Padres notes: Roki Sasaki and other FanFest absences, trade rumor talk, positional returns

SAN DIEGO — On Saturday at Petco Park, less than three weeks after Roki Sasaki played catch in the stadium’s outfield, the star Japanese pitcher remained a regular topic of discussion.

The San Diego Padres’ annual FanFest event had returned to the building after a one-year hiatus that was prompted by inclement weather last March. Unlike in 2023, when blockbuster acquisitions fueled a raucous atmosphere, the latest version was more muted because of notable absences.

Jurickson Profar is now the Atlanta Braves’ starting left fielder. Fellow fan favorite Ha-Seong Kim agreed to a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays this week. And Sasaki, who could have changed the Padres’ fortunes amid a quiet yet turbulent offseason in San Diego, went from playing catch at Petco Park to signing a minor-league deal with the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

That decision evidently came as no surprise to Manny Machado, who hosted Sasaki for a gathering at his Coronado residence three weekends ago. The third baseman was asked Saturday if he thought San Diego’s chances of signing Sasaki had been affected by the uncertainty wrought by a legal dispute between family members of late Padres owner Peter Seidler.

Machado responded by voicing what many throughout the sport suspected well before Sasaki announced he had chosen the Dodgers.

“I don’t think so,” Machado said. “I think he had his mind set already (on) where he was going. That’s just my opinion.”

Had Machado gotten the sense that Sasaki was inevitably bound for Los Angeles during the pitcher’s three-day tour of San Diego?

“I don’t know,” Machado said. “Just a gut feeling, I guess I would say.”

Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove, another player who was present for Sasaki’s visit, also indicated a lack of astonishment.

“I mean, the guy’s been on a world tour the last couple of weeks, so he’s probably a little bit worn out and exhausted,” Musgrove said. “And towards the end of that trip, maybe you don’t get the freshest, most excited Roki. So I don’t know how to feel about that. I’m not in his head, so I’m not going to say he acted a certain way. But I could see where Manny sees that. You know, I had a little feeling (Sasaki) was either a bit worn out or kind of knew where he was going to go already and was just kind of doing the optics of going around and doing his visits.”

On Saturday, Machado, Musgrove and other key members of the Padres sought to emphasize what they still have.

Last month, after arbitration proceedings were initiated against her, Peter Seidler’s widow, Sheel Seidler, sued her brothers-in-law Matt and Bob Seidler, accusing them of breaches of fiduciary duty and stating her case to be named the franchise’s control person. The Padres have since traded for reliever Ron Marinaccio and re-signed catcher Elias Díaz, but those remain their only major-league additions in an offseason that has posed a stark contrast to the record spending of 2023.

“Obviously, Peter was very close to me, and I’m very close to the Seidler family and Sheel,” said Machado, whom Peter Seidler signed two springs ago to an 11-year, $350 million extension. “So yeah, it’s something that you don’t want to see as an organization, and hopefully things get resolved and we get back on track.

“Are we disappointed we haven’t made any moves (this offseason)? Yeah, I think, as a team, we kind of look up there and you’re a little disappointed that we let some of the guys that were a core group here kind of go elsewhere. But at the end of day, we can’t control that, right? … Our goal is still our goal, and our goal is to win a championship and win a World Series.”

The Padres were not alone in thinking that they came close to achieving that objective last fall. San Diego took the Dodgers to the brink in the National League Division Series before failing to score a run in the final 24 innings of that matchup. Over the next two series, the Dodgers cruised to a title.

But now, the Dodgers have added Sasaki and, among others, former star Padres pitchers Blake Snell and Tanner Scott. In San Diego, aside from an ownership fight, things have been far quieter.

“I kind of like it being quiet, though, because it seems like there’s too much noise sometimes,” Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill said. “And don’t get me wrong — I’d love to be signing as many players as possible, but that’s not us and that’s what we have to accept. We can’t fight it. We can’t go and bash anybody for it.

“Whatever team we have out there on that field, I’m sure we’re going to be able to dominate.”

To date this winter, the Padres’ biggest new contract is the two-year extension manager Mike Shildt signed in November.

