The Padres are known to be on the lookout for outfield help and spoke to the Brewers about at some point, per a report from . The San Diego offseason has largely been defined by financial concerns. The clubs aggre sive spending in past offseasons, as well as the collapse of their TV deal with Diamond Sports group, left them having to cut payroll this winter. The largest chunk that they cut out of their spending was when they traded and to the Yankees for several young pitchers. Soto eventually agreed to a $31MM salary in his final arbitration year and Grisham agreed at $5.5MM. The Friars have since signed a few relievers but the payroll is well down. has them at $159MM in terms of pure payroll and $216MM in terms of the competitive balance tax, the wide disparity owing to some backloaded deals, since the CBT is calculated by a contracts average annual value. Per , the Padres had an Opening Day payroll of $249MM last year, which they are now significantly below. The club prefers to keep their CBT under the $237MM threshold, giving them about $20MM of wiggle room, which tracks with that the club has about $20-30MM left to spend this offseason. But they still have many holes to fill. The rotation could use another arm or maybe two. Theres room for a designated hitter or potent bench bat type, while the two outfield vacancies still remain. The club recently re-signed , but he would be best served to be in a bench/utility role rather than an everyday player. Given the number of spots to fill and the tight budget, the club has naturally explored cheap external options. It was last week that the club had interest of of the Red Sox. Both he and Frelick are still in their pre-arbitration Sonny Gray Jersey years, meaning they could potentially provide the Padres with many years of cheap control. However, the flip side is that the acquisition cost in terms of players heading the other way would naturally be higher. Frelick, 24 in April, made his MLB debut last year and generally performed well. His 16.6% strikeout rate was well below league average and his 12.2% walk rate a few ticks above. He only hit three home runs in his 57 games, but his .246/.341/.351 slash line still got him close to league average overall, a 92 wRC+. He also stole seven bases without being caught while getting strong grades for his glovework. He produced six Defensive Runs Saved and seven Outs Above Average in that brief showing last year, while also getting a mark of 4.5 from Ultimate Zone Rating. In addition to that promising debut, he also carries prospect pedigree with him. He was selected by the Brewers with the 15th overall pick in 2021 and was been considered a top 100 prospect while pushing towards the big leagues. Even though his power impact is considered limited, he is still expected to be a viable gap hitter who provides value via his on-base abilities, speed and defense. If the power were to develop later as he matures, that would only improve the equation. Its understandable that the Padres would be interested in such a player, as he is clearly talented and also comes with six cheap years of control. That also makes him attractive to the Brewers, however, and they are undoubtedly setting a high asking price. Its po sible they have some openne s to a deal based on their roster, as they have plenty of other outfielders on hand. Prospect could be in the picture this year after signing an $82MM extension. is still a regular in left. Frelick would be in the mix for playing time alongside players like , , and . Its po sible to subtract Frelick from there and still have a decent outfield. Frelick, Wiemer and Mitchell are all glove-first types but Chourio is expected to cover center field for years to come, so perhaps they would be better off trading someone from that group and getting a typical power bat to put into a corner. Its unclear when these talks took place or if anything got close. Despite their recent trade, the Brewers arent tanking, as they targeted MLB-ready pieces in that deal and have spent money on players like , and . If they were to consider any kind of Frelick trade, they would likely be looking for players who could help them compete in 2024. Whether the Padres have the pieces to get that done, and the willingne s to give them up, remains to be seen. Elsewhere in Padres notes, Lin adds that its unclear if would be eligible for a qualifying offer if traded between the Padres Seoul Series and the resumption of their season. Players are normally ineligible for a qualifying offer if traded midseason. The Padres have an unusual start to their schedule, with two games in Seoul against the Dodgers March 20 and 21, then a gap until they play the Giants on the league-wide Opening Day of March 28 in San Diego. Kim is an impending free agent, as his deal has a mutual option for 2025 but those provisions are almost never picked up by both sides. With the Padres looking to cut some costs, Kims name has popped up in trade rumors. The Padres could move back to second base and then use the money saved by trading Kim to find first base help. Speculatively speaking, its po sible that they may prefer to hold off on such a deal until after the Seoul Series so that Kim can play in front of the fans of his home country. But taking such a path may not allow them to market a future QO to a trading partner. Hypothetically, a team acquiring Kim might plan on making him a QO at seasons end and recouping some the value that they gave in the trade. Such a situation has never previously occurred and Lin reports that MLB and the MLBPA would have to discu s it if it came to pa s, which would seem to muddy the waters a bit on a po sible trade. Mike Matheny Jersey