The San Diego Padres ' bullpen has made a case to be the best in MLB seemingly the entire season.
Headlined by Mason Miller and his 1.12 ERA and 37 saves, the bullpen dogs are looking to continue their dominance through October. This is precisely why ESPN insider Jeff Passan believes that the Friars will hold onto two of their best left-handed hurlers come the offseason.
Yuki Matsui , the shortest pitcher in MLB at 5-foot-8, has the option to opt out of his remaining two-year, $13.5 million deal. Passan predicts that Matsui will not opt out, and with the kind of numbers the southpaw has been putting up, this would definitely be a steal for the Friars.
The 30-year-old Matsui has a 1.95 ERA across 60 innings of work, 3.1 innings shy of his career high. His usage has been pivotal this season, and according to manager Craig Stammen's recent comments on his plan for October, doesn't look to be slowing down for the postseason.
"The current staff that we have, we're going to manage it the same way that we would a lot of playoff games," he said. "You know, where we're going to be probably aggressive with taking the starter out of the game and using our bullpen that we feel is a strength of our team."
This also affects the next name from Passan's prediction in Wandy Peralta . The insider believes that Peralta will pick up his $4.45 million player option.
The 35-year-old has a 3.75 ERA this season and an ERA+ of 108 (with league average being 100). Peralta has set his own career-high in innings pitched with 72, and similar to the rest of the 'pen, will be relied upon even more for the postseason.
Then there's Adrian Morejon, who will be a free agent at the conclusion of this season. He will only be 28 years old at the start of next season, and after a below-average first-half of the campaign, has been tossing a microscopic 1.99 ERA since the All-Star Break.
Unsurprisingly, he is already eight innings into a new career-mark that his team's reliance on the bullpen helped him set.
The Padres would be wise to keep as much of their bullpen together next season, but assuming Morejon's price tag makes him less of a guarantee to return, Matsui and Peralta's decisions to opt-in would become that much more important.
Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X/Twitter for the latest news.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/padres/onsi as Padres Predicted to Retain 2 Key Pitchers Who Could Opt Out This Offseason .
