Padres re-sign Matt Strahm, tender offers to five others

The Padres tendered a contract to several players ahead of the deadline, including reliever Matt Strahm.

With all teams required to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players by 7 PM CST on Wednesday, Greg Garcia was the only member of the Padres who was non-tendered.

It became apparent that the 31-year-old infielder was expendable after the team acquired Jorge Mateo from the Oakland Athletics. Add in both Jurickson Profar and Jake Cronenworth‘s emergence, and the writing was on the wall for Garcia in San Diego.

However, the Padres tendered contracts to six players on Wednesday, including 29-year-old reliever Matt Strahm. The 29-year-old agreed on a one-year, $2.05M contract with the club and posted a 3.66 ERA through three seasons. Strahm appeared in 19 games in the 2020 shortened campaign, posting a 2.61 ERA while fanning 15 batters in 20.2 innings of work.

Aside from Strahm, San Diego tendered contracts to Tommy Pham, Dan Altavilla, Zach Davies, Dinelson Lamet, and Emilio Pagan. Pham was a non-tender candidate, as the team was rumored to be working within a $150M payroll, and the 32-year-old’s projected $8M salary in 2021 could make it difficult for the franchise to do much else this offseason.

Pham had a disappointing 2020 with the Padres, but he was also limited by a broken hamate bone in early August. The former Cardinals’ farmhand hit just .211 with three home runs and 12 RBI’s.

Additionally, the Padres have tendered contracts to each of their 5 remaining arbitration-eligible players: OF Tommy Pham, RHPs Dan Altavilla, Zach Davies, Dinelson Lamet and Emilio Pagán.

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) December 3, 2020

Altavilla was acquired as part of the Austin Nola blockbuster with Seattle. Drafted in the fifth round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Mariners, the 28-year-old made nine appearances with the Padres after the trade deadline, posting a 3.12 ERA with ten strikeouts in only 8.2 innings.

Zach Davies and Dinelson Lamet are expected to be at the top of the rotation next year, with all eyes on the latter’s recovery from injury. Both players had an outstanding season, finishing in the top ten for ERA in the MLB. Davies was acquired along with Trent Grisham from the Milwaukee Brewers last offseason, and he posted a 2.73 ERA to go along with a career-best 8.2 K/9 in 2020.

Pagan was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays for Manuel Margot and Logan Driscoll to bolster the back end of the bullpen. After Kirby Yates was lost for the season, Pagan’s role increased exponentially, but he only collected two saves while recording a career-worst 4.50 ERA in 22 appearances.

Both Pham and Pagan look like strong bounceback candidates entering the 2021 campaign.

Ryan Sikes

Padres writer/editor for East Village Times. LA Kings writer/editor for Hockey Royalty. IBWAA member.