Padres notes: Sung Mun Song reportedly joins club; giving Ruben Niebla his due

A day after bolstering their rotation with a reunion with Michael King, the Padres addressed their offense by signing South Korean star Sung Mun Song to a three-year deal, according to multiple reports.

Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported that the deal will guarantee Song about $13 million.

The Padres have not yet confirmed a deal for Song, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller did not shy away from discussing the infielder after Michael King’s noon press conference.

“We’ve scouted him,” Preller said. “He’s a player that, obviously, we’ve been tracking and watching, and he’s the guy that has the last two years, especially, he’s taken his game to a different level. Won a Gold Glove over there at third base. He can throw. Has the ability to hit fastballs. He’s been on the heater, and he’s been really a super productive player. And we feel like we’ll have some versatility. So see where that goes. A few more days in that process to kind of finish that out. But he’s somebody that’s been on our radar.”

Song, 29, is a .283/.347/.431 hitter across parts of nine seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization. In 2024, the left-handed-hitting Song paired 19 homers and 21 steals with a .340/.409/.518 batting line across 142 games for Kiwoom Heroes, the team that employed former Padre Ha-Seong Kim for his final two years in Korea.

Song followed that up with 26 homers, 25 steals and a .315/.387/.530 batting line in 2025. The Heroes posted him last month; his 30-day signing window was set to close Sunday.

Song played 548 games at third base, 194 games at second base and 85 games at first base in South Korea.

How he’ll fit in with the Padres remains to be seen, though scouts have typically viewed Song as a notch below Kim, who broke with the Padres in 2023, winning a Gold Glove and hitting 17 home runs after taking more than a year to catch up with big-league fastballs, as is often a hiccup as players transition from Korea to the majors. Kim topped out at 30 home runs in his final year in South Korea.

Happy birthday

In-uniform personnel who attended Michael King’s press conference on Friday included pitchers Yu Darvish and Jason Adam, infielder Jake Cronenworth and pitching coach Ruben Niebla, who was more than happy to celebrate his 54th birthday with King’s return to the rotation.

When the Padres reupped their interest in King earlier this month, Preller had both Niebla and new manager Craig Stammen join the full-court press.

“Ruben means a lot to me,” King said as he spoke with Niebla sitting in the back row in the Petco Park auditorium. “It’s awkward saying in front of his face, but that’s just how guys are. When I first got traded two years ago, I think we had a two-hour phone call before. I talked to A.J. briefly and then Ruben talked to me for two hours (and) we broke down everything, whether that was the construction of the roster, my transition to being a starter, pitch package, everything, and I felt like the relationship started. We’ve obviously butted heads a few times. But ultimately, I know he has my best interest at heart. He has the team’s best interest at heart, and every day he shows up ready to make me a better pitcher, and I couldn’t thank him enough for that.”

Notable

• The Padres were assessed a $7 million tax for going over the luxury tax threshold in 2025, according to The Associated Press. A $270 million luxury tax payroll was the sixth highest in the major leagues, behind the Dodgers ($417 million), Mets ($347 million), Yankees ($320 million), Phillies ($314 million) and Blue Jays ($286 million).
• Clearly busy with putting the deal together for King and assembling the roster for 2026, Preller said talks regarding his own extension “are not done yet, but I want to be here.”
• Former Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie, signed to a minor league deal, will come to spring training competing for a spot in the back of the Padres rotation, Preller said.
• Former Twins infielder Jose Miranda has been signed to a minor league deal, according to a report from Just Baseball. Miranda, 27, hit 15 homers as a rookie in 2022 but was derailed by a shoulder injury in 2023. He spent most of 2025 at Triple-A.