Welcome to the Gaslamp Ball offseason plan project.

This idea was introduced to us by Sox Machine and Bless You Boys. This offseason plan project is a chance for you to play general manager. We will lay out the template for the moves that have to be made this offseason, and you get the chance to decide the future of the franchise.

Tips and Instructions

Copy and paste the template into a FanPost. If you have not written a FanPost before, you will need two things: (1) an active SB Nation account registered at BYB (the “join” button is at the bottom of this post), and (2) the link to the FanPost section, which can also be found on the right side of our home page.

Cot’s Baseball Contracts has the Padres’ payroll obligations. Although there is no payroll cap, try to make things somewhat realistic

MLB Trade Rumors has a list of the 2019-20 MLB free agents. Remember that some of these players have contract options that will be exercised. So use your best judgment to determine which players will actually be available on the free agent market.

Be realistic. This doesn’t mean you have to sign two bargain bin free agents and call it a day. It just means that your post won’t be taken very seriously if you sign J.D. Martinez to a two-year, $15 million deal because he “seems like a team player.”

Have fun! This goes more for those commenting on other offseason plans. We want to use these posts as a way to jump into offseason discussion about what moves the Padres could potentially make this winter. It takes some guts to put your ideas out there on a public forum like this, so please keep that in mind when reading and commenting on something you might not agree with.

[Insert your name]’s Offseason Plan

Arbitration-eligible players

You can choose to offer the following players the contracts listed below for the 2020 season or non-tender them (i.e. not offer them a contract and allow them to leave as a free agent). The salaries listed are based on MLB Trade Rumors’ arbitration projections. Feel free to explain any of your tougher decisions.

• Robbie Erlin – $2.0MM
• Kirby Yates – $6.5MM
• Greg Garcia – $1.7MM
• Austin Hedges – $2.9MM
• Travis Jankowski – $1.2MM
• Carl Edwards Jr. – $1.6MM
• Luis Perdomo – $1.0MM
• Matt Strahm – $1.5MM
• Manuel Margot – $2.1MM
• Hunter Renfroe – $3.4MM
• Dinelson Lamet – $1.7MM

Contract options (pick up or buy out)

None

Pending free agents (re-sign or let go)

• Adam Warren: Made $2 million in 2019
• Craig Stammen: $2.25 million
• Kazuhisa Makita: $1.9 million
• Robbie Erlin: $1.45 million
• Aaron Loup: $1.2 million
• Bryan Mitchell: $910,000
• Chris Stewart: $100,000

*Makita was released earlier this season, but we’ll include him because he was on the team for most of the year.

Free agents

If you choose to sign any free agents, name the player(s), the maximum contract offer you would extend to them, and a brief explanation. Here’s an example:

Will Smith (2 year, $20 million): This year the Padres bullpen had lots of struggles. Smith proved he could be a dominant relief pitcher in NL West. He will help lower the Padres bullpen ERA.

Trades

If you choose to trade any players, propose a deal that sounds reasonable for both sides — and be sure to add in the return. Here’s an example:

Trade Hunter Renfroe to the Detroit Tigers for Michael Fulmer. Tigers have reportedly been shopping Michael Fulmer for a good amount of time now. The Padres could use a good relatively young starting pitcher. Losing Renfroe would hurt the Padres a bit, but it would be more beneficial for them to gain a good starting pitcher.

Summary

Make sure you support all your transactions with lots of detail. More detail makes people have more commentary which makes everything more interesting. We are very excited to see everyones opinion.