In the buildup to Spring Training, MLB.com is breaking down the Padres’ roster, position by position. Today's newsletter focuses on the bullpen.

Previously: C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | SP

AROUND THE HORN: BULLPEN
In the aftermath of the December Juan Soto trade, the Padres had three glaring deficiencies on their roster: the outfield, the rotation and the bullpen.

They still need outfielders, as I wrote last week. Their rotation is still full of question marks, as I wrote this week. But their bullpen? Well, that's actually coming together quite nicely.

That's particularly true after the news Wednesday that left-hander Wandy Peralta has agreed to a four-year contract that contains opt-outs after each season, according to sources. (As of Thursday morning, the Padres had not yet confirmed or finalized the deal; it is still pending a physical.)

With Peralta on board -- after the recent signings of Yuki Matsui and Woo-Suk Go -- San Diego's bullpen is suddenly balanced and contains a plethora of middle- and late-inning options. No 'pen is ever a finished product, given the volatile nature of the position. But the Padres should at least be able to shift their focus to those other two areas of need.

Here's where things stand in the bullpen:

On the 40-man roster: Robert Suarez, Matsui, Go, Tom Cosgrove, Steven Wilson, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, Enyel De Los Santos, Jeremiah Estrada, Logan Gillaspie, Alek Jacob, Stephen Kolek, Adrian Morejon, Glenn Otto, Luis Patiño, Sean Reynolds

Departures: Josh Hader, Scott Barlow, Nick Martinez, Luis García, Tim Hill, Ray Kerr

Top 30 Prospects: Vásquez (No. 15), Kolek (No. 26), Reynolds (No. 27), Jacob (No. 28)

Who's closing?
Sure, why not, let's start at the back end. When Hader signed his five-year deal with the Astros last week, San Diego's bullpen was officially left without a closer. It still has options.

The favorite to slot into Hader's place was always Suarez. He was dominant during his rookie 2022 campaign and played a key role in the team's deep run that October. Hader's '23 season was shakier, to say the least. Suarez missed the first half with an elbow issue. When he returned, he struggled, before later receiving a 10-game sticky-stuff suspension. The 32-year-old right-hander finished the year with a 4.23 ERA in just 26 appearances.

Suarez's raw stuff is probably closer material. But the Padres needed other options. So they added Matsui and Go, arguably the best closers in their respective leagues in Japan and Korea. Matsui, in particular, is an intriguing closer candidate -- and a lefty complement to Suarez. In the three seasons since he shifted to a one-inning relief role, Matsui posted a 1.42 ERA with 214 strikeouts in 152 innings.

Asked earlier this winter where he envisioned Matsui pitching, general manager A.J. Preller said: "He’s a guy that could pitch anywhere late in the game … a guy that’s shook hands at the end of games as a closer."

Stay tuned.

Who else is in?
With the Peralta signing imminent, the Padres' bullpen picture is suddenly much clearer.

Suarez and Matsui figure to slot in at the back end. Peralta, Go, Wilson and Cosgrove are in line to set them up -- an even balance of lefties and righties. De Los Santos, acquired in November for Barlow, is also in the mix. Brito and Vásquez will compete for places in the rotation, but if they miss out, they would offer the bullpen some useful length.

If you're counting, that's nine pitchers already. On paper, the bullpen is probably full. But bullpens rarely work that way. Injuries and attrition typically hit hard, which makes the Padres' depth so critical.

Trevor Hoffman is the Padres' all-time leader in pitching appearances with 902 -- more than double the next pitcher on the list. Who is second?

A. Heath Bell
B. Rollie Fingers
C. Luke Gregerson
D. Craig Lefferts

Who are the depth options?
Pitching coach Ruben Niebla and bullpen coach Ben Fritz are back, and they've proven capable of extracting plenty of value from their high-upside arms. The Padres have a number of those to fill out their bullpen mix.

To name a few: Patiño is back in San Diego and has shown signs that his stuff might play in a relief role. Estrada gets plenty of swing-and-miss. Morejon has always tanatlized. Kolek, Reynolds and Jacob rank among the team's Top 30 Prospects, per MLB Pipeline. Gillaspie is an interesting value play.

If -- or, really, "when" -- attrition hits the Padres' bullpen, they should have the depth options to withstand it.

The verdict
This is a mostly complete unit, with one enormous question mark: the ninth inning.

Hader is perhaps the best closer in baseball. He's gone. In his place, the Padres have a couple intriguing options -- but certainly no guarantees. For a team that endured its share of grueling late-and-close losses even with Hader last season, that's a problem.

That said, the foundations appear to be strong. If Suarez and Matsui -- in some order -- can emerge as an eighth-ninth tandem, the rest of the pieces just might be there to fall into place around them.

• The Padres unveiled their player development and Minor League staffs on Tuesday. The most interesting tidbit in that announcement was that Craig Stammen, the longtime reliever who spent six seasons with the Padres, would serve as a special assistant.

Stammen will be joined by Allen Craig and A.J. Ellis as "special assistants to the MLB staff and baseball operations." Both Craig and Ellis have spent the past five seasons working in the Padres' front office.

All three will be with the big league club semi-regularly, in uniform for pregame and batting practice. They'll be involved in strategy, while working alongside both players and coaches. But they'll also be used as a resource on the Minor League side.

"They round out our staff," manager Mike Shildt said. "They're a tremendous complement to what we're doing as a staff. I'm really, really excited about these three guys, because they've got a wealth of experience, and they've got a lot of credibility with our players and our staff -- and it's all well earned."

• The Padres made a $25,000 donation to flood relief efforts earlier this week, following the storm that hit San Diego last week. The donation went to the San Diego Foundation's Flood Response Fund -- which is allocated to non-profits that directly help San Diegans impacted by the flooding.

• Wednesday was "truck day" at Petco Park, the unofficial start to Spring Training proceedings, with clubhouse staffers loading equipment onto the team's trucks, en route to the Peoria Sports Complex. The start of camp -- Feb. 11 for pitchers and catchers, Feb. 16 for the full squad -- will be here before you know it.

D. Lefferts made 375 appearances across two separate stints for the Padres from 1984-92.