A Player the Padres Need to Sign

With the 2021 season ending, the free agent market has begun! Players are starting to opt-out of deals, or taking their qualifying offers. Today, November 4th, Avisail Garcia declined his mutual option, which made him a free agent. Garcia is coming off a career year, and is looking for a multi-year deal.

Why the Padres Should Sign Garcia

The Padres had one of the worst, and lowest slugging between their 3 outfielders: Trent Grisham, Wil Myers, and Tommy Pham. Tommy Pham is a free agent, and is willing to resign with the Padres, but will the Padres resign him? We don't know yet. On the other hand, Wil Myers is on his last year of his 6 year deal with the Padres. Myers is owed around 20 million dollars in 2022 from the Padres. The Padres are low on money, so they would need an outfielder who won't cost as much as an outfielder like Castellanos, which is why Garcia is the perfect fit. As of now, Garcia would be replacing Tommy Pham in left field. Garcia stepped up his both, offensive and defensive game. In 135 games, Garcia had 515 plate appearances with a 2.9 war, a .262 batting average, 29 homeruns, 86 rbis, 330 OBP, a 490 Slugging, and a 820 ops, with a 117 ops+. Avisail Garcia had more than half of the homeruns then the Padres opening day outfielders combined with 29, while the 3 combined had 47 homeruns. Garcia also has great speed for his position and height and weight, coming in at the 88 percentile in sprint speed according to Baseball Savant. Avisail has a great arm in the outfield as well, just like Wil Myers. The San Diego Padres could very much use an outfielder like Garcia due to his power and his good arm in the field.

How Much Will he Cost?

Garcia is turning 31 in the 2022 MLB season, and since he wants a multi-year deal, we would sign him for multiple years. Garcia should be worth around 10-15 million dollars a year, so here is what the deal should be structured like: 2 years for 26.8 million dollars, with a team option for a third year in which if the Padres would accept, he would get around 15 million dollars. This deal would be great for the Padres because they will get their outfielder they need on a cheaper side contract and due to his previous years where he struggled, the Padres would be able to go away from his contract after the 2nd year. This deal is also fair for Garcia because he will get a multi-year deal guarantee, with a possible third year. He is also getting the deserved price range his stats put up. Overall this deal would be fair for both sides, and the Padres should deeply discuss about signing Garcia to be apart of the 2022 San Diego Padres.