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I can’t blame the Padres for not retaining popular left fielder Jurickson Profar — not even if Profar were to help the Braves win this year’s World Series.
Atlanta simply had more to offer the 31-year-old free Profar, who was coming off a career-best 2024 season.
The three-year, $42-million contract reached this week between big-market Atlanta and Profar had to be persuasive, but the Braves had other advantages, too.
Oddmakers rank the Braves fourth among current candidates to win the next World Series, thanks to the expected return of four stars — Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, Chris Sale and Spencer Strider — who sat out the Padres’ wild-card-series victory over Atlanta last October. On the same betting lines, the Padres stand seventh or eighth — good, but not as good.
Also, the Braves hold special appeal to players from Curacao, the Caribbean island where Profar grew up watching their telecasts. Profar said Friday he asked fellow Curacaoan and former Braves star outfielder Andruw Jones last year to help him land a deal with Atlanta.
“I’m very excited, but no one is more excited than my 7-year-old son (Khairy),” Profar said, per MLB.com. “I told him the Braves were interested and he was like, ‘You gotta go there. You gotta go there. What are you waiting for?’”
Profar isn’t the only popular Padres regular who entered free agency in November.
Infielder Ha-Seong Kim remains on the open market
In Kim’s case, the player’s country of origin, South Korea, could increase the Padres’ incentive to retain the player.
South Korean tire manufacturer Nexen is a major sponsor of the Padres. The ballclub and Yangsan-based company announced a three-year partnership last March a few days after the Padres took part in the season-opening series in Seoul, the country’s capital. Nexen is the “exclusive tire partner” of the Padres through the 2027 season.
The Padres may have other business deals and opportunities with other companies that do business in South Korea. Padres CEO Erik Greupner said when the club signed Kim in 2021 that the infielder would improve Padres’ revenues via deals with numerous businesses that have ties to South Korea.
As a West Coast franchise, the Padres are closer to South Korea than most MLB clubs, Greupner noted then. Padres’ game telecasts air in the country, which has more than 50 million residents.
In weighing Kim’s value this offseason, the Padres will likely take into account the infielder’s revenue-producing potential.
Kim remains popular in South Korea, where he played in the country’s top baseball league for seven years and hit 30 home runs in his final season.
The Padres brought additional attention to Kim’s connections to South Korea last March via a 45-minute documentary that aired on the club’s website. Viewers heard from Kim’s parents and saw Kim address the students at his alma mater, Yatap High School. Padres play-by-play broadcaster Don Orsillo narrated the show.
Kim’s strong friendship with Padres star Manny Machado is another factor to consider. Machado is under contract through 2033. Padres decision-makers appear to value Machado’s opinion when filling out the player roster and coaching staff.
“Manny is a great human being,” Kim said last March after giving Machado a customized South Korean robe during their time in Seoul.
Kim profiles best at shortstop, although he’s an excellent second baseman. The Detroit Tigers are among the teams that may be shopping for a shortstop. The Washington Nationals have a strong relationship with Kim’s agent, Scott Boras, whom Kim hired last fall. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo will have to decide if shortstop CJ Abrams’ poor defensive season last year warrants moving the ex-Padres prospect to another position.
Two factors may have complicated Kim’s foray into free agency: The right shoulder injury he suffered Aug. 18 and the legal dispute among Padres shareholders over who should have control of the franchise.
It wasn’t until Oct. 10 that Kim had cartilage-repair surgery, pushing back his projected return to late April or May, per the Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee.
The Padres already have a shortstop under contract in Xander Bogaerts. Kim, who’ll turn 30, is a better defender than Bogaerts, who’ll be 33 in October. Bogaerts has a much better career track record as a hitter, though it’s notable that his slugging rate has declined each of the past five years.
Limiting the Padres’ flexibility is Bogaerts’ contract. He’s due $230 million through 2033, per the terms Boras negotatiated with late Padres chairman Peter Seidler and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller. And the shareholders’ dispute, for now, doesn’t seem to bode well for increasing the player payroll. Profar himself said Friday that the Padres “have some issue with the ownership and all that.”
Then there’s this: The Padres’ top prospect, Leodalie De Vries, plays shortstop.
If the Padres found a different infield spot or a new team for Bogaerts, Kim could be the shortstop until De Vries, 18, challenges him for the spot. Then again, the move to center field last year by shortstop Jackson Merrill, then the Padres’ top prospect, worked out.
Regardless of which team ultimately signs Kim, it appears the Padres have reasons to try to figure out a way to keep him. Even if that puzzle is extra-complicated.
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