Padres Expecting Multiple Prospects to Make An Impact in 2024
With the way the off-season has been going for the San Diego Padres, you have to wonder if the team plans on making any major moves. They have been prioritizing shedding salaries off their payroll this winter after multiple seasons of heavy spending.
The blockbuster move saw San Diego trade star outfielder Juan Soto to the New York Yankees. No less importantly, the Padres have not retained multiple members of their 2023 starting rotation. Seth Lugo and Micahel Wacha both left to join the Kansas City Royals as free agents. Nick Martinez signed with the Cincinnati Reds.
That trio will make $45 million in base salary next season. The wisdom of the Padres' cost-saving measures can only be assessed once their 2024 roster is complete. The Padres have a solid farm system that they can pick from, but they face the burden of replacing several productive major leaguers.
Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported the team believes multiple prospects can make an impact on the team in 2024.
"The Padres believe Jackson Merrill, Jairo Iriarte, Robby Snelling, Jakob Marsee and Austin Krob are among the prospects who could contribute at some point in 2024."
The Padres still have their stars – notably Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. — locked into long-term deals. That should allow them to be competitive. But adding an infusion of young, cheap talent could help the front office comply with MLB's debt service rules.
It seems the team could be taking a page out of the playbook from an NL West rival. The Los Angeles Dodgers largely sat on the sidelines last off-season, preferring to dole out a series of one-year contracts to free agents (J.D. Martinez, Noah Syndergaard, David Peralta) that would expire when Shohei Ohtani hit the market.
The Padres do need to see what some of these prospects can do in the big leagues. Perhaps they are viewing 2024 as an opportunity to showcase their most big-league ready minor leaguers while resetting their payroll below the competitive balance tax threshold.
The two most intriguing prospects are Merrill and Marsee. Marsee could help fill the role that Soto left, while Merrill is their shortstop of the future.
Merrill hit .273 with five home runs and 31 runs batted in during his time in Double-A San Antonio last season. Marsee hit .286 with three home runs and five runs batted in over 16 games with Double-A.
Both can provide this team with a jolt at some point. Under the circumstances, don't be surprised to see one or both of them in the big leagues sooner rather than later.
