How much spending room do the Padres have to get this offseason right?

The Padres have already paid for the stars. They just need to make sure they continue to pay for the support around them. We spend most winters admiring the names on the roster. We know about Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, Mason Miller. There’s plenty to sell on a billboard. Building a complete baseball team requires another round of decisions, and those decisions are usually going to cost money.

So how much room does A.J. Preller actually have? There’s a starting point. There’s also a rather large blank where ownership’s spending limit belongs.

As of October 28, San Diego’s 2027 payroll is estimated at approximately $193 million, with a separate luxury-tax estimate of about $215.4 million. Those projections include assumptions about arbitration salaries, roster costs and pending options.

We can’t subtract ordinary payroll from a luxury-tax threshold and call the difference available spending room. We also lack settled spending rules for the 2027 season. The current collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, leaving the 2027 financial framework subject to negotiations.

Anyone handing in a precise amount the Padres can spend before crossing next year’s tax line is getting ahead of themselves. The better question is what the Padres’ new owners will authorize.