar this offseason to the Atlanta Braves and infielder Ha-Seong Kim to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Because of their departures, Luis Arraez will be the the full-time first baseman leaving the Padres in search of one more offensive player ahead of Opening Day.

Arraez was the team's designated hitter in 46 of 113 games last season but that number will dwindle this year. He started 61 at first base and won his third consecutive batting title.

Arraez, second baseman Jake Cronenworth, shortstop Xander Bogaerts and third baseman Manny Machado will get occasional days off to be the team's DH but there still isn't an answer for who will slide into that slot at the moment.

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“Our infielder guys — with Louie, Croney, Bogey, Manny —  they’re everyday guys,” manager Mike Shildt said. “All those guys will have an opportunity to take a DH. But I don’t view Louie and Croney being like some rotation of DH. I think they’re everyday guys that’ll be on the field. Will they get opportunities to get off their feet and DH and create other opportunities to get guys on the field? Yes. But I don’t see that being anything other than those guys are everyday guys, and we expect them to go out and play really good defense and help us win games.”

San Diego's options right now are Connor Joe, Gavin Sheets, Jason Heyward, and the most-recently signed Yuli Gurriel.

“We don’t have a set DH like we’ve maybe had in the past,” Shildt said. “Which is fine, great. We can pass it around a little bit, get guys off their feet.”

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Heyward and Joe are expected to platoon in left field while Sheets and Gurriel will have to make a good impression in camp to factor into the mix.

The leading candidate to be the DH is going to be whoever isn't starting defensively. That could be any starter on any given day.

“We’re going to have to have a couple surprises,” general manager A.J. Preller said of his left field/DH mix. “Those are good guys that we feel like have a chance to surprise a little bit. But we’re going to continue to look to see if we can add to the offense as well in the next couple weeks.”

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