Padres on the Prowl Towards Relevancy
Credit: Padres
With rumors that the San Diego Padres have spoken to many of the remaining top free agents on the open market, it seems that the team is poised to make some serious noise in a very competitive NL West.
For 50 years, the San Diego Padres have struggled to find any kind of consistency.
Five division titles and two NL Championships in that time is nothing to be excited about. The team has been neglected by virtually every ownership group and has changed baseball philosophies multiple times over the years. In creating a quality meal, you cannot constantly change the ingredients of the dish. Consistency is required, and that has not been the forte of the Friars. The result has been an unsavory meal each and every season for fans to digest.
Heading into the 2019 season, the Padres are coming off four consecutive losing seasons with the present baseball operations group. After the replenishing of the major league roster (Kemp, Kimbrell, Upton, Myers, Shields) prior to the 2015 season, the Padres have focused mostly on young talent at both the international market and the amateur level.
With this commitment to get better, the Padres have created the best farm system in all of baseball. Prospects are essential for a successful team, but they are no guarantee, and there still needs to be a mixture of veterans sprinkled in with the younger players to reach that ultimate goal of a championship.
There is no doubt the Padres have great young players with potential, but the word prospect means nothing in this game. Year after year, prospects fail to live up to the expectations that are put on them and are surpassed by players who play the game with more than just skill — players that are able to stand out at this very competitive level and make a name for themselves. Scouting and evaluating baseball talent is not an exact science.
So here we are at that point, at a crossroads for the San Diego Padres. As rumors of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado heat up, there is the thought process that it is time for the Padres to make a big splash — time for them to commit all their resources and move prospects for relevant major league talent. A.J. Preller and his staff are on the prowl and no team is safe.
The coming weeks could be very exciting as the Padres seem poised to spend some money and make a splash. They already have one of the most talented, highly-regarded prospect groups in all of baseball. If they carefully add payroll in the correct positions, the Padres quest for relevancy could be over. In this 50th year of the franchise, the Padres are very close to turning the corner and becoming San Diego’s team.
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.
Do you think the Padres maybe trade Myers to Arizona for Greinke. Trade to bring Devers from Boston which will give you more upside and years than Moustakas.
Here is some more crazy talk: Play the best players!
I know, cray … zeeeee!!!
Hosmer should be given 30 games or so to improve (he should have been working on his swing all off season). If he stays the same then he should sit against all lefties, and Myers (or ?) should take his place. If he still doesn’t improve, then he can become the proverbial backup veteran.
How hard is it to play the best players?
Arron I agree with you about signing Gio (no more then 2 years though). Having s lefty mentor would make sense, with all our lefties coming up. I’m sorta warming up to the Realmuto trade. However, not if it costs Any of our top 5 pitching prospects.
Harper…. Grrr I was totally against this at first, but warming up to it. Especially with his Hi OBP. Padres have a real need for both his OBP and POWER. Would love the idea of Machado, but unless we overextend the money offers out their I don’t see it happening. To appease both their egos how about we give one Harper the $350+ amount over 15 years largest money contract ever) and Machado the $300 over 10 years blowing away all other offers… but he needs to be ok with playing 3rd.
First off I really liked the article, struck the right tone of optimism about the future, yet some skepticism about prospects.
Next, every team that succeeds does so through a mixture of home grown talent, trades and free agent signings. So people who say just “trust the process” are dooming the club to continued irrelevance.
Over the last 6 years Harper and Machado rank 12th and 15th in WAR, and several of the guys ahead of them are in decline or retired (Donaldson, McCutcheon, Votto, Cano, Posey, Cabrera, Beltre). These are elite players. And they are just hanging out there, waiting for a team to sign them. The Padres should be that team. There is no excuse not to.
Here are your moves:
1) Sign Harper for RF.
1a) Trade Myers (for payroll savings) and Renfroe or Reyes (for value).
2) Sign Manny Machado for 3b.
2a) Trade Ty France.
3) Either sign Dallas Keuchel or trade for JT Realmuto. It’s possible to do both!
3a) Probably have to give up Hedges or Mejia to get Realmuto.
Lineup:
CF Jankowski/Margot, the time may have come to split playing time between these two.
RF Harper
3B Machado
C Realmuto
LF Renfroe
1B Hosmer
2B Kinsler
SS Urias, until Tatis is brought up, and then Urias moves to 2B and Kinsler to the bench.
P Keuchel/Lucchesi/Lauer/Strahm/Erlin.
Now not all these moves can happen, but the goal should be to do everything possible to bring in great players, and good players as well.
For all those who say “we can’t afford it!” the answer is yes we can. The club had revenues of $266 mil last year, and the value of the franchise has increased 100% since Fowler bought it. There is both operating cash, and franchise equity available to fund this payroll increase. And of course some of the horrible decisions of the past will soon die. The monies paid Richard, Makita, Hughes, Olivera, Gyorko in 2019 ($23.15 mil) will drop to $8.5 mil in 2020 and to zero in 2021.
