Signing This Utility Infielder Was A Disastrous Move

The San Diego Padres didn’t make many moves last offseason, but the one semi-major one they did make was a disaster. The Padres gambled that Sung-Mun Song would come over from Korea and adapt well to US baseball, but instead the opposite happened. 

The Padres are now stuck with a utility infielder who can’t hit that they couldn’t trust to make even basic plays, and the deal they gave Song was for four years and $17 million. That’s about $3 million a year more than the going rate for a utility infielder with that particular skill set, and it’s going to be fascinating to see what happens with Song going forward. 

This signing went bad right out of the gate. Song sustained an oblique injury while working out overseas, which immediately put his playing status in jeopardy. He got behind in spring training, and he never seemed to catch up as Song aggravated the injury early and had to spend time on the IL. He wound up with a slash line of .191/.281/.244, which speaks for itself. 

More important, Song never seemed to earn the trust of new manager Craig Stammen. He was a shortstop in Korea, and Songw was supposed to be able to add versatility. But he struggled at third when he was subbed in for Manny Machado, and he had also had issues at second that forced Stammen to try out Fernando Tatis Jr. in the infield, with the experiment working out surprisingly well. 

Song also struggled with key errors and baserunning gaffes, and by midseason it was obvious that Stammen was reluctant to give him a chance to turn things around. Song wound up doing two stints at Triple-A El Paso, and his numbers weren’t great in the hitter-friendly PCL, either. 

The infielder will also be coming into his age-30 season, which torpedoes the other plan that had him adding both youth and athleticism to the roster. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the Padres punt on Song once the lockout gets resolved and teams are able to make moves, although they might have to eat some money as part of any deal if they decide they want to move Song. 

Doing that would leave the Padres with the same problem they had this season, which is a lack of range across the infield. Machado and shortstop Xander Bogaerts are still good players, but they’re both over 30, so this isn’t going to get better any time soon. As for Song, he may need a fresh start elsewhere after his rough go-round this year in San Diego.