Free agents: RHP Kevin Correia, INF Jerry Hairston Jr., SS Miguel Tejada, OF Matt Stairs, 2B David Eckstein, C Yorvit Torrealba, SP Jon Garland, SP Chris Young.
Eligible for arbitration: RHP Tim Stauffer, RHP Edward Mujica, OF Tony Gwynn, OF Chris Denorfia, RHP Mike Adams, RHP Heath Bell, OF Scott Hairston and OF Ryan Ludwick.
Non-tender possibilities: Scott Hairston, very small chance Gwynn is non-tendered.
Areas of need
Eligible for arbitration: RHP Tim Stauffer, RHP Edward Mujica, OF Tony Gwynn, OF Chris Denorfia, RHP Mike Adams, RHP Heath Bell, OF Scott Hairston and OF Ryan Ludwick.
Non-tender possibilities: Scott Hairston, very small chance Gwynn is non-tendered.
Areas of need
Center fielder: With Will Venable set to play in right field and Ludwick moving from right to left field, the Padres want to land an everyday center fielder this winter. Gwynn has plenty of speed and a great defender, but lacks in hitting. The Padres need a top-of-the-order hitter, a table-setter for Gonzalez and Ludwick.
Starting pitching: The Padres have good core of young pitchers in their starting rotation in Clayton Richard, Mat Latos, Tim Stauffer and rookie southpaw Cory Luebke, but they will need someone to do what Garland did for them last season -- be an innings-eater. The Padres won't likely spend what it would cost to keep Garland ($6.75 million) for a No. 3 or 4 starter.
Middle infield: Eckstein is a free agent and won't likely return. Tejada, who was very good after joining the team in July, is also a free agent. The Padres still don't know what kind of player Everth Cabrera will be and Jerry Hairston Jr., who played a lot of shortstop when Cabrera was hurt, is a free agent. Simply put, the Padres need help here, either at second base, shortstop or both. They could make a run at Tejada, but won't spend the $6 million he earned in 2010, my suggestion is that they go after Jerry Hairston Jr. instead.
2011 payroll
The Padres won 90 games with the second-lowest payroll in the Major Leagues in 2010. That payroll is expected to increase -- Hoyer even said as much publicly last month -- but likely won't be much higher than $40 million. That said, without any bad contracts on the books, the Padres can and will be active. It also means that, unlike other teams with bigger payrolls, the Padres really can't afford to miss on trades or free-agent acquisitions.
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