DO NOT sign Machado aka “johnny Hustle”. His words not mine. He would be a horrible mentor. Not to mention the type of guy that would loaf(and cleat) his way through season after season as soon as he gets his money. Harper should be the top choice. Most of you should stop your whining about the past and move on or move to Philly where you would fit right in. That’s on previous GMs and owners. What… we should get a new GM and start over AGAIN! No thanks. The acquisition of Kemp et all was a move by new ownership to make a splash that was a mistake. Not Prellers. I think they learned from that. Let the process play out, we are almost there.
Give me a BREAK, AJ traded Turner for Myers then resigned him. He gave a $144 Mill contract to a guy who posted a -0.1 WAR in 2018. Half of our Prospect arms have had health issues, most of the position players have struggled once they got to SD. Now he wants to sign high price stars to replace them JUST TO MAKE A SPLASH. He picked up Headley and his $13 Mill contract to get Mitchell who will be DFA’d by June. Explain those blunders?
Then take a look at what he could of had. Sign Cain for $80 Mill and trade for Yelich. He could of signed Vlad Jr. for $4 Mill back in 2015 ($7 mill less than he gave Morejon). He does ok in the draft and signing INT FA.
Not true…He couldn’t have signed Vlad Jr. as he wanted to go play where his dad played….was never going to happen in SD…
*Meaning Playing for a Team in Canada….
I get the fealing that the Padres just want to make a splash. It doesn’t matter who or where or if there really is a need there. We project 3 maybe 4 LH starters to open the season but we are considering Gio Gonzalez another LH with 4 more LH on the farm.
We wanted to meet with Machado and when our wishes were out there we took a meeting with Harper when we already have one too many corner OF’s already.
I look at the Top 20 in WAR in 2018 and see many 3B on there, 6 in total, all above 5.6 WAR. All 6 were in the playoffs last year.
We spent $144 MILL last year on Hosmer and I see 2 players a team acquired make that top 20, Yelich won MVP and posted 7.6 WAR along with signing Cain for $80 Mill who posted 5.7 WAR.
I am sick and tired of seeing the Padres FO make the wrong moves. Turner traded for Myers then Myers resigned, Rizzo traded, going all the way back to Bush over Verlander. Wasted Money, Development Failures, one rebuild after another.
Can AJ hit on one of these moves, Hosmer WAR BTW, -0.1. Myers was a little better, 1.6, but south of the Top 260 ML players for 2018. Last years bailout of the Big Market Yankees, to get them below the Luxury Tax for Headley and Mitchell netted -1.0 WAR combined and cost us $13 Mill.
Get Hosmer’s swing fixed, dump Myers, and sign Machado if possible if not pick up Moustakas. Let’s get ST started!!!
Somehow I don’t think there will be a lot of prowling this season. Maybe next year.
I’m convinced that the (my) Padres will sign the “winner” that will lead till 2025, regardless of position. But as a hitter, I’d like to have better numbers than our staff surrenders.
Why Petco? Why San Diego?
I know, stupid question.
Why the padres? Too long to list the plus’s
I’m so excited and ready for baseball, and Abra ka Preller’s magic…….and of course his lava waves.
The dynasty begins!!! (2020-2026)
And hopefully the rings. A ring.
While I’m still young. 60 is the new 40.
James – You talk about consistency and changing baseball philosophies. So what happened to “trust the process”? Are we going to repeat 2015, spend a bunch of money, and finish below .500 again ? With the best farm system in baseball we should let our younger players ascend and see who can play at the ML level. If you want to trade a “prospect”, Manny Margot has proved not to be the impact player we hoped for. Move him ( and Myers of course). Let the younger players stretch their legs and see if they can perform in the bigs. Give Naylor , France, Paddack, Quantrill, and Allen chances to showcase their talents. Many of us feel the young Padres are the future. Let’s see what we really have before we make Boras richer
Padre Paul. Thanks for ur reply.
Spending $ in 2015 resulted in the enviously viewed (nationally) position we are in now. It’s omly $ and its $ the Padres have.
If they spend $40m, they will be average. And that includes the 25m dead money.
And since it’s only $ they still keep their prospects. Right?
I trust the process. Preller is years ahead of what we speak of now. They will sign Big if they can sell it. And it will be a complicated contract.
So far Paul the Padres version of THE PROCESS, SUCKS!!!
Agree that Machado should be the target but I don’t think he’s interested in San Diego – too small a market for his ego. I like the possible signing of Harper and trade for Realmuto albeit we’d possibly lose one top prospect in that trade not named Tatis, Gore or Patino. Don’t like the talk about adding Gio Gonzalez – all the skill arrows suggest 2017 is the outlier and 2018 is the beginning of a downward trend, leaving him the same type of innings eater that Clayton Richards was.
If we sign Harper and obtain Realmuto, this gives the opportunity to trade other OF’s and a catcher besides some of the other prospects in the system to help out at 3b and SP. 3b has to be the priority because the SPs are on the way and we cannot sacrifice too many of them. Besides Baez and Espinoza have the talent to resurface into the top 100, if they overcome their injuries.
Moustakis may be the answer in the short run and that would be better than trading from M Franco, if Machado signs in Philly.
Machado should be the main target for the Padres this offseason. Third base is a black hole and every in house option is underwhelming. Adding Gio makes a lot of sense as well. Mentoring the young lefties as well as eating innings will only benefit the inexperienced pitching staff.