Padres extend qualifying offers to Snell, Hader

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres extended qualifying offers to left-handers Blake Snell and Josh Hader ahead of Monday's deadline, ensuring they'll receive Draft-pick compensation should either of those two depart via free agency.

Essentially, the qualifying offer is a one-year deal worth the average of the sport's top-125 salaries -- a number that was set at $20.325 million this year. Both Snell and Hader have the opportunity to accept that offer and remain with the club, though both are projected to decline it.

• Qualifying offer rundown

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that Snell and Hader will be headed elsewhere. They both expressed interest in returning to the Padres at the end of the 2023 season and can do so in free agency. But San Diego would be bidding against 29 other teams for their services.

If Snell and/or Hader ultimately signs elsewhere, the Padres would receive compensation because they extended a qualifying offer on Monday. But with the team's payroll having exceeded the collective bargaining tax, that compensation has been relegated to a Draft pick after the fourth round.

Snell, the favorite for the NL Cy Young Award, hits free agency at age 30 coming off a season in which he led the Majors with a 2.25 ERA. He's perhaps the top starting-pitching option available on the free-agent market.

"The three years he’s been here, he’s performed at a super high level," Padres general manager A.J. Preller said last month. "He’s earned the right to be a free agent. We’ll sit down. There’s high interest from the organization in terms of having a pitcher like Blake in our rotation."

Hader, meanwhile, remains one of the game's most dominant closers at 29. He posted a miniscule 1.28 ERA in 2023 and was an All-Star for a fifth straight season (not counting the shortened '20 campaign, which didn't feature an All-Star Game).

"You need those kinds of guys in the back end of your bullpen," Preller added. "We’ll have conversations with Josh and his agents as well, figure out where things stand."

Indeed, Snell and Hader, represent perhaps the Padres' two biggest needs entering the offseason. Most of their core offensively will return, but the team remains in dire need of starting pitching and could use back-end bullpen help.

It's been a while since the Padres have extended a qualifying offer to any player. The last time they did so came in the offseason after the 2015 season, when Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy received them. Both Upton and Kennedy signed elsewhere, and San Diego received two first-round Draft picks the following summer.

Since then, the Padres have largely managed to sign their biggest stars to extensions that kept them in San Diego, thus avoiding any qualifying-offer decisions. Until Snell and Hader, that is. Now the Padres are facing the possibility that they’ll lose two key pieces from a pitching staff that is already thin.