Where a certain player bats in the order is probably not all that big a deal.
Unless it is.
Such was the case with the Padres in 2025, when Luis Arraez hit second in 130 games. That was 119 more than any other player in that spot and comprised 87% of his total starts.
For much of the season, there might not have been a much better option. For much of the season, it might have been prudent of manager Mike Shildt to stick with a player that, as Shildt frequently pointed out, had won three consecutive batting titles.
Arraez’s 181 hits led the National League in 2025, and his .292 batting average ranked fourth. But that average was the lowest of his seven-year career, as was his .327 on-base percentage. And his .297 batting average with runners on base was 68 points off his career mark entering the season.
As Arraez skidded to the worst campaign of his career, tying for the second-most games in MLB with three or more hits but also going stretches of games without a single hit, he became a drain on the offense.
There is a fair amount of certainty in the organization that sort of thing won’t happen in 2026, and not just because Arraez has signed with the Giants.
“My goal is to be flexible with it,” new manager Craig Stammen said recently when asked about lineup construction. “Some people say you should be able to turn out the same batting order every day. That limits you when you really do need to make a change.”
While not referring specifically to Arraez, Stammen volunteered a scenario.
“When you get to the playoffs, let’s say a guy is really struggling and you have to move him down or play somebody else,” Stammen said. “If I haven’t been able to do that throughout the season, it looks to the players like a panic move. I don’t want that to be portrayed.”
Whether Stammen uses more lineup combinations than the 122 Shildt deployed in 2025 or the 103 he deployed in ‘24 is not the question.
What will play out is whether Stammen is willing to move down a struggling star, how he parlays platoon advantages, how he employs rest days for his regulars and how he utilizes the designated hitter.
Remember, the legacy of what the Padres did at the 2025 trade deadline is that their abundance of moves not only filled some holes that roster had but did some of their work for the offseason. So the position players available to Stammen are largely the same ones that were available to Shildt the final two months of the season, when the Padres were generally more effective on offense than before the trade deadline.
One thing Stammen will have available to him that Shildt didn’t is a guy who has historically hit left-handers extremely well.
The Padres signed Miguel Andujar last week, and he brings a career OPS of .807 against lefties into his 10th MLB season. He hit .389 with a .986 OPS in 93 plate appearances against left-handers in 2025.
Andujar’s 171 wRC+ against lefties is the kind of production sorely needed for a lineup that collectively ranked 17th in MLB with a wRC+ of 96 against lefties last season. (The metric wRC+ purports to measure a hitter’s overall offensive value compared to the rest of the league. A value of 100 is considered average.)
Gavin Sheets, who is penciled in at first base, was far better against left-handers in ‘25 than ever before. He hit .255 with a .669 OPS against them, improvements of 87 and 211 points, respectively, over his first four seasons in the major leagues.
Sheets might have to improve his ‘25 numbers to stay at first base on more than a platoon basis, especially if the Padres can add another right-handed bat.
Andujar has played first sparingly, and the additional bat the Padres seek to add before the start of the season will likely be right-handed.
Here is a potential lineup against left-handed starters:
Fernando Tatis, rf
Ramon Laureano lf
Manny Machado, 3b
Jackson Merrill, cf
Miguel Andujar, dh
Gavin Sheets, 1b
Xander Bogaerts, ss
Jake Cronenworth, 2b
Freddy Fermin, c
The lineup against right-handed starters, which history says the Padres will face nearly 70% of the time, will likely include left-handed-hitting Sung-Mun Song.
The anticipation is that the Padres will slow-play the versatile infielder’s matriculation to MLB after nine seasons in Korea, similar to how they did with Ha-Seong Kim in 2020. That means Song’s starts will likely come primarily against right-handers. On those occasions, he could serve as designated hitter or play third, second or first base to allow a regular infielder a full day off or a DH day.
Here is a potential lineup against right-handed starters:
Fernando Tatis Jr., rf
Jackson Merrill cf
Manny Machado, 3b
Ramon Laureano lf
Gavin Sheets 1b
Xander Bogaerts ss
Jake Cronenworth 2b
Sung-Mun Song dh
Freddy Fermin, c
Any potential lineups are subject to personnel additions or subtractions and what the Padres see over the next six weeks.
“That’s what spring training is for,” Stammen said. “Try new things, try different things, see what we really like.”