Earlier than the Padres’ season got here to an finish with Friday’s shutout loss in Los Angeles, San Diego supplied a pair of harm updates. Ha-Seong Kim and Joe Musgrove each underwent their beforehand introduced surgical procedures this week. Dennis Lin of the Athletic tweeted that Kim had a labrum restore on his proper shoulder on Friday, whereas Musgrove’s Tommy John surgical procedure was carried out on Friday.
Kim’s standing can be one of many larger tales of the offseason. The Padres haven’t supplied a timetable for the infielder’s return. It’s not clear how a lot of subsequent season, if any, he’ll be sidelined. The surgical procedure comes at a brutal time for Kim, who is about to say no his finish of an $8M mutual choice and attain free company this winter. The defensive stalwart had an settlement for a deal of 4 or 5 years at $15M-plus yearly if he had been wholesome.
His market worth is way more tough to pin down now. Kim seemed like a lock to obtain and decline a qualifying provide halfway by way of the summer time. Except the Padres count on him to be absolutely recovered early within the 2025 season, they most likely received’t make the QO. The surgical procedure raises the opportunity of Kim taking a shorter-term contract. That could possibly be a straight one-year deal or, extra doubtless, a two-year pact that permits him to decide out after the primary season.
San Diego might want to weigh a qualifying provide determination on each Kim and Jurickson Profar. If the Padres let Kim stroll, they’ll determine whether or not to go outdoors the group for a shortstop or transfer considered one of their present gamers again to the place. The Padres used Xander Bogaerts at shortstop down the stretch. They might maintain Bogaerts there with Jake Cronenworth and Luis Arraez on the suitable facet of the infield. San Diego additionally has the choice of giving Jackson Merrill a have a look at shortstop, however the 21-year-old had such a implausible season in middle discipline that the Padres might not wish to change his position once more. Bringing Merrill again into the infield would open a second hole to plug within the outfield alongside Profar’s potential departure.
Musgrove is underneath contract for $20M within the third season of his five-year extension. The timing of the surgical procedure means he’s very prone to miss the complete 2025 season. Musgrove isn’t keen to already shut the guide on the yr, nonetheless. The righty advised reporters he’s sustaining some hope that he may contribute if the Friars make a playoff push.
“Some guys regenerate tissues sooner than others,” he mentioned earlier this week (by way of Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune). “I’m all the time going to depart room for the miracle of coming again in a loopy period of time. However listening to the tales and studying up and doing my homework and speaking with our trainers who’ve rehabbed tons of those, there’s a number of significance in giving it the time on the entrance finish that it wants.”
The 31-year-old (32 in December) would wish an atypically fast restoration to pitch subsequent season. The usual Tommy John rehab takes round 14 to 16 months. If Musgrove had been to make a shocking return, it’d most likely in brief aid. The Padres will go into subsequent season with Michael King, Dylan Stop and Yu Darvish as wholesome starters. Martín Perez can be a free agent whereas Matt Waldron and Randy Vasquez profile higher in depth roles. Musgrove’s harm may lead the Padres to accumulate a number of beginning pitchers this winter.
