Padres New Year's Resolutions: let's start with the obvious (sign Sasaki)

The end of every calendar year is met with reflection and projection. We look back on what happened in the previous 365 days and make plans to improve over the next 365, a process commonly referred to as making New Year's Resolutions.

2024 was a fabulous year for the San Diego Padres. They won 93 games, pushed the eventual champion Dodgers to the brink of playoff elimination, and found new stars to root for. But the biggest win was what happened at Petco Park.

This town was invigorated by a team that played baseball the way it should be played: with a passion. Our jewel of a downtown ballpark was packed every single night, setting a multitude of attendance records because the city connected with the product and the players on the field. It was exciting. It was fun. It was unique. It was rebellious.

Simply put ... it WAS San Diego.

As December's final days tick away we can look ahead to 2025 and dream on how to not just run it back, but make it even better. They can do that by sticking to a few New Year's Resolutions that just might have them running down the big, bad boys in blue and holding our own World Series parade. The first one should be quite obvious.

Successfully Recruit Roki Sasaki

We have written ad nauseum about how important it is for the Friars to land the Japanese phenom. As of this writing they had not had a formal in-person meeting with the 23-year-old free agent but that is not seen as anything to worry about. The Dodgers, long considered the other favorite to land Sasaki, just met with him over the weekend after several other teams had their shots.

Sasaki is an affordable, young, obscenely talented pitcher who can help the Padres bridge the talent gap with Los Angeles while not compromising the financial structure and giving the club the ability to add other free agents. If he lands in San Diego, the Dodgers will have a real fight on their hands. If he goes to L.A. then go ahead and give that team the next four World Series titles because their pitching staff will basically be The Avengers.

Give Jurickson Profar a Long-Term Contract

Pop this into the "DUH" file. Profar's free agency has been remarkably unremarkable because there's been basically no buzz at all about a 31-year-old switch-hitting All-Star who finished 5th in OPS among all qualified outfielders.

There could be several reasons for that but the one I'm hoping for is that the industry knows the Padres and Profar were made for each other. Think of it like a Hallmark movie: everyone knows the two main characters need to end up together, it just takes them 80 minutes to figure that out.

Profar's best years have come in San Diego. San Diego's best seasons have come with Profar in the clubhouse. Most reports say he's looking for a three year deal. The Padres might have to move a few pieces around to fit a contract like that in but they can make it happen, and both sides would be foolish to not reunite at least semi-permanently.

Hand the Reins to Jackson Merrill

Of all the things that led to the Padres on-field success, the most important might have been the arrival of San Diego's new superstar.

Merrill is not just a supremely talented ballplayer. His love of the game is unmatched. As he told me during the National League Division Series, he believes he was put on this earth to play baseball.

Merrill has the perfect baseball mentality. If things don't go well, shake it off because the game is hard and a hot streak is just around the corner. If things go really well, celebrate it because the game is hard and success is not easy to come by. He never lets the moment or the grind get him down and you could see that approach permeating the Padres clubhouse as the year unfolded.

It's a lot to ask a 21-year-old in his second season to be the emotional leader of a team, especially one with veterans like Manny Machado (a future Hall of Famer), Fernando Tatis Jr., and Xander Bogaerts (a two-time World Series champion) on the roster. But what's great about Merrill is, you don't have to ask him to do that. He takes up that responsibility natuarlly.

Everyone in the brown and gold benefitted in some way from the energy and positivity Merrill brought day in and day out. This year he needs to be the driving force of one of the game's most dangerous clubs.

Keep Swinging and Not Missing

San Diego had one of the game's most potent offenses in 2024, despite not having a single player hit at least 30 home runs. Their biggest asset was not pure slug. It was an incredible ability to annoy opposing pitchers.

The Padres had the fewest strikeouts and the most hits in Major League Baseball. They made contact better than anyone in the game, starting with leadoff man Luis Arraez, the modern-day version of Tony Gwynn who strikes out about as often as most people change their sheets.

As a former hitting coach put it to me once, "There aren't any bad hops when you're walking back to the dugout." More balls put in play means more pressure put on defenses which leads to more baserunners which leads to more runs. Improving on that offensive philosophy in 2025 would make this team even better.

Of course, if Machado and Tatis Jr. also want to add 40 or so homers, that would be perfectly acceptable.