The Padres’ seven arbitration-eligible players are in line to make $24.4 million in 2026, according to MLBTradeRumors.com.

That group is led by reliever Jason Adam projected to make $6.8 million in his last year before reaching free agency. Reliever Adrián Morejón will also be in his final year of team control and projected to make $3.6 million.

Gavin Sheets will begin 2026 with just over four years of service time and is projected to make $4.3 million, while pitcher JP Sears and catcher Luis Campusano will have three years of service time and are projected to make $3.5 million and $1 million, respectively.

Players eligible for arbitration have between three and six years of arbitration. Salary arbitration is also offered to players between two and three years of service time who rank in the top 22% of their class in service time and MLBTradeRumors.com projects that both reliever Mason Miller and Freddy Fermin will get that designation this offseason.

Miller is projected to make $3.4 million in his first year of arbitration and Fermin is projected to make $1.8 million.

The Padres have not actually gone to arbitration since Andrew Cashner in 2014, as A.J. Preller, president of baseball operations, often gets deals done before figures are exchanged.

This year was the closest as the Padres and Michael King were not able to agree on a deal before the Jan. 9 deadline. The two sides later agreed to a deal to avoid arbitration.

6 comments

  1. TLDR:

    Jason Adam – $6.8 million

    Gavin Sheets – $4.3 million

    Adrian Morejon – $3.6 million

    JP Sears – $3.5 million

    Mason Miller – $3.4 million

    Freddie Fermin – $1.8 million

    Luis Campusano – $1 million

    Total – $24.4 million

  3. Just a heads up, Manny gets a $8M boost in pay and Jake gets $1M boost in payroll pay next year, so that $12.4M we no longer owe Hosmer isn’t going to save us much. We legit have to hope Yu retires and we give him a cushy job as a pitching advisor so we could save that $16M he’s owed. This $24M plus the expected $166M expected to be retain puts payroll at $190M which is where we are projected to be next year.

    Only moves I think AJ has right now is to trade Yuki ($5M) for a bag of baseballs, hope King extends for around the same he’d be owed if he opted-in ($15M), let Kyle Hart walk ($5M), hope O’Hearn signs for around $10-13M a season, and then pray ownership lets us spend more than $190M in payroll. Really need that ESPN deal to come in and give the Padres more than the pennies they are making right now for TV.

  5. I’m guessing Adam signs a deal that pays him way less than $6.8 next year, with a mutual option and a big buy out.

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