From Michael King’s stabilizing presence to high-profile free agent busts, analyze how A.J. Preller’s high-stakes roster overhaul fueled San Diego’s resilient push toward the 2026 postseason.
There is about a month and a half remaining in the 2026 campaign, and as of Monday morning, the San Diego Padres find themselves in a position to play postseason baseball come October. Now that the Padres have crawled back into a Wild Card spot, I want to go back to before the season started and look back at how their offseason impacted the 2026 season.
Though the offseason was shaped by uncertainty surrounding ownership as they looked to sell the club, general manager A.J. Preller still had a job to do. It seemed like an uphill battle, however, as he watched key players from 2025 depart in free agency.
Starter Dylan Cease signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for $210 million, a contract San Diego had no shot of matching, while reliever Robert Suarez signed with the Atlanta Braves for $45 million over three years. Infielders Ryan O’Hearn and Luis Arraez were also everyday players who were lost by the Padres in the offseason, meaning Preller and the front office had their work cut out for them in filling these holes for 2026.
The biggest signing of the offseason for the Padres was bringing back starter Michael King for $75 million over three years – a crucial deal to help manage the loss of Cease. It’s paid off big time for San Diego, as King has already tossed the second-most innings of his career to the tune of a 3.41 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. His 1.9 fWAR has him as the sixth-most valuable Padre of 2026.
Preller also went out and signed multiple back-end rotation guys such as Griffin Canning, Walker Buehler, and German Marquez. While Buehler has been a serviceable end-of-rotation arm as Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta have been hampered by injuries, Canning and Marquez weren’t as positive of deals.
Marquez struggled mightily in San Diego, posting a 5.26 ERA in 53 innings before being leased just over a week ago. Canning’s 6.50 ERA is even poorer, yet he remains in San Diego as a bullpen arm.
The signing of former All-Star Nick Castellanos was seen as an underrated move by the Padres, but he failed to get his feet under him in his new uniform. Slashing .191/.221/.339 in 115 at-bats led to the power bat’s release in early June. Another miss from the Padres’ front office here.
Other position players signed included the Korean talent Sung-Mun Song and veteran Miguel Andujar. Song is still getting his bearings in the MLB, but he has been a versatile depth piece for San Diego this season. Andujar graded out just a hair above an average hitter before fracturing his hand back in July. He has yet to return for the Friars.
The real game-changer of the offseason was Preller inking first baseman Ty France to a $1.3 million deal. While it was overlooked at the time, France has contributed more fWAR than any other Padres’ acquisition.
Back in the early 2020’s, France was one of the best first basemen in the league, even earning an All-Star spot in 2022. Though his production trended downwards in the following years, Preller took a chance on him this offseason after trading him to the Seattle Mariners back in 2019.
In 98 games this season, France has slashed .296/353/.524 with a career-high 142 OPS+. While filling the hole in the lineup left by O’Hearn and Arraez’s departure, France has also been a plus defender at first for the Padres, recording 5 Outs Above Average this season.
His 2.5 fWAR trails only Mason Miller, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jackson Merrill on the Padres’ roster. He may not be making nearly as much money as those stars, but France’s impact on the Padres’ surge back to a postseason spot cannot be understated.
While San Diego lost some key players due to a tighter-than-normal budget in the offseason, Preller and the Padres made do with what they could. Re-signing King was huge, and taking a chance on several MLB veterans was bound to pay off at some point. Though some of those deals didn’t work out, the acquisition of France is more than enough.
Now, San Diego controls their own destiny, with a one-game lead against the Arizona Diamondbacks for that final Wild Card position. We’ll see how Preller’s offseason moves continue to shape this final month and a half.
