3 more San Diego Padres who won't be back after NLDS choke job

The San Diego Padres took a 2-1 series lead in the NLDS over the Los Angeles Dodgers, needing just one more win to knock out their bitter rivals. Unfortunately, not only did the Padres fail to record that final win, they failed to score a single run after their Game 3 win. In other words, they choked.

The Dodgers deserve immense credit for how they pitched, obviously, but there's no excuse for getting shut out in two consecutive games with their season on the line.

The Padres have a great foundation and will almost certainly be back in the mix next season, but the roster won't look exactly the same. A.J. Preller will have to let some players go. Christopher Kline of FanSided named three free agents who won't be back, and that's just the start. These three players also won't be back in 2025.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

3) The Padres should take what they got from David Peralta and let him go

The David Peralta experiment could not have gone much better for the Padres. The team signed him to a minor league deal in mid-May and brought him up to the majors days later. He never went back down, and was a fixture in their lineup against right-handed pitching.

Peralta had a much better year than anyone could've expected, slashing .267/.335/.414 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in 91 games. He had a 109 OPS+ - his best mark since the 2018 campaign. While that's encouraging, there's one main thing to keep in mind.

Peralta turned 37 years old in August. It wouldn't be crazy to predict that he'd have another good year in 2025, especially if he DH'd against right-handed pitching, but this is the same player that the Padres were able to sign to a minor league deal earlier this season. Letting him go after a solid stint in San Diego and pursuing a younger option with more upside makes a lot of sense.

2) The Padres can do better than Martin Perez

Similarly to Peralta, the Padres got more than they could've imagined from Martin Perez. They acquired him at the trade deadline in dire need of some rotation depth and he pitched well, posting a 3.46 ERA in 10 starts and 52 innings of work. He didn't pitch in the postseason, but certainly played a role in getting San Diego there.

While he pitched well in his two months with the Padres, how reasonable is it to expect that to continue? Perez is 33 years old, allowed the highest home run rate of his career (4.2 percent) and does not miss bats.

The Padres might bring him back as a cheap option, especially after Joe Musgrove's unfortunate injury, but they can, and should, aim higher. The Padres have plenty of high-end talent with guys like Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Yu Darvish, but they could use more reliability than what Perez, a pitcher who had an ERA well over 5.00 before the trade this season and pitched in relief late in 2023 due to struggles, can provide.

1) Jurickson Profar will get more money than the Padres should give him

Both Peralta and Perez exceeded expectations, but nobody on this team, and perhaps in the entire sport, exceeded expectations more than Jurickson Profar. The Padres brought Profar back to San Diego on a one-year deal worth $1 million and he wound up having a career year.

The 31-year-old slashed .280/.380/.459 with 24 home runs and 85 RBI. He was an All-Star for the first time, and hit third in all seven of their postseason games. To put it simply, the Padres don't make the postseason without Profar and his contributions.

While it'd be nice to bring him back, obviously, we have to be objective about something. This is Profar's best and perhaps only chance to really cash in. He'd definitely love to return to San Diego, a place where he's had the most success by far, but will the Padres be the team to give him that big payday? Should they be the team to give him that big-money deal?

Profar has been better with the Padres than with other teams, but can we expect this kind of season again? In his last full season in San Diego, the 2022 campaign, Profar had a .723 OPS and hit 15 home runs. That was arguably his best full season in the majors prior to this season.

Profar is going to get paid like the All-Star he was in 2024, or at least close to it. If the Padres are willing to spend that much on a player, they'd benefit by spending it on a player who has a better track record. If Profar will take less to remain with San Diego that'd be great, but with this being his best chance to cash in on a big-money deal, it's hard to predict that.