The San Diego Padres did not extend qualifying offers to left fielder Jurickson Profar or shortstop Ha-Seong Kim on Monday with both players set to hit free agency.
That doesn't mean they'll both be playing elsewhere next season. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports that San Diego has expressed interest in pursuing both this winter.
Profar and Kim were both important pieces to a team that reached the postseason and pushed the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink of elimination in the NLDS.
Profar, in his age 31 season, is coming off the best year of his career. An All-Star for the first time in 2024, he hit a career-high 24 home runs and slashed .280/.380/.459 — all career bests.
If his teammates' comments are any indication, Profar is well-liked in the clubhouse, giving the Padres even more reason to secure his services.
“I don’t know if I could imagine any situation without Pro now,” rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill told The Athletic last month. “That dude is one of a kind, and I wish the best for him. I want him back.”
Padres President of Baseball Operations AJ Preller added that he has had conversations with Profar, Kim and the team's other free agents, and each wanted to return in 2025.
“A lot of those guys have indicated that they really enjoyed being here,” Preller said. “I had, like — I don’t know, five or six different conversations where, to a person, they were saying, ‘Hey, this is the best team I’ve played on.’ … Where does that leave us? What does that mean? Hopefully, players talk and they’re interested in coming back and being a part of it. We’ll tackle all that here in the next couple weeks and months.”
The Padres value Ha-Seong Kim's versatility
Kim is hitting free agency at an inconvenient time with the shortstop missing the last six weeks of the season with a shoulder injury. Though his offensive numbers in 2024 weren't quite on par with the rest of his MLB career, Preller found no shortage of reasons the team would want to keep him around.
“Ha-Seong’s a very talented player. I think we felt that at the end of the year. Not having him here definitely was a blow,” Preller said. “He plays the game with a ton of energy. He’s an intelligent baseball player. He defends the field really well. He can play all different spots, he can take a walk, he can hit a home run, he can steal a base. That’s the way we evaluate him, and that’s a really talented and valuable player. … We’d love to bring him back. I think we’ve just got to kind of get into it and see where that leaves us.”
Kim hit only .233 in 2024, compiling 2.6 bWAR and a 96 OPS+. He showed far more potential last year, however, when he hit .260 with 17 home runs and won a Gold Glove.
He declined his part of a mutual option when the season ended, opting to pay a $2 million buyout instead.
Follow Us
Subscribe
