The San Diego Padres‘ offseason runs like a domino chain: what they decide in the outfield determines where Fernando Tatis Jr. plays, and what they do with pitching will tell us whether the new ownership actually means it when they say «all in.» On November 11, San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kevin Acee reported from the GM Meetings in Las Vegas that the Padres are operating «at the top of the market» — with a planned meeting with Tarik Skubal and genuine interest in both Seiya Suzuki and Teruaki Sato.
The Domino: Sign Suzuki, and Tatis Moves to Second
The logic is simple even if the market isn’t. If the Padres land Seiya Suzuki for right field, Tatis Jr. becomes the full-time starting second baseman heading into 2027. If they beef up the infield instead, Tatis goes back to the outfield. The move to second isn’t completely new — it started on April 12, 2026, out of necessity when Sung-Mun Song got hurt, and by May Tatis was starting nine out of every ten games at the position. What changes now is the intent: instead of an emergency fix, it would be a deliberate roster design decision.
Suzuki, 32, hit .270 with 26 home runs and 86 RBI in 2026 with the Chicago Cubs. His projected contract sits around four years and $108 million. The other name on the board is Teruaki Sato, 27, who won the NPB Triple Crown in 2026 with the Hanshin Tigers — .306 AVG, 39 home runs, and 106 RBI — making him just the ninth player in NPB history to pull off that feat. Sato is projected at $105 million over five years, though his posting process comes with a December deadline.
Skubal: The Top Priority, With at Least Five Other Teams in the Room
San Diego’s 2027 rotation is essentially a blank page. Michael King, Nick Pivetta, Walker Buehler, Robbie Ray, and Casey Mize are all free agents. That’s why Tarik Skubal sits at the top of A.J. Preller’s list. The two-time Cy Young winner finished 2026 with a 2.72 ERA over 158⅔ innings, and the Padres already met with his agent Scott Boras on November 10, with an in-person visit scheduled for mid-week of November 16.
The problem: San Diego isn’t alone. At least five other teams have meetings lined up with Skubal, including the Dodgers and Mets — both with deeper pockets. Boras is seeking a deal worth more than $325 million, which would make Skubal the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history, surpassing Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 12-year, $325 million deal. The Padres haven’t signed the hottest free agent on the market since Manny Machado in 2019.
There’s also an external clock ticking: the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expires December 1, 2026, and a lockout is a real possibility. Any signings or trades completed after that date would be frozen — which explains the urgency everyone felt in Las Vegas.
Does the New Ownership Back Up the Talk?
José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones completed their purchase of the Padres in August 2026 and immediately declared themselves «all in» on winning. The payroll numbers provide context: San Diego closed the season with roughly $226 million committed, with a CBT figure approaching $269 million due to back-loaded contracts. Signing Skubal, Suzuki, and Sato simultaneously would be an extremely aggressive financial move — the more likely scenario is that the front office has to pick its spots, and the order of those priorities will ultimately decide where Tatis lines up on the field.
What’s not in question is Tatis’s value regardless of position. In 159 games and 704 plate appearances in 2026, he hit .289 with an .828 OPS, 25 home runs, and 38 stolen bases. Statcast places him in the 97th percentile in xwOBA and the 96th percentile in average exit velocity at 92.9 mph across all of MLB. Moving him to second doesn’t make him less dangerous with the bat — it makes him a more flexible building block.
Tatis Jr. by the Numbers — 2026 Statcast Breakdown
- 704 plate appearances
- 25 home runs, 83 RBI
- .289 AVG / .828 OPS
- .379 xwOBA — 97th percentile (elite)
- 92.9 mph average exit velocity — 96th percentile (elite)
- 12.7% barrel rate — 85th percentile
- 53.9% hard-hit rate — 98th percentile (elite)
- 76.4 mph average bat speed — 92nd percentile (elite)
- Squared-up rate: 77th percentile
- Sprint speed: 90th percentile (elite)
The numbers aren’t a matter of opinion. Wherever Tatis ends up playing in 2027, the Statcast data makes clear he belongs among the game’s best hitters — and that’s the foundation San Diego is building around.
