Padres Should Stick With Process, No Matter What Happens in 2018
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The San Diego Padres have made some noise in the first half of the 2018 Major League Baseball season. Despite not having an expectation to contend, they find themselves only a few games out of the first place in the National League West.
The team made a giant splash early in Spring Training when they acquired Eric Hosmer, giving him the largest contract in franchise history (eight-years/$144 million). Usually, a team makes a signing like this when they are gearing up for a postseason run. This wasn’t necessarily the case with the Padres.
San Diego is still presently going through a rebuilding phase. General manager A.J. Preller has been dealing away major league caliber players for prospects to rebuild what was a broken farm system. He has been rebuilding the farm since 2016 and has done well in his task.
The Padres had a rocky start to the season, and part of that was caused by their schedule. In April and May, the Padres played the Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies (multiple times), Los Angeles Dodgers (multiple times), San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Saint Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros. With the exception of the Dodgers, all of these teams were or are above .500.
Through the first part of June, San Diego played against some sub-.500 teams. They won series’ against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Miami Marlins. That allowed them to climb closer to the other four teams in the division.
After June comes July and with that, the trade deadline. The Padres have some trade candidates on their roster. It’s believed that the Padres will be sellers next month. They have pieces they can trade and receive quality prospects in return as they continue to load up for the future.
However, what if they are still close in the division race in July? Should they change course and become buyers and make a run for the postseason in 2018? The answer to that question is simple — no.
Preller should stick to his original plan, which is to be competitive in 2020 and beyond. Most of the talent on the team isn’t expected to debut in the majors until 2019, at the very least. Until then, the team should continue with their rebuild. Any players they might trade, such as Brad Hand or Kirby Yates, should be traded for players that will help in the future. It’s not worth it to trade for a major league rental who probably won’t be with the team after the season.
Besides, it’s hard to imagine the Padres competing in the postseason with their current team. Even acquiring one or two players doesn’t put them ahead of the Nationals, the Brewers, Chicago Cubs or any other team expected to contend for the NL crown.
Altering the process now could jeopardize the future. Smart teams don’t do this. Take the Brewers, for example. They were in contention for the NL Wild Card last season. However, they stood pat at the trade deadline, instead of changing course and loading up for a 2017 postseason run.
The Brewers did make moves in the offseason, signing Lorenzo Cain and trading for Christian Yelich. Those were the right deals for them to make, as they are leading the NL Central this season. Who knows what would have happened had they rented players last season.
If the Padres continue to stay close in the NL West race, chatter about the postseason will pick up. The team shouldn’t give in to the hype and make a move they might regret later. While talk of a potential postseason run would bring some excitement to a fan base that is starving for success, it wouldn’t measure up to what the team is building for later.
Everyone should continue to trust the process, no matter what happens over the coming weeks leading up to the trade deadline.
Mike is the sports editor for the Fayette Advertiser, and has been with East Village Times since 2015. His work has appeared on Bleacher Report. He is an avid Padres fan who is keeping the faith and trusting the process.
What we need to do is start purging the roster of spare parts and impending FAs.
Trade Ross. He’s on a one-year contract. Get something for him. We could always try and resign him next year.
Trade Lyles, if he even brings something back. I’d take a flyer on an A ball player for him, if you can even get it.
Keep Richard. We have him under contract next year and he’s the pitching version of Hosmer, as far as leaders go.
Clear out the outfield. I love Szczur, but we have no place for him other than as a pinch hitter. Once Myers is back, the Franimal needs to get more time in AAA. Renfroe is looking good at the plate with his bat and patience. I’d run with Myers, Renfroe, Jank, Margot and Pirella.
Trade Spangenburg or Asuaje. They are basically redundant. Same player, though Spangy has more pop.
Trade a catcher. We don’t need three on the big league roster and 4 on the 40 man. Raffy Lopez would be my choice. He does call a good game, but if Hedges comes back healthy, we don’t need him. Torrens could be the emergency call up.
I’d actually try and extend Galvis. He needs to be the bridge to Tatis and can become a mentor. He’s a solid defender and has been hitting a lot better recently.
Dump Mitchell and Hughes. They are both underperforming veterans. Try and sneak Mitchell through waivers and get him to El Paso to work on things.
Keep with the plan. If we are competetive with this roster, we’ll be much better with some openings and rookies coming up.
