As of today, there are 15 days until San Diego Padres pitchers and catchers report to Peoria, Ariz. for their physicals prior to the start of Spring Training. This Saturday is Padres Fanfest and here is hoping that there will be some real news to discuss for the next offseason notes.<\/p>\n
As of today, the last significant action for the Padres occurred in December with the signing of Sung-Mun Song and the re-signing of Michael King. Since then, Song has been injured and the Padres have signed a lot of minor league free agents.<\/p>\n
As of Jan. 22, the Padres have signed 29 international players to contracts. Most are for less than $10,000 and don\u2019t count against their bonus pool. At last count, according to MadFriars.com<\/a>, the organization had about $1 million or more left to sign players before the window closes Dec. 15.<\/p>\n Other than the 16- and 17-year-old international players, there have been other free agents signed to minor league contracts.<\/p>\n Minor league free agent signings<\/p>\n IF Luis Verdugo – Older brother to Padres prospect Rosman Verdugo, he was in the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 2025 and with the Chicago Cubs organization from 2018-2024.<\/p>\n IF Carson Tucker – Played in the Pioneer league in 2025 and was not in a league in 2024. Originally with the Cleveland Guardians organization.<\/p>\n IF\/OF Nick Solak – The 31-year-old has played 1B\/2B\/3B as well as outfield. He was in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 2025 and was with the Texas Rangers 2019-2022. His MLB slash line over parts of six seasons with four MLB teams – .250\/.325\/.369 in 259 games and 876 at-bats. He played in four games for the Pirates last year. Solak probably gets a spring invite.<\/p>\n IF\/OF Samad Taylor – Taylor received a Spring Training invite. Recently DFA\u2019d by the Seattle Mariners, Taylor had some MLB time with Seattle but spent most of the past two seasons in Triple-A. He is known for his on base skills and speed and is out of minor league options.<\/p>\n Preseason Prospect rankings released<\/p>\n MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and The Athletic\u2019s Keith Law have all recently released their preseason rankings of the top MLB prospects. With the Padres farm system ranked in the bottom three of baseball, it should not be a surprise that their players are not well regarded.<\/p>\n Padres catching prospect Ethan Salas has been at spring mini-camp in Peoria since it started last week. Although he hasn\u2019t played any significant time in 18 months, he is reportedly fully recovered from the stress reaction in his back that sidelined him almost all of last season.<\/p>\n Both Law and Baseball America list Salas as their only Padres prospect and he has dropped significantly in those rankings.<\/p>\n MLB Pipeline doesn\u2019t list him at all and lists LHP Kruz Schoolcraft<\/a> as the only Padres prospect on their list. He is listed at No. 88. Salas is not on the MLB Pipeline list of top 10 catchers in the minor leagues and is noted as only an interesting player to watch for the season. Although noting his Gold Glove caliber defensive skills and 20-plus home run potential, his absence from the game for so long has pushed him out of consideration.<\/p>\n Notable international player<\/p>\n