Nick Martinez sat in the trainer's room at Petco Park in early November, undergoing a physical to complete a multi-year extension, when he first learned his San Diego Padres would be in on the big free agent shortstops. The Padres, on the heels of a spirited run to the National League Championship Series, already employed a franchise shortstop in Fernando Tatis Jr. and a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop in Ha-Seong Kim. Their payroll had already risen to previously unimaginable levels. And yet they planned to chase both Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts, while also plotting an offer for superstar outfielder Aaron Judge.

Martinez, a veteran pitcher coming off his first season in San Diego, asked himself the question that would eventually be on everybody's mind:

How are we doing this?

Fifteen of the first 20 years of this century saw the Padres finish within the bottom third in team spending, an approach consistent with their three prior decades of existence. By 2022, though, their payroll had jumped into the neighborhood of $220 million, more than double where it stood just three years earlier. Now, after another frenetic offseason that saw them land Bogaerts on a nine-figure deal, it sits at nearly $240 million, a number eclipsed by only the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.

Fourteen active major league players possess contracts valued at more than $250 million, and three of them — Tatis, Bogaerts and Manny Machado — play for the Padres. A fourth could materialize in the near future, either through a Juan Soto extension or a Shohei Ohtani signing, and at this point nobody would be surprised by either. This is suddenly who the Padres are. And the man guiding them there, chairman Peter Seidler, won't offer any apologies for it.

"Every baseball franchise, sports franchise, is unique," Seidler said at the onset of spring training. "There's a unique set of circumstances that impact the way organizations are run. And our situation is unique. We have a very sports-oriented and hungry fan base. We believe if we continue to build that trust, they will continue to come. And it's about winning and it's about being exciting, and it's about our fans, young and old, knowing that they're gonna be able to watch great, exciting players year after year after year. And when we talk about risk — there's a risk in doing nothing."

Seidler's aggressive approach has drawn skepticism around its longevity from small- to mid-market owners who have been made to look cheap by comparison, but players throughout the sport have begun to view the Padres as a model for others to follow.