Saw all the comments. I agree with Michael Arndt; I’m also quite tired of trading our good/established players for more suspects. The Padres have more than enough of them now.
My problem, as a few of you already know, is an absolute distrust of AJ Preller to make a good trade. Do we need to re-hash all of what he has done again? But as for scouting young talent, he is pretty good at that. But NO on trading Ross, Hand, Jankowski and/or Renfroe UNLESS they are overwhelmed and that won’t happen.
I really want the Padres to trade for the Marlin’s catcher, JT Realmuto! I think they need a CF and we have someone to give them; Manuel Margot and Hedges. Margot would thrive in Miami, close to his home! They don’t need a RF; they already have Anderson so I doubt they’d be interested in Reyes unless they think of him as a possible first baseman. What else do they want? The Padres have plenty of young talent to give them and still keep their core intact.
Trade Wil Myers? I’d love to but he has to show people he is injury free and can play again. But the other thing; who wants that crazy contract that Preller gave him? I think the Padres are stuck with Myers. Can Eric Hosmer win him over and teach him how to be a good teammate? Chances are, he can.
Logan Allen? I’d bring him up for a spot start this week and see what he might do. AJ Ellis can catch and tutor him. And we know what Balsley can do with young pitchers!
What if the padres just stay pat and call up Logan Allen for the missing starter we are so thirsty for and call up Luis Urias to play 2nd and slide into our 2 hole and hosmers RBIs will double over night. I think all of our trades this year should just be call ups from the minors so we can start creating the winning culture for 2019!!
We should trade Ross to the Yankees. The Twins traded Jamie Garcia (an inferior pitcher) to the Yankees last year and got two very decent pitching prospects in return. If the Padres can do better than that, it would be a major win.
If we really love Ross, we can simply sign him during the off-season.
I wouldn’t trade Brad Hand for less than (1) a top 20 prospect or (2) two top 100 prospects.
I disagree. This division has never been this weak and may never be this weak again. We can make a run just by standing pat, though trading Hedges and a prospect for Realmuto would be fine with me, and they can trade Wil Myers for six magic beans for all I care.
I think our young players will really benefit by being in the race and if they prevail in the West by performing in the playoffs. Lord knows our fans deserve meaningful games in Sept. Sign Tyson Ross to a three year deal – he is worth more signed. Trade him if we are 10 GB at the deadline. Keep him if we are 3 GB. Dont trade Hand or Yates. We can contend in this division in ‘19.
Don’t trade any prospects. If a bullpen arm has to be put in a deal in a Tyson Ross deal to get a top prospect than it should be Yates or Stammen. Allegedly Preller was asking for a ton in return for Hand last year and now that Hand has signed a three year deal his asking price is probably higher. Wouldn’t be opposed to resigning Ross in the off season a la Aroldis Chapman did with the Yankees.
Some pounts are good. But id look to add quality players to our roster;
Duffy, Moustakas from KC for Lyles, Naylor, Lloyd, Asauje,Spangerberg
Realmuto from Florida for Allen the catcher, Morejon, Thompson, Yardly
Foltynewicz from Atlanta for Ross, Villanueva, Renfroe, Stamman
Archer and Kiermaier from TB for Pirela, Yates, Guerra Lopez, Erlin
I could not disagree more with any of your trade suggestions. None of them seem at all plausible in my opinion.
I personally agree with Mike, stay the course and let the young guys in the minors become the core of a future winner. When they are close to contending, then make the kind of trades you mention, of course you will most likely have to give up top talent to bring in the kind of players that will help the Padres go deep into the post season.
Preller is a genius if he pulls off any of those trades, especially the one for Archer and Kiermaier.
Lmao Rays aren’t letting Archer go for pirela and Robbie Elrin
Brad Hand/Yates and Tyson Ross to the Yankees for Clint Frazier, Chance Adams
Hand/Kirby Yates and Pirela to Astros for Whitley, Tucker and/or Alvarez
Stammen and Jankowski to the Mariners for Kyle Lewis and lower level A guy
Lyles, Richards, Spang, Galvis all need to be moved as well
This piece is on the money, Mike. I could not agree more. I feel like there is some impatience building for a segment of the fan base. But things are tracking nicely, in my opinion, and 2020 is when the window should be open. The Padres will gradually improve in the interim and I enjoy seeing that.