KING AMONG FOUR PADRES AGREEMENTS

Starter acquired in Soto deal to make $3.15M next season

Say this for A.J. Preller: He keeps his players content with their paydays.

The Padres agreed to one-year deals with pitchers Michael King, Enyel De Los Santos and Adrián Morejón and catcher Kyle Higashioka, avoiding arbitration yet again before Thursday’s deadline to exchange figures.

King’s $3.15 million agreement was the largest as he prepares to spend all of 2024 in the Padres rotation. Higashioka signed for $2.18 million, De Los Santos for $1.16 million and Morejón for $850,000.

The Padres have not gone to trial over a player’s salary since Andrew Cashner beat them in court in February 2014, months before Preller was hired.

None of Thursday’s agreements changed much in the way of the Padres’ considerations for 2024 as the team had already parted ways with players who were not in their plans as they trim payroll for the upcoming season.

Juan Soto and Trent Grisham, for example, were traded to the Yankees in the package that included King in December. On Thursday, Soto set a record for an arbitration-eligible player with a $31.5 million agreement with New York. Grisham also agreed to a $5.5 million salary for 2024.

In Cleveland, former Padres reliever Scott Barlow agreed to $6.7 million for his final year of team control. He was traded to the Guardians in November for De Los Santos, who will make more than $5.5 million less than Barlow this year and is still three years away from free agency.

Catcher Austin Nola and reliever Tim Hill were nontendered in November over the Padres having to give them raises. Nola has since signed a minor league deal with the Brewers and Hill has signed a one-year, $1.8 million deal with the White Sox.

After the Padres topped $250 million in payroll last year, the third-highest in the majors, the Union-Tribune’s current payroll projection is at about $146 million.

The only big-league contracts given out to date have been to foreign relievers in Yuki Matsui ($28 million, five years) and WooSuk Go ($4.5 million, two years).

Two-time Cy Young-winner Blake Snell and closer Josh Hader have yet to sign with new teams, although both are shopping for deals at the top of the market.