“Clearly, it’s something that we prefer to be resolved or not overly public. It’s way out of my pay grade,” Shildt said when asked about the Seidler family’s dispute. “I’m a very big believer that the organization’s in good hands right now. I feel like we’re very stable. We’ve got consistent, clear messaging throughout the organization right now that I believe in and feel strongly about.

“Me and (Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller) work very, very well together, and we’re synced up with what’s going on with me in the clubhouse. … I can’t allow anything outside of that to create a distraction, and quite frankly, it’s not.”

Later Saturday, Shildt sat alongside Preller and Padres CEO Erik Greupner during a team leadership forum. At one point, while discussing the club’s lack of offseason activity, Preller referenced last year’s acquisitions of Dylan Cease, Luis Arraez and Donovan Solano. All of those deals happened in March or later.

“Deals come at different points in time,” Preller said. “Ultimately, we’re going to do something that makes sense. We’re going to do it at the right time. We know we have a championship-type roster. We know have some work in front of us. We’ve got to add a bat or two. We got to add an arm or two. … We’ll enter the season, we’ll always keep looking to add to the roster and the team, and the ultimate goal is to bring a championship to San Diego.”

Absent from the festivities Saturday were Matt and Bob Seidler — successor trustees of Peter Seidler’s trust — along with Sheel Seidler and John Seidler, a third Seidler brother who could be approved next week as the team’s permanent control person.

Part of the business

With the Padres still seeking to fill multiple roster holes amid another budget crunch, top starters Cease and Michael King remain both pending free agents and ongoing trade candidates. Neither pitcher is new to dealing with trade speculation; both were acquired by San Diego just last offseason.

“There were a lot of rumors last year,” Cease said. “I feel like it’s really just part of it. I really don’t take it in a negative way.”

King acknowledged he would be surprised if he were traded in the near future. The right-hander and the Padres agreed to an arbitration-avoiding deal this week that benefits both sides but also appears to highlight the team’s cash-flow issues.

“But obviously, anything can happen,” King added. “I didn’t think I was getting traded over here that offseason last year. So anything can happen. I know that the baseball world’s crazy, so you don’t want to make those plans and then the baseball gods are going to tell you something different. So wherever we are, whatever the team is, I know we’re going to have a championship-caliber team, and it’ll be a fun season.”

This and that

• As expected, Shildt announced that Xander Bogaerts, who moved to second base last spring, will open the season back at shortstop, where he temporarily returned in September after Kim suffered a shoulder injury. Jake Cronenworth, who split time between first base and second base, will return to starting at second. Arraez currently is expected to open the season as the Padres’ primary first baseman, although the team still could acquire a player to split time between first and designated hitter.

• Shildt said left-hander Adrian Morejon will remain in the bullpen instead of stretching out in an attempt to start again. Given the Padres’ need for rotation help, the latter option was discussed earlier in the offseason. “Adrian has found a really nice niche in the bullpen,” Shildt said. “It’s a spot that we think he’s going to not only do as well as he did last year but take the next step.” The Padres plan to stretch out multiple other relievers in spring training, with Bryan Hoeing and Stephen Kolek among the potential candidates.

• Machado and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. might not be in the best shape of their lives, but to hear them tell it, they might be in their best shape in years. Machado is 16 months removed from surgery on his throwing elbow, which continued to bother him at times last year. “It feels like it’s back to normal at some point,” Machado said. “It’s been a different offseason. I’m able to do a lot of things that I’ve done in the past.”

Tatis, meanwhile, said the stress reaction in his right leg that sidelined him last summer is no longer a concern. “I haven’t felt this good since the offseason of 2020 coming into 2021,” Tatis said.

• Padres right-hander Yu Darvish, a friend and mentor to Sasaki, expressed some disappointment that his countryman chose to sign elsewhere. “It ultimately comes down to what the player wants to do, so you have to live with that,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie.

As for whether he’ll help the younger pitcher transition to the majors as a member of the Padres’ chief rival, Darvish said: “He may have some adversity that he needs to overcome, some hard times that he needs to overcome, and if he does reach out to me in those moments, obviously I will give the support that I can give him. And I think it’s important not just to do that as a player but as a human being.”

(Photo of Manny Machado: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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