To add the No. 74 draft pick and increase their bonus pool by a little more than 8 percent ($812,200), the Padres will pay roughly $7.5 million of pitcher Phil Hughes’ salary through the 2019 season.

The Padres’ opening-day payroll — entrenched firmly in the bottom third of the major leagues even with first baseman Eric Hosmer’s arrival on the richest contract in franchise history — affords the club the flexibility to take on that money, a move that also pushes the Padres further all-in on acquiring talent through the three-day draft, which starts today.

“It could be the difference between signing a guy and not signing a guy,” said Dan O’Dowd, a former Rockies general manager and an analyst on MLB Network. “You’re putting yourself in a position to have a chance to be that much more successful. It’s the one area they have a chance to add impact. They are not going to do it in free agency again; Hosmer might be their only buy.

“This is an organization that has to consistently build through the draft and through development.”


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MLB DRAFT

The Padres own four of the top-84 picks, giving them three first-day selections: No. 7, No. 38. Their $10.46 million bonus pool is the seventh-largest. The suggested slot value for their No. 7 overall pick is $5.23 million

Day 1: Round 1-Round 2 Comp (4 p.m., MLB Network / MLB.com)

Round 1-Round 2 Comp (4 p.m., MLB Network / MLB.com) Day 2: Rounds 3-10 (10 a.m., MLB.com)

Rounds 3-10 (10 a.m., MLB.com) Day 3: Rounds 11-40 (9 a.m., MLB.com)

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The Padres’ efforts in those departments have a great deal to do with their farm system ranking among the top three in the game. More than a third of the organization’s top 30 arrived in drafts run by current GM A.J. Preller, and the Padres are poised to do damage again with a third straight pick inside the top eight and four of the top-84 picks.


Th suggested slot values of those picks make up more than $8.6 million of the Padres’ $10.46 million bonus pool, seventh-largest this year. In particular, the addition of Pick No. 74 — only competitive-balance picks can be traded — replaces the $1.45 million lost when the Padres forfeited their second-round pick (No. 49) to sign 28-year-old Hosmer away from the Royals.

“I think it’s like one of the alarms on my phone,” Preller said. “Every week, call the teams with those picks. Over the course of the last three years, you’re trying to add picks. That’s a year-in, year-out thing. You look at some of the better drafts historically, and it’s usually the teams that have multiple picks.”

The top of the draft has been especially fruitful for the Padres in the last two years (the Padres forfeited their first-rounder in 2015 to sign pitcher James Shields). Last year, they signed high school pitcher MacKenzie Gore — the No. 3 overall pick and the 18th-ranked prospect in baseball by MLB.com — via a franchise-record $6.7 million bonus. The front office was significantly more creative in 2016 six picks inside the top-85 and nearly $13 million in pool money to play with:

No. 8: RHP Cal Quantrill (Stanford) for $3.96 million ($330K over slot)

RHP Cal Quantrill (Stanford) for $3.96 million ($330K over slot) No. 24: SS Hudson Potts (high school) for $1 million ($1.19M under slot)

SS Hudson Potts (high school) for $1 million ($1.19M under slot) No. 25: LHP Eric Lauer (Kent State) for $2 million ($159K under slot)

LHP Eric Lauer (Kent State) for $2 million ($159K under slot) No. 48: CF Buddy Reed (Florida) for $1.08 million ($243 K under slot)

CF Buddy Reed (Florida) for $1.08 million ($243 K under slot) No. 71: RHP Reggie Lawson (high school) for $1.9 million ($994K over slot)

RHP Reggie Lawson (high school) for $1.9 million ($994K over slot) No. 85: RHP Mason Thompson (high school) for $1.75 million ($1.02M over slot)

RHP Mason Thompson (high school) for $1.75 million ($1.02M over slot) No. 114: LHP Joey Lucchesi (Southeast Missouri State) for $100,000 ($421K under slot)

Whether a college hitter (like Wichita State’s Alex Bohm) drops to the Padres at No. 7 or they have their choice of high school arms (Matthew Liberatore is the consensus No. 1 lefty), the additional pick this year could see the Padres writing a similar draft plan this year.


“You have more flexibility in terms of being able to add additional talent,” Preller said. “It gives you more room to be a little more creative, too, because there may be one player you weren’t expecting to fall or maybe a player that you reach up (to take) because we value them a little differently than the industry does. It might be a multiple group of players like we’ve done in the past.

“The game now is making your money work for you.”

Which, in this case, cost the Padres an extra $7.25 million (Hughes’ salary) toward next year’s payroll.

Considering the Padres’ place in the world — rebuilding in a small market — it’s money well spent, O’Dowd says.


“That guy, whoever they decide to take and the money they got to work with,” O’Dowd said, “has a chance, from a WAR standpoint, to well exceed the dollars that he took back with Hughes.

“… I thought it was a really smart move.”

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jeff.sanders@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutSanders