The Padres have been one of the most disappointing teams in the majors relative to preseason expectations this season, with the club’s 78-80 record putting them on the verge of mathematical elimination from playoff contention despite a $255MM payroll (per RosterResource) funding a star-studded roster that includes the likes of Juan Soto, Josh Hader, and Manny Machado. Despite the failures of the 2023 season, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported today that Padres chairman Peter Seidler hopes to retain both president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and manager Bob Melvin in their current positions for the 2024 season.
The news comes on the heels of reports of considerable change coming for the Padres this offseason and a deep disconnect between Melvin and Preller. Acee affirms the “fractured” relationship between the two, and notes that despite Seidler’s preference to retain both men firing one or both of them is nonetheless on the table if the two are unable to improve their working relationship. Acee notes that a “significant meeting” between Seidler, Melvin, Preller, and additional advisors will take place shortly after the conclusion of the regular season. The impending meeting, which will focus on an “internal review” the club has reportedly been conducting, figures to impact the club’s decision on whether or not to retain either or both men for the 2024 campaign.
Acee elaborates on the frayed relationship between Preller and Melvin, noting that a disconnect has been evident for more than a year but that things have worsened throughout the difficult 2023 campaign to the point where sources have described the relationship as “irreconcilable” to Acee, though he makes clear that those sources do not include Preller, Melvin, or “those who would have a voice in their fate.”
In terms of the feud’s direct impact on the season, Acee notes that the club’s players indicate that the relationship between Melvin and Preller shouldn’t matter to the team on the field, though he also points to situations surrounding two players that sources indicate were impacted by philosophical differences between the club’s two most front-facing officials. Per Acee, Hader’s concerns about being overused ahead of free agency this winter and veteran slugger Matt Carpenter’s usage were both situations exacerbated by the rift between Preller and Melvin.
Carpenter, in particular, has recorded just 52 plate appearances since the start of July despite having remained on the roster throughout the entire season until September 15, when he was placed on the injured list with inflammation in his right elbow. Acee’s sources indicate that the veteran remained on the roster at Preller’s insistence, despite a brutal .180/.310/.327 slash line with a 30.8% strikeout rate in 185 trips to the plate through the end of June.
Acee paints a picture of a divided organization, indicating that despite Preller’s importance in the club’s turnaround in recent years, his relentless work ethic causes issues with his interpersonal relationships, even beyond Melvin. Meanwhile, Acee notes that front office officials have expressed frustration with Melvin’s unwillingness to accept their input, even as Preller and the front office have largely given him control of day-to-day lineup decisions.
One thing that could impact the potential for either Melvin or Preller to depart is the financial aspect. With the Padres already expected to cut payroll this offseason, it’s hardly a surprise that ownership would prefer not to part ways with either of the organization’s highly-paid officials. Per Acee, Melvin is set to make $4MM in the final year of his contract next year, while Preller’s current contract pays him somewhere between $7MM and $10MM across the next three seasons.
This is the worst news I’ve heard all day
just wait until they trade for Giancarlo Stanton..
LOL! i wouldn’t put it past them.
The long and the short of it is Melvin’s managing skills didn’t equate to the Padres winning games they would have lost with someone else as the manager and U could even argue his decisions cost the Padres games they would have won with someone else making the decisions!
As for Preller his wanting to win NOW approach has killed the teams long term viability! The Bogaerts signing was horrible use of payroll dollars in the short and long term and extending Machado didn’t need to happen now!
With Fernando at SS this team has the chance to be one of the top offensive teams in baseball. 30 homer guys in the outfield are common but not at SS.
Melvin needs to go and Preller should be elevated to President and someone else should become GM! Preller is GREAT as a talent evaluator but difficult to work with from a manager’s perspective!
The approach needs to change from “Win Now At Any Cost” to remaining competitive in the long run!
Having a 255m payroll this year and talking about reducing to around 200m for next season proves my point about NOT having a long term winning strategy! Based on the results this year at 200m the Padres will be horrible next year!
Sorry @ rotten
I don’t see why Preller needs (or deserves) to be promoted.
As an A’s fan I’m going to support Melvin 7 days a week, and twice on Sundays. Preller seems to get a free pass every time. Described as a great eye for talent? Do they not have scouts for that? Preller has burnt through 6 managers in 10 years for largely mediocre results.
He should be on the block for consistent failure.
And to apologise for a reply to my own comment- there are 100s of Padre fans on this site who believe they could do a better job than Preller.
I don’t doubt them – he is inept.
I am absolutely sure that 100s of FANS on this site could do better than taking the team to the playoffs two times in 4 years, because SO MANY MLB GM’s did that over the last 4 years, so a fan with no internal knowledge of the game should be able to do better. /S
Its inept to come out on the plus side in most of your major trades for the past 5 years and consistently have a top farm system. Every fan should be able to better and have the #1 farm system while winning the WS.
Bogaerts was a good signing. He was better than Kim in the years before the signing and he produced more value on the field than he cost this season.
Machado had to either be extended or he would have opted out and been a free agent at season’s end. If the Padres were going to extend him, they did it at the right time. Do you think he would have cost LESS after his monster 2022 season?
Melvin basically retired a year early. By his own admission he took a “hands-off approach” to managing the team allowing his coaching staff to make most decisions, both about coaching and in-game. No matter what he will be gone after 2024 because he said when he was hired that he wasn’t going to manage beyond 2024.
He WAS a good manager, just one that could never win in the postseason until he got to San Diego and was given a great team. Then for whatever reason he just quit managing.
@websoulsurfer
Bit late as a reply, but I thought AJ Preller had been in his role for 10 years. Cherry picking the last four doesn’t really seem accurate. Especially given the increased budget.
Will admit that the quick recovery of the farm system is impressive.
Did you read the Athletic article about the situation currently with the big team? I can only leave that at Preller’s door….
Xander Bogaerts deal was a definite over pay by Padres for @ 30+ year old player who will be 41 and his production way down multiple years before that deal expires(good for the player, an anchor on team finances).
Machado was an over pay also. 11 years and 350M guaranteed money?! Yikes! Machado is also over 30 and will be 41 when the contract ends
His production will be declining by age 35 and down hill after that.
San Diego is a small to mid market team
Ownership will have a hard time maintaining these overly high payrolls.
Managing Partner Siedler is getting older and has had health issues.
At least the Tatis Jr 14 year deal only has an average annual value of 24M and ends when he is 35 when players go into decline.
If Seidler were to pass away or get too sick and need to get the teams finances under control, then the Padres could be stuck with multiple unmovable contracts and a budget roadblock to building a pennant contending team.
See Detroit Tigers whose big spending owner died and the team was left to get out from under a bunch of contacts too big for their market and team
Nobody from the team has said they are going to reduce payroll. Not one person. Seidler said around the deadline that he expected to have a similar payroll next season.
ACEE and his unnamed sources claim that the Padres are going to drastically cut payroll and they are the only ones.
Team owner on one side saying same payroll, sports writer with unnamed sources on the other side saying drastic cuts.
Who should I believe?
Hiring the guy from New Zealand was genius.
As a Dodger fan, this is music to my ears!
The Dodgers basically lost all of their starting pitching and will still win 100 games and be the 2nd best NL team after Atlanta. The Diamondbacks have a young team and will make the post-season. The Padres will just get a Melvin and a wedgie. They are below 0.500 and their best starter Snell is leaving. Probably Hader and Grisham are gone too. They need major bounce backs from Darvish and Musgrove to be a 90 win team.
Part of this season can be chalked up to bad luck. They went 7-22 in one run games, and 0-12 in extra innings. If they had just gone .500 in those situations, they’d be a 91 win team. They’re in the top 10 in run differential as well. It has been a bizarre season for them.
That’s really the opposite of the bad luck. The decision making in extra innings has been deranged at best, psychotic at worst.
There’s been many times in extra innings where the game ending run is on 3rd, less than two outs, an unfavorable pitching matchup at the plate, and the call is to “pitch just outside” instead of walk the batter for a force at home. This is usually done with the middle infield not all the way in.
These numbers you share are bad management. Except the run differential, that’s good players.
I agree it is partly bad management. I’m no fan of Melvin, but part of this is bad luck.
Just stop with the bad luck crap. You Madre fans are delusional.
I’ve been hearing this all year about bad luck. It has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with not playing winning baseball. In most of those extra inning games, they had Tatis,Soto,Machado and Bogearts up. Most of the time their automatic runner never left second base.They don’t do the little things to play winning baseball. I don’t know if it’s bad execution or a bunch of selfish players.
Just the fact that he remains in the clubhouse during the National anthem deserves him all the distaste.
madre lol so cool
The Cubs just lost two one run games in a row and no fan is calling it “bad luck”. Some stupid writer said the Padres were the “unluckiest” team in baseball and some fans are ignorantly willing to repeat it.
Good teams win close games, teams full of selfish players that are poorly managed and line ups that are poorly structured do not.
I said part of it is bad luck just like part of having a very high BABIP is good luck. If you don’t consider luck part of baseball then you obviously haven’t played. No, it isn’t measurable. But neither is “being selfish.” But both do exist. Just like teams that have a very high win total in one run games never repeat that the following season.
Out of curiosity, what part of the Padre lineup do your consider poorly constructed?
They actually got their first extra inning win of the season last night.
So I guess the Dodgers have won 10 out of the last 11 NL West crowns due mostly to “good luck”.
I don’t see it as bad luck, I see it as a team that doesn’t have fight in it. Maybe a game here and there was just bad luck, but you don’t just accidentally lose almost every extra inning or one run game.
They’re great when things are going well but they’ve crumbled too much when there’s adversity.
To me the Padres record in close and extra innings games is a combination of both bad luck and bad management. Or should I echo what Web said on the other thread about all this, NO management. Melvin has not seemed to be very involved in the in-game decision making. Just leaves it up to the players to do what they think is best.
When you look at things like the babip around .200 and the HH% and Barrel Rates that are as high as the overall rates late in those games, you can see that some of it was luck. They were barrelling up the ball, the hits were just not falling.
There was also bad or a lack of management. Instead of Melvin calling for specific plays in those situations, like bunts or sacs in extra innings or a specific way to pitch/play a batter, he just seemed to leave it up to the players. It didn’t seem like he was calling a batter aside before he went into the on deck circle or up to the plate. He also made plenty of obvious mistakes on pitching changes in those situations.
One of the things I have noticed in following the Padres on the road is when I was out partying until 2 AM after games on the road, so were many members of the team. I would guess that also falls under no real management of the players. Is there not some sort of rules about players being in their hotel by a certain time? Keep in mind I have only traveled for 18 games this season including this series in SF, but every time there were some players out at the bars we were at until closing time. Maybe a curfew is not a thing anymore with MLB players. I just don’t know.
I think that the meeting Acee mentions is going to be about some of those very things. Probably a lot more.
You always “echo what Web said.” Lmfao
The troll is back with a new name.
Just say you don’t understand anything about baseball.
Your name is our first clue.
If this is so-so, I want 8 more just like him.
.275/.409/.520/.929 and a 158 OPS+, 5.4 WAR, and 35 HR so far
It is measurable. A BABip that is 100 points higher or 100 points lower than league average shows that luck was involved as long as the peripherals like GB/FB ratio, HH%, and Barrel rates are in line with league, team, or player averages.
If a frog had wings, it wouldn’t bump its ass a-hoppin’
like bunts or sacs in extra innings or a specific way to pitch/play a batter, he just seemed to leave it up to the players.
=================================
Do you seriously believe he was telling batters to do whatever they wanted?
IRT sacs in extra innings, the Padres were tied for 7th in the number of extra inning sacs.
Irony, anyone that thinks Juan Soto is so-so saying anyone else is delusional.
But he’s been around since before McCourt!!
mlb fan — this is by far the dumbest comment I have seen all year. All year. Nuance. You know about that? Send me your address and I’ll send you some crayons.
No. It was worse than that. He was not telling the players anything. Melvin just stepped aside and let others lead the team. He said himself that he took a hands-off approach to managing the team.
Curious where you got that stat from because it’s not available on BR, Fangraphs, or StatCast.
I know they were 4th overall this season.
fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&st…
I know 4 players got 18 of the 22 total. Kim, Grisham, Azocar who only played 53 games, and Nola who only played 52. Their total was 13 less than the leader in SH.
I know that Kim had 2 in extra innings and that he was the only one on the team that did.
baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&te…
2 SH in extras might be the 7th best in MLB, I just cannot find anything to confirm or deny that information.
It’s not measurable. You can’t tell me how much of it is luck and how much of it is skill. You can use the baseline of league average to identify that there is some luck going on, but you cannot quantify it. If you’re saying anything about league average is “luck” then every good player is just lucky and not good.
Whoosh. The sound of his argument going over your head.
Rob Becks logic, drew Smyly isn’t a bad pitcher, he is just unlucky that so many of his fly balls leave the yard.
Joe, I know from sitting close enough to see most of what he does every game that Melvin seemed to do little during the game. Rarely spoke with a player at all. Christenson did. Flaherty did. Niebla did often. But not Melvin. That seems to be the entire problem.
He needed to be more involved. HE is supposed to be the great manager, not Christenson or Flaherty.
As a Padres fan I was so used to seeing Bochy or Black call a player aside in an important situation and give them direct instructions. Even with guys like Gwynn and Rickey. Super smart, experienced players. I expect that from a good manager. This season I have watched entire extra innings where no coach spoke to a player at all before they took the field or took an at bat. That didn’t mean they didn’t set positioning or call pitches through signs, but what Melvin didn’t do was look a player in the eye and say THIS is what we need to happen.
The Padres only had 2 sac bunts in extra innings all season and both were from the same guy. Teams bunt so little today that those 2 in extras may be one of the top totals in the league.
Playing a 162 games eliminates the excuse of good or bad luck being the reason! If they maintain a 250m payroll they can compete long term but if U cut back to 200m with all the long term deals currently on the books we are sunk! The media revenue is predicated on the size of the market and unless ownership will subsidize our payroll the San Diego market doesn’t generate enough revenue to support a $250,000,000 payroll….
Rod Beck: Yep, bizarre season. The 7-22 and 0-12 are most likely just crazy-bad luck. No way that happens again if he returns.
Not even sure I should respond. If you don’t understand the basics of the game and where luck comes into play, there is no real reason to try to explain it to you. Pearls before swine and all that.
I will give it one shot though. Padres needed to win THREE more games to get into the playoffs. They went 8-23 in 1-run games and 1-12 in extra innings. In innings 7-9 their BABip was .200. That is 82 points lower than their team average for the season and 98 points lower than league average.
Also in innings 7-9 they had a 40.2 HH% which was .6% higher than for the season as a whole. They had a 9.5% barrel rate which was .9% higher than for the season as a whole. Their exit velocity was 89.8 mph, which was .5 mph higher than their season average. They had a 39.6% GB rate, which is 3.5% less than their season average. They had an 84.2% zone contact rate, which was 1.1% better than their season average. The only negative, they had a 26.0% SO rate which was 4% higher than their season average.
They hit the ball more often in the zone, they hit it harder, they hit it in the air for LD and FB more often, they just hit it at people. That is bad luck. They did strike out a little more. That does not account for all of the problem. It was just 8 more PA than would have in an equal amount of PA during the rest of the season.
San Diego is going to be a net payor into the revenue sharing pool. That means that they had to have had a $410 million or higher revenue pool. Greupner told us in February that the team was not going to lose money this season. Both of those point to the team having enough revenue to support a $250 million payroll. MAYBE you know more than the CEO and owner of the Padres about the team finances, but it’s doubtful.
Last point. According to multiple sources including Maury of the Business of Baseball and all 3 of the sports business publications I subscribe to the Padres media revenue increase after DSG defaulted.
If you are a local you know that they are on every cable, satellite, and streaming service they were when DSG held the broadcast rights. Because of the agreements DSG had with other RSNs that the Padres do not have to adhere to now, the Padres increased their potential market by over 2 million. At last count in late August the Padres had sold 285k single team , local only packages on MLB.tv at 19.99 per month each. Even if MLB was taking 20% of that for production costs, that means the Padres got nearly half of what DSG would have paid them JUST from those mlb.tv packages. Oh, and next season’s season tickets are sold out from people renewing. September 15th was the deadline.
Padres playoff team last year had a weak bottom of the lineup after their star players batted.
Preller is having his 19th nervous breakdown.
Soto is hot and Boras will ask for the moon which at a loss of 30-50 per year plus Diamond going bankrupt probably isn’t happening.
So he’s looking at prospects? And we know what Mr Preller does with prospects…
What are you babbling about? Let me see if I can break this down into bit size chunks so even you can understand it.
Soto is a top ten hitter in baseball, is only 24, and was always going to be paid huge dollars. This is not his best season, but its still a great one. They Padres are in negotiations with him on an extension.
The Padres are not losing money. The CEO said that earlier this season. He knows their financial situation better than anyone else. Especially you.
DSG going bankrupt has not cost the Padres any money. MLB paid them 80% of the one payment that DSG defaulted on out of the 12 they were due. They now own 100% of their broadcast rights. They are on every TV outlet they were on before and actually added one. ALL of those cable, satellite, and streaming services are paying them to broadcast their games. Its not like they gave them away for free, They added 2 million households to the potential viewership. They sold 285 thousand single team packages on MLB.tv at 19.99 per month. Over a full season that is half of what DSG would have been paying them JUST in single game packages. Maury Brown and several of the sports business publications have said that the Padres are making more money now that DSG is gone.
Where did anyone on the Padres say they were looking at prospects?
Unless you have inspected the Padres books or are their CPA, then you have no way of knowing if the Padres are losing money. Ownership is likely getting some tax breaks from their spending sprees.
They’re under contract. If they prefer to keep them then they will keep them.
99 – I understand this to mean that after the referenced meeting that keeping them will depend on some changes being imposed within themselves. In other words, Seidler is saying he hopes that they will accept the necessary changes so he won’t have to fire one or both of them.
Thanks. That makes more sense.
Seidler is going to tell Melvin, we paid you to manage, not take a “hands-off approach” to the team. Get your bleep in gear and do what you are being paid to do. Part of that is conveying the information the FO gives you to the players so they can use it effectively. We gave you a team with enough talent to win. Your JOB was to establish a culture, an expectation, of winning in the clubhouse and on the field. It was to push these players to produce what we are paying them to do. Your JOB was to enforce players doing the fundamentals and that includes in practice. Your JOB was not passing game day decisions to your Associate Manager or Bench coach. YOU make those decisions. Not countermanding what your immediate boss, AJ Preller, tells coaching staff and players is ALSO part of your job. DO YOUR JOB.
Preller. LET him manage. If he pulls the same crap to start the 2024 season that he did this season I will can his behind myself in April.
Preller, find us a couple starting pitchers and get that kid from Korea signed as soon as he is posted.
Then let’s go win a WS.
Their first mistake was signing Machado. Their second mistake was signing Bogaerts . The strikeout came when they extended Machado.
Preller needs fired and hired somewhere as the highest paid amateur scouting director in all of baseball. That’s his expertise, not putting together a MLB roster.
Melvin is wasted trying to manage that prima-donna laden team. He should resign, and go somewhere else where his talents will be appreciated.
Machado’s 1st contract turned out to be one of the best long term contracts ever. MVP level play and never injured. Can’t say anything about the extension yet because they are one year in.
The Bogaerts contract has been very good so far. Just $25 million for 4.4 WAR.
Not sure what you are talking about.
@BiL some folks here just wanna hate on Machado because of their beliefs about him as a person. They’re impervious to any new information about him on or off the field because of prior incidents where he showed poor judgment in his choices and behavior. Seems some folks just aren’t ever gonna let go of that old stuff and accept the idea that he could have matured and grown as a person since then unfortunately.
Machado was one of the top players in baseball his first 4 seasons with the Padres. 2nd best WAR and 3rd best OPS+ for 3B. Played in the most games of any 3B. He earned the money the Padres paid him and then some. $50 million more in value for his performance on the field than the money they paid him. No team or fan can complain about that without looking incredibly stupid.
He is just about to finish year one of the extension and it has not been a good one. Injuries, a broken hand from a HBP and the tennis elbow, have limited his time at 3B and his number of games played. His performance has suffered because of those injuries. 2.9 WAR. 116 OPS+. Still better than league average, but not what the Padres were hoping for.
Do I think he will continue to get his hand broken by HBP and miss so much time every season? Do I think that the surgery will not help with the tennis elbow. Do I think that he cannot rebound to be the 5-7 WAR player he was in 2021 and 2022?
OF course not. Manny will bounce back and the Padres will get more seasons like 2021-2022 from him. Will that be enough to allow the Padres to break even on the contract? WHO CARES! All I want to see is playoff baseball and without Manny or someone at 3B with his skills the Padres won’t get there.
Bogaerts. 4.4 WAR. 50% surplus value. GREAT deal so far. Did he do as well as he did in Boston last season? No. Did he do very well and provide more performance than the salary he was paid. 100% yes. if the Padres get a few more seasons around this level I think they will be pretty happy with the deal. If he rebounds from this season and the issues he had with his wrist to have even one more season like 2022 the Padres will be ecstatic.
The Roster is flawed with no depth, a lousy bench, improvements needed in OF, 1st base, DH, Starting pitching, bullpen and more.
Don’t let AJ make any more trades.
AJ loses just about every trade he makes.
Might have to trade Soto in offseason to fill multiple holes in the team.
Keep Preller and his stats heads away from the clubhouse and bench.
Melvin has a proven track record for winning.
Let Melvin do his job.
Don’t let Preller destroy the 40 man roster and the farm system.
Without major changes, this team is nothing but a team struggling to play 500 ball.
Sports0, The Padres have ONE major area of need in 2024 as of today. Starting pitchers. With no additions they have a #1 in Musgrove, a #2/3 in Darvish, and a couple #5s in Avila and Waldron. They need to add two at a minimum. My hope is an extension of Lugo and sign Yamamoto, but they are FA so that can’t be counted on. It will take spending some money to get that done. They have $40 to $60 million to spend depending on what player options are picked up while staying under the CBT.
They have a good OF, one that ranked 6th in MLB in 2023. With Soto and Tatis even if they non-tender Grisham its a good one with Azocar and Batten as options in CF or corner OF. Even Rosario in a pinch, Most playoff teams don’t have 2 players putting up a 5 WAR in their OF. If they sign Lee out of Korea, which most baseball writers think they are a shoe-in to do, that will be icing on the cake.
There is no reason to trade Soto nor a way to get equal value for him for the 2024 season. Forget seasons beyond that. It only matters what comes back that could help in 2024 and you cannot replace what he provides in a trade for a player that has one season of control.
The infield is set for next season. No changes needed. Machado, Bogaerts, Kim, Cronenworth with Batten and Rosario as depth. That group was top 6 in baseball in 2023 and with even small rebounds from Machado and Cronenworth is a 16 plus WAR infield. Outstanding.
They do need a backup catcher. Campusano will be the starter.
DH is Carpenter and ??? to platoon with him. My money is on Cooper. He liked it here, can play multiple positions, and will not be expensive.
Suarez will take over at closer and bullpen pieces have never been an issue to find for the Padres. The pen as a whole was 12th in ERA this season. Even subtracting Hader from that they were 14th. A rebound from injured guys like Hill and Wilson and adding a couple of middle relievers to the mix will be enough. Not a big issue.
The biggest issue the Padres face is one of the manager. Will Melvin decide to retire or will he decide to actually be involved in managing the team next season? This season Melvin didn’t manage. Oh, he was standing there, but by all accounts and the things he himself said he left most of the managing to his players and other coaches on the staff. That won’t fly.
The other question is will Melvin start conveying the information the FO has for the players to the players. That is what the analytics staff is there for, to give information on opposing players and on things they see in Padres players performance to make the Padres players better. This season he failed to do that. Analytics are not going away, in fact they will get more prevalent in years to come as the teams are able to collect even more data, but if he refuses to convey the information from the analytics staff to the players Melvin may.
Last point. Preller won the Hader trade, the Snell Trade, the Musgrove trade, the Darvish trade, the Cronenworth trade, the Cooper trade, the Barlow trade, and the Tim Hill trade. So far the Soto/Bell trade has worked out well for the Padres, but Abrams may still make that one lopsided if he can continue to produce for the 4 more seasons he is under team control. Still, the Padres got a superstar player, a top 10 guy in the sport, in 2023. THAT is what they wanted.
He lost the Nola trade. He also lost the Rich Hill and Choi trades, but they were very minor deals.
He has won more than he lost when you are talking about players on the current team and that is more than you can ask for. Trades are supposed to be win-wins for both teams.
So your hyperbole is factually incorrect.
These numbers don’t add up for a .500 team. It’s like the team with mvp caliber players but they still lost 100 games. Or the player who hits 40hr but only has 60 rbi since most were solo shots. Bad luck = lack of situational hitting. Just fire the hitting coach like every other team does. The no name cubs have a better average than the padres.
Paper championship
Machado, the almost perennial MVP candidate, is a mistake? I can see an argument for the extension being one (age and decline come to most players by 35), but not the signing of the man. What is your reasoning on why the Machado signing was a mistake? And don’t give me feelings and emotions. Point to something real, please.
What is this, high school or college baseball? I’m no Johnny Hustle.
Tatis isn’t happy and will never be happy in right and that is a lot of money and time to spend on a player to make him unhappy. Machado played well until he got his bag. He said it himself: what is this, college baseball? Im no johnny hustle. He will never listen to anyone except himself in the 3rd person. Im Manny f&^% machado.
Have you watched a game? Been to one at Petco? Tati SPRINTS out to RF. He dances out there on the field and interacts with fans. He absolutely loves it.
LMFAO! AJ Preller lost a lot more trades than he won.
I will give you only a few examples, but I could write 20-30 pages on the trades AJ Preller LOST.
Start with the Soto trade which will come back to bite the Padres contending teams FOR DECADES.
1) LHSP McKenzie Gore is turning into a solid, young Starter for the Nats the kind of pitcher the Padres will be looking for in the offseason
2) SS CJ Abrams is 22 years young had 18 home runs and played great D this year for the Nats. His best playing days are ahead. .future All Star
(could have played SS, LF or CF this season for Pads)
4) Robert Hassell III plays LF,RF, CF is projected as above average even better future major leaguer (kind of guy Pads will be looking for in offseason, but at major league minimum)
5) OF James Wood Rated”60″ meaning well above average and future All Star.
The Padres GOT HOSED ON THIS DEAL!
Soto was a bust last year for most of the 2nd half and could have cost the Padres a Division Title and a World Series Title
Ditto with Josh Bell. Both players obtained in the deal forgot how to hit in the 2nd half and playoffs and way underperformed expectations.
Soto finally starting hitting a few months into this season when the pressure was off and the Padres out of contention?!
Soto when he hits is an excellent player, but he can only play one position at a time and he cannot pitch.
Cleveland clearly won the Mike Klevinger trade.
The Guardians received a handful of young player that became the nucleas of the Guardians next playoffs team.
Starter Cal Quintrell, 1b/OF Josh Naylor, Owen Miller, SS/INF Gabriel Arias and more.
news-herald.com/2022/05/03/guardians-big-winners-i…
Ty France Mariners?!
Brent Rooker OF/DH 29 Home runs A’s.?!
Trey Turner SS Phillies?!
THE LIST IS VERY LONG.
Preller should be a Scout/Farm Director.
Preller should not be allowed to trade players or sign free agents.
AJ Preller has turned the Padres into a Farm Team for the other Major league teams to offload bad contracts and declining veterans and give up many future major league above average and star players.
Key board stuck?!!
Just who or what post are you referring to?!
Your post makes no sense.
Sports0, You blew it again.
Soto was just part of that deal with the Nationals and it wasn’t for one season. Soto alone has a 7.1 WAR as a Padre.
Gore is a below league average starter who got hurt again only throwing 136 innings. He has had 2 straight injury marred seasons in the majors. I doubt he ever becomes more than a back of the rotation starter.
Abrams had .243/.298/.411/710 with a 94 OPS+ this season. Far below league average. An 88 OPS+ for the Nats. ALL of Abrams value is on defense. YOU said Kim was not worth much because most of his value is based on defense and he had a 117 OPS+ at the time. You have to decide which it is for you. Defense is either equally as valuable or its not. You don’t get it both ways.
Abrams is about 4 WAR behind Soto since the trade and had no place to play in SD even without picking up a certain All Star caliber player like Bogaerts. He also has not been as good as Bogaerts or Kim.
Wood is striking out at 37% this season, 38% in AA. I found 4 players in the past 60 years that struck out that much in AA and were more than a bit player in the majors.
Clevinger for Quantrill. Naylor was not a prospect at the time of that trade and he could only play DH. No way Preller could know that Clevinger would get injured and Clevinger was lights out in his starts prior to the injury.
Nola for France, although France has fallen off a cliff.
Padres traded Paddack, Pagan and a PTBNL for Rogers and Rooker. Paddack didn’t play while Pagan had a 4.43 ERA and 9 saves. Rogers had a 4.35 ERA and got 28 saves before being traded for Josh Hader.
Rooker was then traded to the Royals where he hit .160/.276/.200/.476 with a 38 OPS+. Not a major trade and just getting him off the 40 man was a win. That he later played well in Oakland is irrelevant.
Preller won Musgrove, Darvish, Cronenworth. Snell, Hader, and Rogers/Rooker.
So that is 3 out of 9 major trades since 2019 that he has lost and 6 that he has WON. And that is IF you include the trade with Washington and that is not a done deal yet. That means Preller won most. Math and logic are just not your strong point.
You should be relegated to the minor leagues of commenting. There must be a board somewhere that you might not get smacked down on so often after making stupid posts.
A smarter POB Ops would have moved Hader and one of the starters walking in free agency at the trade deadline and Soto for multiple young producing players.
With smart deals, the Padres could have still made the playoffs
and be set up for an even stronger ’24.
AJ Preller IS NOT THAT GUY!
Preller has lost and been hosed on many deals.
Soto/Bell was a flop for the Padres.
It may have cost them a World Series Title last year when they were on a roll in the playoffs.
Soto and Bell did not hit anywhere near their talent level in the 2nd half.
And it stripped the Padres farm and depth of players who could have helped the team in 22, 23 , 24 and beyond.
CJ Abrams could have played LF or CF
1B/DH types like Josh Bell are a dime a dozen and do not cost a team its top prospects.
No time to discuss all the bad deals made by Preller.
There have been many, many articles written with detailed criticisms
of AJ Preller’s bad trades.
Padres fans will have to live with the AJ Preller circus until
Seidler wakes up and smells the coffee and puts his foot down
on any more bad deals by AJ.
The Padres Roster is badly flawed.
Experts picked them to take the NL West since the Dodgers were re tooling and promoting a lot of their minor league talent.
Instead, AJ Preller’s FLAWED ROSTER TANKED AND DID NOT EVEN MAKE THE PLAYOFFS IN ’23!?
No. It looks like AJ Preller blew it again.
Do you work for the Padres and/or AJ Preller in any capacity?!
Because you consistently defend the indefensible.
Dave Dombrowski is the “gold standard”
His trades with the Phillies actually work out for his team.
And, he maintains his farm system also.
Preller’s Padres were picked to win the AL West with the Dodgers taking a step back. But, Preller, decimated the Padres depth in trades.
Every team has injuries.
The Team’s Pres of baseball Ops is supposed to build depth behind his starting players in MLB and in AAA.
Preller has not done that.
Padres upgrades needed: Bench, Rotation, Bullpen, CF. 1B, DH. etc…
Padres have 246M payroll and they are watching the playoffs
at home on their couches?!
That is on AJ Preller for his bad trades and bad signings and bad roster construction.
Cue the violins for Padsfans lol!
There is no crying in baseball.
Your arguments FAIL.
AJ PRELLER FAILED
The Padres are sitting on their couches out of the playoffs with a 256M payroll.
Those are the stone cold, hard facts.
All the rest of your posts are BS.
Maybe they can have a playoffs Party with the Mets and Yankees?!
And, they can ALL discuss how the statistical analysis puts them in the playoffs this year LMFAO!
Rob Manfred can throw them “crying towels”.
Trades are actually supposed to help the team ON THE FIELD.
In the final analysis, no one cares about statistical analysis if
a team with a 256M payroll finishes 82-80 and OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS.
IT IS RESULTS THAT COUNT.
NOT SPREADSHEETS FROM HAL IN STATS OR ACCOUNTING LMFAO!
A smart POBO most certainly wouldn’t have traded Soto for less than he gave up to get him.
Unless they wanna trade Melvin and Preller, for Boone and Cashman, and a free airplane ride. Lol.
Darn was hoping they could trade for Melvin here in sf. I know his post season record I just dislike kapler that much.
Good luck. Kapler we “enjoyed” in Philly for a bit. He’s the consummate example of trying to outsmart himself at all times just to show how smart he is. Most of the time the traditional way works to the point where the tweaks don’t give you any practical edge. He also enjoys the spotlight more than any manager should.
I don’t understand the distaste Kapler has gotten from SF fans lately. His teams have outperformed their talent level ever year he’s been there.
The SF fans have every right to compare their manager in their minds to Bruce Bochy.
When you have had success, you want it more from the next guy.
Kapler will never be another Bochy. It doesn’t mean he can’t be a good manager.
It just means he has a big hat to fill.
Bochy wears and 8 1/2. I don’t think many people can fill that hat.
Based on WAR the team should have won 76 games this season.
I do. The Kap dances to his own tune. He is a bit different. I understand the “polish” complaints. I see it and it can easily come across as a man not being genuine. For me, it’s just the Kap. Doing stuff to the best of his capability is his thing. He lives it. The fact that he hasn’t eaten a carb in the last decade indicates he is living it every single day. So for me, the polish is a very real result of that broader approach to life. If his role includes fronting the media, you can guarantee Kapler has spent some time trying to perfect the craft. People look at his always immaculate appearance and articulate language and go “that can’t be real”. I get it. I just think it is real with the Kap. He presents as perpetual motion improvement machine. Live and let live.
He lives by the compound effect. Be a little bit better today than you were yesterday and in a year you are much better overall. He applies that to everything he does.
Yep. Everything. Lot of good to take from Kapler.
Isn’t Compound Effect a book?
A good one
barnesandnoble.com/w/the-compound-effect-darren-ha…
I guess they prefer to lose their non-Salas top prospects too because Preller will be beyond desperate to make 2024 good
If trading Jackson Merrill can bring back help why not. He;s blocked at SS 3B and 2B for a while by contracts on the books. Cleveland seems like a logical trade partner
Kyle Manzardo, Daniel Espino both fill needs for the Padres in 1B and rotation.
Like the first part of your post. Don’t like the 2nd part.
1st off, prospect for prospect trades rarely happen.
Neither of those guys could possibly help the Padres in 2024 and Merrill could in the case of injury or in the OF if the Padres are unable to land Lee.
Manzardo is a walking injury and he didn’t exactly set the world on fire this season. Espino has not even returned from his injury. I would not touch him until he shows he can actually take the mound for a few months and he won’t be back until mid-2024 at the earliest. A capsule tear for a pitcher is far worse than a UCL tear,
1st off, prospect for prospect trades rarely happen.
========================
That’s always annoyed me. No doubt prospects are tricky since it is tough to assess these guys from afar. But one of my favorite trades was Chisholm for Gallen. Chisholm’s injuries means that AZ got the better of it (so far), but it was a trade that addressed the needs of two teams.
Not just injuries. Jazz has to be a superstar position player to makeup for giving up a #1 starter. Pitching is just more valuable.
Prospect for prospect trades are far more common in the off-season. They do happen but only when it works for both sides. CLE just targeted Manzardo because they have no 1B. Don’t see them punting on him.
They do have a 1B. Josh Naylor. Not Cleveland fan but I’m sure they could shift him to 1B full time and get a corner OF somewhere.
I think you hit the nail on the head as to why they are not done very often. Gauging prospect value is a crap shoot. Most just don’t make it.
Jackson Merrill should be starting @ SS sometime in ’24
Move Bogaerts to 2B or LF.
Trade Soto for 3-4 top rated young players and prospects including 2 young starters
Or put Jackson Merrill at 2B or LF…..
The Padres looking at the numbers have very good stats they are +94 run differential which is better than the Phillies, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Reds and Giants. Which is weird because in the AL the top Run differential teams are in the playoffs or in contention. I mean it seems they lost a lot of close games or just had a bunch of games where they would run up the score. It seems more of a day in and day out grind that these star players have to do and just did not for what ever reason and maybe Bob Melvin who is a good manager just isn’t motivational enough.
If I’m the Padres I would make the call for Ron Washington if there is one thing with Wash he is always amped up (I know the white substance jokes are coming in) but his teams always seem to have energy and play with effort every game whether if it was his time with the As , Rangers or Braves. Wash deserves 1 more chance as a manager despite the fact I want the Braves to keep him.
Excellent post ! It’s queer how seasons play out sometimes. Like how the giants won 107 games in 21. Winning a 100 is crazy hard, that team is average, yet won a 107- u can argue that giants team is better today yet will win 25 less games.
Padres had a lot of players have great seasons plus they are all in w that business model so when were these twos jobs really ever in jeopardy?
And to the credit of the business model – padres top 3 prospects are legit and any of them could headline the next block buster trade
Dylan Lesko isn’t legit?
The Padres top 5 are all top 100 (legit) and #6 is likely to be the first one to the majors.
@ web. Prospect lists are based on ceilings. Most prospects never hit their ceiling or even come close. So what to look for are players having close to seasons worth of success, being very young for their minor league level, a good whip, k ratio, and ability to hit for power. Padres top 3 hit all those categories!
Padres have a top heavy farm. It’s not deep but there’s guys. It’s a testament to how good Preller is at finding amateur talent that they’re even in that position. He’s dealt more prospects than anyone.
So then Zavala, Iriarte and Mazur are all “legit” based on your criteria, right?
@pads
No. None of those 3. There’s holes in all their stat lines that could make them fall out. Zavala has a sky high K rate, iriatre whip is high so profiles more as a reliever, and mazur is more of a back of rotation piece. Legit prospects sure, but not legit centerpieces to trade for high end mlb talent. Nice secondary prices though.
I like what else u said ! Results rule over pedigree so Snelling > lesko.
FG is based on ceiling. BA is based on tools and proximity to the majors. MLB Pipeline is a combination of both. BP is the same.
Padres have 6 or 7 guys that will at least make the majors. Lesko has a higher ceiling then Snelling because he has better stuff, but he is coming off TJ so he is lower on most lists.
If you are basing much on numbers in the minors you simply have not attended many games. Tools are a much better indicator of talent until you get to AA and are competing against higher level prospects. Even then you have to take into account the sample sizes of those numbers. These kids are not making 25-30 starts or getting 550 PA at AA.
Power in Ft Wayne and Midwestern league is not the same as power in Lake Elsinore and California league. A 1.5 WHIP could actually indicate you are a pretty good pitcher in the PCL.
Padres had the 7th most prospects in the top 250. When BA and MLB Pipeline do farm system rankings, they don’t just look at the top handful. They look at the entire system beyond those they rank in the top 30 per team. The Padres are solid throughout. That their 2023 1st round draft pick is ranked 8th in their system is ample evidence of that fact.
What an interesting turn of events. Great job out there at MLBTR in getting this posted!
@brew
Not a headliner for a top mlb talent like the top 3.
Snelling is a 19 yr old lefty who just pitched a 100+ innings in his first year as a pro and won 11 games. Idk of another high school pitcher ever that’s done that and I’ve been following minor league baseball for a long time.
Merrill is already in 2a at 20 and hitting a double or better on average every 2.5 games.
Solas can get by on his pedigree.
So there’s a big drop to lesko after that.
Brewers unload woodruff or burnes and they’d do well to land one of those 3. Knowing the padres- they’ll prob go after both at same time lol
Lesko is a better prospect than snelling, he is just behind coming back from Tommy John surgery. Snelling has been great and is on track to being on of the earliest high school pitchers to make the majors. He is ahead of lesko but by this time next year that may not be the case.
As a Brewers fan, I hope they trade Burnes and extend Woodruff. I’d be very happy with Merrill coming back for Burnes as a IF replacement for Adames after 2024.
Not sure Lesko is a better prospect than Snelling. Both are really good prospects. He is just behind in development because he was recovering from TJ surgery. He was drafted much higher based on potential. He is certainly more of a SO artist than Snelling, but Snelling is more well rounded of a pitcher. I still think Snelling will make it to the majors first even though he is younger
Do you really think that the Brewers will get a top 10 prospect in the game for 1 year of Burnes?
LHSP Robbie Snelling looks like a keeper from the highlights I have seen
(unless you can flip him for a young, cost controlled major league starter like Manning from Detroit(that deal would require more players than Snelling).
cbssports.com/mlb/news/tigers-no-hitter-detroit-st…
Agreed with all of the above. Pads went 7-22 in one run games; 0-12 in extras. A lot of bad luck.
I’ve been hoping they’d hire Wash for years now. They interviewed him before they hired Jayce Tingler. I’m not sure if he’s interested in being a manager again but man I’d love to see him with the Padres
There’s a reason no one has hired Wash and it’s not because he hasn’t wanted to manage.
monkey man — can you expound upon why you think no one has hired Wash or is it a secret? These boring, thoughtless comments are not helpful and are better suited for Infowars.
1-12 in extras after last night.
That is more than “bad luck”. That is a failure to play “little ball” and lack of situational hitting in key situations,
Keep Preller as President of Baseball Operations but make Mark Loretta the GM. Mark excels in communicating with others and is already on payroll. If Melvin is problem then hire Mike Shildtas manager.
I agree with this,.
Preller has a lot of great qualities. People like to hammer him on free agent signings and some of the trades but he’s got an eye for talent as far as prospects goes. He’s tore down the farm twice and rebuilt it like it was nothing both times.
They’ll hammer him on Trea Turner, but won’t give him credit for Fernando Tatis Jr
They’ll hammer him on Max Fried but won’t give him credit that he stole Blake Snell from the Rays and Josh Hader from the Brewers
They’ll hammer him on Aaron Nola trade but won’t give him credit for stealing Matt Straham and Tim Hill all those years.
Preller can definitely identify talent but Padres definitely need to let the talent mature instead of signing more expensive free agents.
Ideally they maximize Soto and Kim trade value in the off season. Clear some financial space and fix the rotation issues and pen issues looming.
Head into 2024 with
RF – Tatis Jr
CF – Grisham
LF – Free agent signing, player coming back from Soto/Kim trades, Profar
3B – Machado
SS – Bogaerts
2B – Cronenworth
1B – free agent signing
C – Campusano
Batten has earned himself a super utility role
could use a LF super utility role player too
Profar comes back as a RF, LF, 2B, 1B bench option
Every one of those players you want to applaud AJ for acquiring came at significant cost, either in prospect value or payroll. Straham & Hill?!!? Those two’s performances at Petco are the reason someone like yourself would go by the name Faith in the Padres. No offense. Only pointing out how many leads Hill & Straham pooped away.
I choose to have faith that this time an actual adult will be put in charge. I’m probably wrong. Is that Tim Hill coming in?
Hill had a 3.59 ERA and 107 ERA+ in 2021-2022. Better than league average for relievers. He had 26 holds in 32 opportunities and allowed just 27% of inherited runners to score. Both are better than league average for relievers. This season he spent most of the season pitching though an injured finger that eventually required surgery.
What players and what costs specifically? What was the production received? Vague claims hold no facts. Bring the facts.
You will find some signings and trades were bad. Some were good. Like every GM.
There is no maximizing Soto’s trade value after giving up CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and James Wood to get him.
And no way they trade Kim until after the Korea series unless someone offers something outrageous.
Neither Soto nor Kim will be traded. It’s more likely they are both extended. The Padres are playing in the Korea Series next season and trading Kim would be PR suicide.
Grisham is a non-tender candidate. As good as he is on defense, his offense is an inning killer.
Padres are the favorite to sign Jung Ho Lee out of Korea when he is posted this offseason. He would fill a corner OF spot with Tatis being moved to CF where he wants to play.
There are really no 1B candidates out there in FA that did any better than Cronenworth. I expect a small bounce back from him, so it makes no sense to go after another 1B. Sign Cooper to platoon at DH and play a little 1B.
Campusano has to show he can stay healthy. The Padres need someone like Sanchez that can put on the tools of ignorance 80 games a season if Campusano continues to be so injury prone.
Profar was making $7.75 million this season and for that he put up a -1.3 WAR. He was far below replacement level. He has only been MLB average ONE season in his 10-year career. Guys like Batten, Rosario, and even Azocar produced more this season in limited playing time. Just say no.
Last, but not least. PRELLER did not give the mandate to sign all the superstars that are on the roster today. He followed orders and did what ownership told him to do.
Hoskins might be a better 1B than Cronenworth. Depends on if you are ok with bad defense to get a power bat.
I’ve seen little leaguers play 1B better than Hoskins. He is one of the worst in the league. Hoskins is a poor man’s Kyle Schwarber.
That is a big no on Hoskins for me. He will be expensive and not substantially better than Cronenworth/Cooper at 1B.
That’s hysterical. Are you a Phillies fan?
He is definitely a better bat.
Hitting is only half the game and Hoskins is not a good fielding 1B. Plus he made $12 million in 2022 and is looking at an AAV higher than that in FA. He is a hard no for me with Cronenworth and possibly Cooper available to man 1B.
Soto will not be extended for 500M-600M.
The Padres best play would be to trade Soto
and get at least a Mark Teixeira type return
( Braves-Rangers deal_).
Biggest problem with signing Hoskins is he will cost $15 million AAV. Padres really just need a backup 1B that can also platoon at DH,
Jackson Merrill should be the Padres SS or OFer in 2024
He is the entire package: power, speed, defense, “little ball”.
He is in AA right now and thriving.
Padres should let him win a major league job in Spring Training.
Many great young players skip AAA which can be a parking storage lot for injury back up . depth veteran players.
Xander Bogaerts would look excellent @ 2B or in LF, CF
Merrill did ok in AA, but he didn’t thrive. He had a .782 OPS and played good defense. He might get a shot at the Padres roster later in the 2024 season, but by no means is he ready to take over a starting job after 187 AB of decent but far from great play in AA. He will be back in AA to start the 2024 season.
Soto will either play out the season in SD or be extended. Rumors here in town right now are that he has already been given an offer in the past week. IF he gets 14 years as expected, it will be $450-500 million.
Xander Bogaerts looks excellent at SS. 4.4 WAR. 6th best in MLB in what was a down year for him,
Do you ever get tired of being SO wrong?
Have you listened to broadcasts with Loretta on it? He can’t communicate what is going on in a game let alone communicate the complicated analytics in format the players can use. Anyway, that is the manager’s job.
What is this about Mark Loretta?! Has he ever been a GM?! You know if Preller is Pres of Baseball Ops, the he can just over rule Lorretta on any moves?!
Wash isn’t going anywhere. Loretta is a smart, straight-shooter who’d want to clean house and start fresh. And Acee hasn’t and never will be the most credible source for information. They’re gonna lose Hader, Snell and should trade Soto…aside from that I’m not sure of the list of pending free agents. I know it’s not the biggest move they could make but I really think they find a way to keep Garrett Cooper…
Rumors already floating Melvin next Yankees manager when he’s cut loose.
Keep Melvin for 1 more year.
AJ Preller keep him to Scout Draft, Be Director of Farm Operations
(Pads are paying Preller the big bucks, so just use him where he is most valuable).
Hire Jeff Luhnow to be Pres of Baseball Ops(He built the Astros powerhouse).
If Melvin goes, AJ can’t be the one to fire him. He needs to be busy clearing out his office too.
Seidler needs to offer Theo an ownership stake to come in and mastermind the next Pobre tear down/rebuild
Padres have too many long-term deals in place to tear down and the owner said just a couple months ago that they will stay the course.
While he said that Preller had done an incredible job, he did not show the same confidence in Melvin saying that while he was a great manager and great person he would not go so far as to guarantee he would be back because “its a job”.
Melvin isn’t a top-tier MLB manager. But he is solid.
It would be nice to say this is all Melvin’s fault, he’s uncooperative. But the problem is that Preller’s track record is that he goes through managers like he goes through prospects – they don’t stay with the team long.
Melvin knew the inside story of the Padres when he accepted the position – primarily that Preller is a melomaniac that wants to control everyone and everything to do with the team on the field. It appears that Melvin doesn’t really need the job or the headaches and figured that anything in the managers domain was his and he could care less were he fired – the previous managers couldn’t work with Preller ether.
The problem here is clearly Seidler. He’s not only refused to rein in Preller over the years, he’s actually encouraged Preller to lunge from one direction to another every season or so – never seeing anything through.
I’ve heard at least a month ago that Melvin was gone after the season, whether they fired him or he would quit. I think this “meeting” is just a deflection. The fact appears to be that no qualified MLB manager wants to work for the Padres and “with” AJ Preller.
Between Seidler and Preller I don’t know which has the lowest baseball FO IQ. They’re in the position they’re in because of the sort of egotists they are (baseball is a humbling sport) along with the decisions and actions they’ve taken. The Padres aren’t a ML baseball team – they’re a freak show. Only Seidler’s partners (if they have any influence at all) can encourage Siedler to cut his losses and head in another direction knowing it will take 3 years just to square away the mess.
Must be something in the Southern California air. The Angels owner basically does the same thing as Seidler does.
There’s one big trend we’re seeing in MLB the past few years:
Spending money on bigger and bigger payrolls to get name players not only doesn’t buy a championship, but at some point the long-term contracts handcuff the teams FO and their teams slowly begin to descend then pick up speed.
–
I keep writing:
1. MLB is a young mans game.
2. Older players get hurt more often than younger players, and take longer to heal when they do.
3. Teams have to make the players they have under contract better as the season progresses.
–
The Padres, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox (recent spending), Angels, Cardinals, and even Giants (though they don’t spend as much) are a mess. The Royals, Tigers, A’s, Mets, and (years ago) Nationals were headed that way, but took corrective actions.
You forgot about the Mets. What a dumpster fire that’s become!
“Rock Star’ Preller did a fantastic dismantling the first team he constructed, shedding enormous salary and commencing a rebuild.
Maybe that should be his new task.
I’m not sold on Melvin, these extra inning and 1 run losses are on him.
I agree Melvin has made some shaky decisions in close games . Carpenter has been bad but Preller won’t admit when he makes a mistake and hopes a player turns it around .so Bomel and Preller butt heads with roster .
The season didn’t hinge on keeping Carpenter.
Melvin has only won 4 postseason series in 20 years as a manager.
Yeah, but they were all with the penny-pinchin’ A’s.
So? If you are good enough to make the playoffs you are good enough to win a WS. The worst playoff team in the NL won the NL pennant last 2 years in a row.
2 were with the Padres in 2022. They beat the Mets and the Dodgers.
And the Padres have only had 2 winning seasons out of the 9 that Preller has been there. If I was a Padres fan, I would want them to clean house at this point starting with Preller and moving down from there.
If I were a Yankees fan, then I would be screaming for them to fire Cashman and Aaron Boone
What do you mean “prefer to maintain?” Like, I’d prefer to date Margot Robbie but that would require her consent. This doesn’t require anyone else’s consent. It is solely up to them.
Team ownership needs to be tough and give pink slips
Kevin Acee LOL
But wait, Acee JUST SAID that heads were going to roll, and someone was getting fired, didn’t he? Starting to think I should ignore what Acee writes. Already decided to not renew my subscription to the SDUT when Alden bought the paper.
Someone in Management prolly told him to STFU and backtrack. Someone else from a different faction inside must be feeding Acee the info so it’s likely there is a major rift up and down that (dis) organization. How long before it blows up?
Insider info tells me Acee had a breakdown a few months ago and the new meds are making him cranky
That explains so much. Lololol
Been hearing rumors that the Padres have already made an extension offer to Soto in the last week. Have you heard anything about that?
Prellar hasn’t done jack. Except spend alot of money
HH
Built a team that went to the NLCS last year
Built s team that was (a couple days ago) 10th in run differential this year
Built a team that was (when I checked a couple days ago) 6th in batter WAR and 6th in pitcher WAR
The “Preller hasn’t done anything” talk is some reactionary nonsense
filihok
Built a team that went to the NLCS last year
======================
He’s been there 9 years. I assume that every team in BB has been to the playoffs in the past 9 years.
He’s also had only two .500 seasons in those 9 years.
FWIW, I find him fascinating and BB is more interesting when he is in it. I’ve never seen anyone, ever, trade most of their farm for a player, and then have a top-10 or better farm the following year.
Joe – Angles and Tigers – no. Phillies and Mariners made it last year but would have been added. 2 other teams (royals and Pirates) haven’t for 8 years (and neither would be projected to make it next year) and a few others only have 1 appearance in that time so, 2 is more of an accomplishment than you think so don’t just throw that out as insignificant.
2 is more of an accomplishment than you think so don’t just throw that out as insignificant.
======================
It’s meant to counter the “Built a team that went to the NLCS last year” statement. After 9 years, that’s not that big an accomplishment. Over the same time period, better than half the league will have made the playoffs twice. SD making the playoffs twice is kind of feint praise.
Or put another way, there have been 100 playoff slots over the past 9 years, meaning an average of 3.3 playoff slots per team, on average. And SD only managed to land two of them.
And 11 teams have gone to the WS, but SD is not one of them.
Joe look up how many teams have made it to playoffs at least 2 times and actually won 3 series while making it to the NLCS or ALCS – let’s quit talking apples to oranges and get down to factual reality.
Your unsupported assertions and assumptions are not worth the space that they take up because they are wrong.
I’m just telling you the numbers. In addition to all that, Preller’s overall winning % with SD is .468.
Yet you are NOT telling me the numbers of other GM’s during this time frame thst have accomplished what Preller has accomplished.
2 post season appearances
3 series wins
1 trip to a Conf Series
Your assumptions and guesses and probably should be doesn’t cut it.
How many?
Joe, most of those years the Padres were near the bottom in payroll. The first year they opened the purse strings a little was 2019 when they signed Machado. They started that season 23rd in payroll. The first season they were out of the bottom half in payroll was 2021
In Preller’s first season he was given the edict by Fowler to make a splash and he did. Kemp, the Upton brothers, Shields, Kimbrel, Myers, Norris, Those expensive players didn’t turn a bad team into a winning team overnight. Preller then convinced Fowler to let him do it his way. They made a plan focused on being a playoff team in 2020-2021 and Preller turned those players he had traded for in the 2014-2015 offseason into a restocked the farm system. Part of that restocking was snagging Tatis. Then he convinced the ownership to spend big in 2016, the final season where you could spend as much as you wanted in international free agency.
Once given a shot at spending big money, the Padres went to the playoffs the next season and then returned in 2022.
The most fascinating thing for me to watch is Seidler. There is a guy that understands that you don’t take your money with you when you die. Spend it on something that gives you joy. He took over at the end of 2020 and said lets go get the best of the best regardless of cost. The team is STILL making a profit.
Joe, you are a Red Sox fan and might be missing where the Padres were when Preller took over prior to the 2015 season. They had new ownership. They had not been to the playoffs since 2006. They had only 2 playoff appearances and no playoff series wins in the previous 16 seasons. Padres fans were used to losing.
Then Preller came in and the ownership told him to make a splash and he did. Even though it didn’t work out, as fans we were delighted. I may have hated that they brought in Kemp, Shields, Kimbrel, and the Uptons long before I felt they had a chance to contend for a playoff spot, but I was happy they were doing SOMETHING for a change.
After the 2015 season when they told us they had a plan to make the playoffs in 2020-2021 we collectively said “yeah right, we will believe it when we see it”. Well, we saw it. Then we saw them go all the way to the NLCS in 2022.
Padres fans responded by coming to the park in droves. Next season will be no different as 2024 season tickets are already sold out just based on renewals.
As far as ownership goes, Preller has done exactly what he told them he would do once they allowed him to do things his way. It has worked. Now they need to stay the course a couple more season to see if that ring is possible to achieve.
Your playoff slots example doesn’t hold up to scrutiny because of the number of teams that have been in the playoffs every season or almost every season. Dodgers, Yankees, Rays, Cardinals, etc… Those teams skew the numbers greatly.
JB
His first attempt fell flat.
When everyone was excited about the team getting Kemp and Upton and Myers and whoever else it was and thought they were going to take over the world, I was unimpressed. Looked like a lot of rearranging the deck chairs to be.
This time it looks a lot more real
.
That tells any thinking person, the Preller is in the WRONG JOB.
He is a Farm Director, not a Pres of Baseball Ops or a GM).
With all the great young talent Preller has traded, he could have built 2-3 contending teams,.
SF zeroes
An actual thinking fan, not one with a rotted hot-taek-brain would see that his team was in the NLCS last year (though the playoffs are even more random than the regular season) and had a team that (last him I checked) was 10th in run differential and 6tb in both batter and pitcher WAR.
Apparently YOU are not a thinking person. Preller has done EXACTLY what he promised Seidler he would do. See my post above for more info. You know, the one you DIDN’T comment on because there was nothing you could question.
Padres have many areas of weakness that need improvement:
Starting pitching, bench, bullpen,.
CF (Trent Grisham is a 4th or 5th OF Or AAA injury back up on most contending teams and his below the mendoza line .198 BA)
Padres are lacking depth(traded away)for the inevitable injuries to the INF, OF and pitching staff.
Padres need more situational hitting, speed on the bases, the ability to create runs in clutch situations against dominant pitching.
Padres need to develop their young players instead of sending most of them out of town to other teams in one sided, lopsided trades favoring opposing teams.
Preller and the Padres have been “taken to the cleaners” on many of his trades including: Juan Soto/Josh Bell for the building blocks of the Padres contending team (in a few years) for the next 8 years after that.
The Guardians Clevinger Trade, according to Cleveland Media,was a “franchise changing trade” for Cleveland that won the Division for the Guardians and put them in the playoffs hunt every year.
Soto deal was a huge gamble.
It would be defensible, short term, if it lead to a Padres World Series Championship win in 2022 or anytime during Soto’s time with San Diego.
It has not so far! It backfired last year. Soto and Josh Bell both went into the tank and did not hit after the Trade deadline last year and cost the Padres a possible World Series Championship because of their lack of performance.
CJ Abrams is already one of the better, young shortstops in the league, he is only 22 and has not even hit his prime yet. Future All Star. He will be compared to Trey Turner (another dumb deal by Preller).
OFs Woods and Hassell III are just what the Padres need, but they were given away to the Nats along with a foundational starter in their rotation now, and another on the way in their minor league pipeline..
You and AJ Preller should get together on a fantasy baseball league that deals ONLY with stats and that does not take into consideration the cornucopia of other factor that make MLB Teams Championship teams.
Teams that spent a lot of money and OVERLY RELIED ON STATISTICAL ANALYSIS that will not win a Championship this year include:
The Padres, the Yankees, the Mets and more!
The Rays, Guardians, Nationals and others have some of the former Padres young starters in their rotations. Other Padres farmhands and players are in other teams bullpens and doing well.
Not going to waste a lot of time with statistical analysis since it is only one factor of very many that a winning Pres of Baseball ops and GM must use to be successful, make the playoffs and win
Championships.
Built a very expensive team that will be sitting on the couch watching the playoffs.
Juan – in case Joe is watching I want to commend you for making a 100% accurate statement that cannot be refuted – assuming cubs / Marlins or Reds win 1 more game.
I don’t have any issue with what you obviously intend as a negative toward Preller because it’s based on correct facts.
Joe and LFG on the other hand tend to spout off inaccuracies and assumptions (wrong ones proven by real facts) and well, they are what they are.
My numbers are never wrong.
You just don’t look at the right numbers or apply them accurately!
So will the team with the most playoff appearances this century. So will the $330 million Mets. In fact, 4 of the top 6 spending teams will be sitting at home this playoff season. You know what else is true? Its the first time in history that has happened.
LTC
Joe’s comment about watching the playoffs from the couch can absolutely be refuted and is pure speculation and not fact
Perhaps they will be watching from armchairs. Or from a hammock. Or from inside a private just. Or at a bar. Or not watching at all.
You are technically correct. I was allowing a more generalized characterization of how we tend to consider eliminated teams.
To your point, I’d be on an island somewhere drinking rum drinks and listening to steel drums!
The Padres’ biggest issue this past season was their inability to close games. Too many one run losses, extra innings losses, doubleheader losses, hardly any walkoff wins. That is something that, to me, points back to team chemistry issues, especially considering all of the talent that this club has.
DrD
To me it’s a team that got unlucky
You’re speculating on things you can’t possibly know
That many one run losses and lack of success in extra innings points to just 3 things.
#1 – Bad luck.
#2 – Bad managerial decisions.
#3 – A combination of both.
I am going with #3.
You don’t want to win baseball games if you’re leaving .180 BA/ > 30% SO,
37 year old Carpenter on the 26 man roster in late June. Mind blown.
The roster is full of holes.
A handful of star players more worried about piling up individual stats than doing what it takes to win games even if it means a little hit to your batting average or your walks totals go down etc.
SN
You don’t know how to evaluate baseball if you’re citing batting average as a measure of batter productivity
Carpenter was bad in the 1st half. .614 OPs and 70 OPS+. But Preller was right to ask Melvin to continue to platoon him at DH. His 2nd half OPS was .757 and his OPS+ was 111..
The extensive article in the Atlantic about the Padres’ disappointing season revealed a terrible working relationship between Preller and Melvin and it’s a bad idea to keep them both. It might be better to dismiss them both rather than retain either.
What came first the losing or the discontent? The Chicken or the Acee?
The Athletic, not Atlantic. In that article all current players and staff said that the relationship was good. Only former players and staff had negative comments. That held true even though they knew that all comments would be anonymous. Curious isn’t it that even when anonymous, none of the current players or staff said anything negative?
Pads can win with both those guys separated: Preller as Farm Dir,
Melvin as Manager, and a New Pres of Baseball Ops.
Melvin will likely be either fired or retire. Preller will remain in his position because he has done exactly what he was hired to do.
Preller was hired to build and stripmine/destroy the Padres farm system and pipeline of young players 2X?!
How many Pennants and World Series Championships has Preller won with the Padres. ZERO, ZILCH.
We are finally getting some complainers names. These are two names that make sense.
Carp has been bad and benched for a very long time. He is frustrated because he isn’t getting any playing time or wasn’t before IL stint and isn’t being let go. He is under contract for next year so preller is hoping that he can get better or maybe they can move his contract next off season. I’m sure there has been some rift between preller and Melvin on carp.
The other is hader. Hader has refused to get more than 3 outs in a game. He hasn’t done it all year, zero attempts even. He was asked about it the other day and said he has been doing everything. Hader is playing this season out to get paid next year. He is by his comments a major me player on a team that has a lot of egos.
Hader is great at what he does but he is also the only padres reliever not to try and get 4 outs a single time during the season. It’s not that Melvin didn’t want him to it was hader saying that he won’t. Zero chance he will be back next year and my guess is this could hurt him some in free agency. Not sure where the rift is on this one. Is it Melvin wanting him to pitch more and preller saying nah you’re good. Or the other way around but there is some frustration there somewhere.
Probably have some from Martinez as well who we said could get a chance to start. He did but got a quick hook to the pen while we started guys like rich hill. So I’m sure he isn’t happy about that.
Hader got quite a few four outs when he was with the Brewers. He’s close to FA so he doesn’t want to ruin that opportunity. He whined when he left the Brewers saying there only goal was win the NL central.
I didn’t see in that article where Carpenter complained.
I did see where the writer posited that Hader complained about potential overuse when he is going to be a FA at the end of the season. Hader has proven he is not a team player. Good riddance. HE is a problem. Not anything the team did in conversation about or with him. His job was to take the ball when asked and help the team get to the playoffs.
Preller left day to day lineup 100% up to Melvin. The two articles Acee has written say so. Melvin has said so. Preller has said so. Other baseball writers have reported that was the case. If Carpenter was not played, that was because Melvin decided not to play him. The GM decides who is on the roster, the manager decided who played day to day.
A “relentless work ethic” is NEVER a fault. Ever. Its the road to success. Every one of those players on the field either has a relentless work ethic or they are not consistently good players. Why Acee would even try to paint that as a negative says volumes about him.
I am going to say something others have said and I am coming to believe is the truth of the matter. Kevin Acee was told he needed to start writing more sensationalistic articles if he was going to keep his job under the new SDUT ownership. They didn’t care about truth, just readership. He responded by writing more and more articles based on innuendo and fewer based on fact. That seems to be a huge problem with the media today, even the sports media. We saw that same thing with the Athletic once the NY Times took over. What was once the bastion of facts, became the home of opinion and innuendo.
Let me add one thing. When he took this job, Melvin said he would only manage through 2024. That was it for him even if the team was winning. Then he forced the Padres to hire an “Associate Manager” in order for him to take the job. In 2023 he has taken the season off. In his words, he took a hands off approach to managing.. Let him walk into the sunset now and get a guy that WANTS to be there and WANTS to work with the FO.
Believe me or not, I come in here to read and drop a few dumb takes now and then, but I also happen to have ties to the inner core of the Pads and the media. And your comment above struck me as exceeding spot on to reality. Especially about SDUT and media at large.
Acee may be following a dirt directive, but he’s losing integrity among many of his peers. And that still carries great consequence.
Acee has inside sources.
Management is floating “trial balloons” with the fanbase.
It is like a company’s market research.
They are just gauging fan reaction to various courses of action.
Acee got fundamental things wrong in his two articles. Since the paper was sold almost all his articles have had a negative bent and never named sources. No facts, just rumors. Just not credible anymore.
The owner doesn’t rely on negative articles in the newspaper to gauge what he should do next. He has a plan. One that since the end of the 2015 season Preller has executed well. The ownership and Preller said the plan was to make the playoffs in 2020-2021 and they did. Then they went back in 2022 and got all the way to the NLCS. They had a record attendance in PEtco this season and season tickets are already sold out for next season just on renewals. They are guaranteed another very profitable season. That is BECAUSE of what Preller has done.
A couple months ago Seidler said they were going to stay the course. That payroll would be around the same in 2024. Said Preller would be around to see the plan through. But would not say the same for Melvin.
We already knew when Melvin was signed that he would only be the manager here through 2024. How do we know? Melvin said so. I don’t think he gets that last season unless he can convince Seidler that he will follow the plan they have had in place and do what Preller asks of him. Otherwise Melvin will be retired before 2024 even starts.
Question for the Padre fans: how many prospects has Preller traded that turned out to be something? Curious if you think he’s done a good job dealing pieces that haven’t made a big impact in the majors.
Contracts/signings is another story.
He has traded so many prospects that just by volume some will pan out and be good for other teams. There have been a few though the best ones were in the 2014/15 attempt to win when they traded Turner and Max.
The list of players on this team he has traded for is pretty large. Tatis, cronenworth, Grisham, hader, darvish, snell, mustgrove, Soto are the main guys.
The big free agents on the team currently are manny and Xander. Preller does most of his work via trades. Seidler the owner has even commented saying there are two types of currency to acquire players. Cash and prospects…they have spent both to do so. So while people want to hammer preller for trading so many guys. His owner literally said he looks at them (prospects) as currency.
Max took a long time to get to being a good reliable starter though and could still be an injury problem.
Turner is definitely the sure bet for the best because of how good and enough years to consider.
Abrams – wait and see but probably as good as Turner but you know, you get Soto you have to give up talent right?
Quantrill – injury offset by a pretty fair year and just have to wait and see but he isn’t more than a 3-4.
Naylor – again lost a year for injury but can hit but no D. Traded when NL didn’t have DH so what can you say?
France – rapid decline every year from the start but still young enough to maybe be solid 10 year guy but not a star.
Bednar – he could be a good closer type for a few years but who knows with closers when they tank? Also, needed Musgrove and not a closer in waiting for next year so, have to trade quality for quality.
Gore – never turned out to the the next Kershaw and probably (long enough to say it) won’t ever hit he can be a solid 3-4 for years. Future Talent for now talent. He was projected to hit it in 2021 as the new long term ace and well, regressed due to 2020.
Munoz – was injured with high ceiling but still in minors (and had serious control issues) came back and looks good – see Bednar above.
That is a fair list of anyone that has been in the show to be measured by what they are doing.
Max – He was 18 when he was drafted and had TJ 4 months before he was traded so it makes sense it took him a while to become a viable ML starter. Justin Upton walked after just 1 year.
Quantrill – Padres got nothing out of that trade
Naylor – See Quantrill. Also, NL DH was inevitable by that point
France – Actually has the most total WAR of anyone Preller drafted (so far at least) even if his 2023 was a bummer. Padres also didn’t exactly get value out of that trade
Bednar – It really comes down to whether you would rather have the no-hitter or a cheap, elite closer because the Padres didn’t make the WS in 2021 or 2022 and Joe would have signed with them anyway.
Gore – He’ll be an ace, just you wait and see.
Munoz – Has been elite when healthy and Padres didn’t get value out of that trade
You also forgot the Adam Frazier-Jack Suwinski trade, the Brett Nicholas – Emmanuel Clase trade, the Manuel Margot – Emilio Pagan trade and possibly the Brent Rooker – Cam Gallagher trade among bad A. J. Preller trades.
LFG troll – You never cease to amaze with your crystal ball and you hindsight glasses.
LFG — You forgot about the trade where your GM traded for Hitler and gave up a skeksie and two gelflings.
Rooker has 29 home runs for the A’s
Oddly enough, in my experience, it is those who say things like “So you have a crystal ball?” that have the least compelling arguments to make.
I get that you have to cope with Preller constantly losing trades somehow, but there comes a time when you just have to face reality.
Rooker exceeded Rookie status while with the Twins in 2021. He was never a Padre “prospect” and had not done anything when given an opportunity.
As for Rooker – he was acquired in trade with Taylor Rodgers who had a great season going for Padres when he was traded for Hader.
So, if you consider trading away Rooker as a Preller loss, you have to then consider his acquisition (with Rogers who helped get Hader) a win so they offset at the worst.
You can’t have it both ways in these conversations.
“Gore he will be an ace. Just you wait and see.”
Ok, I stated that as a Padre fan I read/heard this since he was drafted. First it was 2021 and then 2022. He has never shown control to be an ace and so far his results are back of rotation (4 maybe). He has potential but he has been riding potential for about 5 years now. At some point actual stats take over.
The only way you can make your statement is if you have a crystal ball or a complete unawareness of his actual history causing you to hang on to the hype of a highly touted high school draftee that hasn’t planned out as projected – like about 95% of them.
Why do you give Preller all the credit for the good trades like Tatis and Crone but none of the blame for the bad trades like Myers and Clevinger? Why is that? Preller might not have known that Clevinger would get injured and Turner would be an All Star but he also didn’t know that Tatis and Crone would pan out the way they have.
At the end of the day, these guys are paid to get it right more often than not. Preller hasn’t done that.
LFG troll – I am fine with spreading it both ways. Maybe, the reason why you think differently is because guys like you only lay the blame so, guys like me only come back with the good.
We don’t have to lay blame – you so they for us.
Isn’t it really that obvious?
All GM’s that have made more than 4 or 5 trades have some good and some bad – and believe it or not some that are a wash.
If Preller gets the credit for trades like Tatis and Cronenworth he also has to take, the blame, for trades like Clevinger and Myers. That’s all I’m saying.
Disagreeing with you doesn’t make one a troll.
By the way, you still think Matt Carpenter will opt out? I’m not forgetting that one.
Naylor had no where to play and he was no longer a prospect when traded. Didn’t think of Bednar or Munoz. Thanks
Gore has not bee league average yet. Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t.
Preller’s 3 outfielder trades at the 2014 winter meetings are easily the worst trades he has made as a GM. Only other trade that might eventually end up in that tier is Juan Soto if the Padres don’t win the World Series in 2024 or if Soto gets traded this offseason (which I don’t think he will). While this wasn’t the case for the longest time, most Padres fans nowadays seem to see those 3 trades for what they are.
The Austin Nola trade wasn’t good but seems to get overhated by many Padres fans. I think Ty France being an SDSU alum might have something to do with it.
If there’s two trades that Preller doesn’t get enough heat for, it’s the first Frazier trade and the Brett Nicholas – Emmanuel Clase trade. Not just because of what they gave up but because of what they got back.
Ok, explain how you can pre determine that the Soto trade will be a bust if he trades Soto when you don’t even know what the return is yet?
See, that is why haters just hate without needing actual facts to justify their hate – they don’t need facts. They make up their minds to hate and they is that.
Because it will mean he sold off all his best prospects/post-prospects in exchange for prospects that aren’t as good.
And I have ZERO interest in listening to your prognostication about how Preller can flip Soto for a better package than the one he gave up to get him.
You mean trades he made because Fowler told him to make a splash? Seriously?
Before the end of the 2015 season Preller convinced Fowler and the rest of the ownership group that starting where they were what they had asked him to do didn’t work and they set in motion a VERY public plan to contend in 2020-2021.
That started by trading away Kemp, Shields, Kimbrel, the Uptons, and lots of other pieces to rebuild the farm system in 2016. That worked as their farm was top 3 in a year.
Then he convinced them to spend huge in 2017, the very last season you could spend as much as you wanted in international FA. Yes, they paid huge fines, but the foundation of talent is still impacting the team. Part of that haul brought back Snell. A HUGE win for the Padres.
From the first interview he did, Peter Seidler described prospects as capital to be used to bring in proven talent. It was SEIDLER driving trading prospects for proven players. It worked. In 2020 the Padres made the playoffs right on schedule.
They returned to the playoffs again in 2022, going all the way to the NLCS.
You seem to want to talk about the few bad trades, but are not willing to discuss the incredibly good trades. Tatis alone is worth more than Clase, Suwinski, and Fried combined.
Fried didn’t break out until 2019, 5 YEARS after he was traded in late 2014. Upton produced 4.2 WAR for the Padres in that one season.
Suwinski was coming off a season in A= ball where he hit .208 with a .652 OPS in the hitter haven of Lake Elsinore when he was traded. He was not in the Padres top 30 prospects. No one, least of all you, expected him to become a league average player like he has for the Pirates in 2023. 4 years later. Not a huge loss. He would not have made the 2023 Padres team even as a backup. The biggest piece of that trade was Tucapita Marcano who has produced a negative WAR.
Clase was in ROOKIE ball when he was traded to the Rangers, had a 6.00 ERA in 2017, and was not even in the Padres top 30 prospects. No one, least of all you, expected him to be a good closer for the Guardians in 2021 and 2022.
Don’t forget that the Padres RECEIVED some value in those trades too. Frazier supplied 1.0 WAR in 2 months. Kemp produced 3 WAR.
So many things wrong with this. But I’ll just go over the highlights.
Justin Upton wasn’t traded by the Padres. He walked for a QO pick.
The Padres’ big international splurge was in 2015l6, not 2017 and not a single player from that group has succeeded as a Padre in the majors (granted that entire year’s international class has mostly busted with a few exceptions, not just the ones the Padres signed).
Frazier and Kemp actively made the team worse before even taking into account what was given up for them. Frazier didn’t hit at all and pushed the Padres over the luxury tax threshold. Kemp cost a bunch of money, didn’t get along with his teammates, had no business playing the field anymore and was traded for Hector Olivera who the Padres immediately released and ate his whole contract.
You are falling into the same trap as Longtimecoming of giving Preller all the credit for the good trades but none of the blame for the bad ones. Tatis and Cronenworth were both wonders of scouting whereas Frazier and Clevinger were just bad luck. Good trades on paper that didn’t work out.
Finally, you were hankering for Preller to be fired as early as 7.5 years ago but are now defending him. What happened?
It was the 2016-2017 group that included Morejon, Patino, Baez, and all those great prospects in a group of 54 signings.
baseballamerica.com/stories/2016-international-rev…
12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiegouniontri…
None of them has panned out for the Padres, but they did get traded for some great players. You mentioned Snell, but they were part of other trades including Darvish.
Morejon, Patino, Baez and that class of international free agents were signed in the 2016-2017 class that opened in July of 2016. That massive class has brought back Snell and others in trade.
You are correct that Justin Upton was not traded.
Kemp had a 2.2 WAR in 2015. He was not the MVP caliber player he was with the Dodgers, but he was above average that first season. The Padres RF in 2014 put up a combined 0.9 WAR. Kemp made the team better.
Trading Grandal was bad, Getting Kemp was not.
Frazier was a bad trade not in what they gave up to get him, it was that he was not a great fit on the squad. Padres didn’t need a 2B. He produced 1.0 WAR in two months which is a 3.0 WAR pace. That is well above league average.
Your problem is you are a Preller hater and refuse to even look at what he has done well since they started allowing him to spend some money in 2019 and beyond.
Unless this account is another Ryan account, you never posted here before this season. So are you Ryan part huit?
Was Ryan also the monkey ate my shoes guy?
Those players all signed in 2016.
Dodgers should have had to do what the Padres did with Hosmer to trade Kemp (attach 2 prospects and eat the entire contract).
Frazier was a bad fit, didn’t hit at all as a Padre, pushed them over the luxury tax threshold and then Jack Suwinski was probably one of the biggest ASG snubs this year along with Blake Snell. Tucu Marcano was always ticketed for trade but they could have done better than 2 months of Frazier.
Not a Preller hater. I base my opinion on his trades on the process and the outcome not the person making them.
Long time listener, first time caller. What is your obsession with this Ryan guy?
The 2016-2017 International FA signing period started July 2, 2016.
4 or 5 that I can think of off the top of my head.
Turner for sure.
France for two seasons and Abrams for one season.
Cal Quantrill, but for me he has not been consistent nor stayed healthy
I know there is one other I want to mention but for the life of me I cannot remember who.
Trea was one off the top of my head. I’m not high on Quantrill. I think he’s the recipient of a bad division, and he’d struggle outside of the AL Central IMO.
@Pads Fans Max Fried, Jack Suwinski or Emmanuel Clase by chance?
I left out a whole bunch of incredibly good trades for the Padres if you want to go back to 2016. Tatis has been worth more than all of them combined in WAR.
Standout trades for Preller are Tatis, Cronenworth and the two trades he made with Miami in July 2016.
Musgrove, Darvish, Hader just to name the most recent big trades.
There is a long list of Padres Prospects that Preller has traded that are doing well for many other major league rosters including the A’s (Leading home run hitter), Mariners 1st baseman and others, Nats: SS, LHSP, 2 future star OFs and more pitching, Indians 3-4 players (Clevinger deal) that became the core of a contending team, Rays starting pitcher, OF and much more
The fact that you consider Brent Rooker a former Padre prospect makes you a non-credible source.
From there, I address led France; the Cleveland players and the Nats SS and LHSP so not sure why you are adding or doing there.
This other stars – they aren’t start until they are.
If you mean Eflin as the Rays Starter –
He was traded in 2014 and didn’t become an All defective starter (based on stats) until 2023. A few “meh” years but nothing to cry over happening.
None of whose names you actually know.
The Padres have become a farm system to many other teams in MLB.
Teams love to trade their aging veterans and players they cannot sign to the Padres because they know AJ Preller gives away way too much in players and prospects for the player(s) they are sending to San Diego.
Wonderboy, what is the secret of your power?
Melvin’s extra inning and bullpen decisions this season have been horrible. If he does better in a small percentage, they get to the playoffs. His fascination with Luis Garcia was such a head-scratcher. Never could understand it.
Padres have no hitters on the bench and no depth. Padres are one of the worst teams in MLB with 2 out. Padres win 11 to 1 and then lose 5 by one run then score another 10 runs. padres are very inconsistent as hitters.
Actually, if they are healthy, they are ok on the bench. Having Campusano out 1/2 the season, Nola getting his face smashed in ST causing vision issues, Azocar out with elbow issues, etc would have made a difference. Profar deciding to opt out hurt us bc it caused Preller to go after Carpenter. Getting aged veterans such as Carp and Cruz wasn’t the best thing.
Padres have a 115 OPS+ with 2 outs. They are 15% better than a league average team.
baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&te…
Where the Padres have done poorly has been with RISP. They have a 93 OPS+, or 7% below league average.
That is because the Padres/Preller traded away all their young depth players to other ballclubs for higher salaried, declining vets.
WTF are you talking about?
That is because Preller has sent much of the Padres young depth to the Nats, the Guardians, the Rays, the Brewers, the Mariners etc.
Padres aren’t as good as most here said they’d be last year, but they also aren’t as bad as people here are acting now.
They’ll figure it out eventually but the Rockies are struggling bad. Colorado will never build a World Series winner because they can’t get good pitching. They should move to Salt Lake or Portland. Denver is just too high in elevation
This proves one thing. The players that want to play for San Diego are going for the money and the weather!!!!
How on earth does Preller keep his job. “Overpay and under deliver” is the team motto.
Shift Preller’s responsibilities to Drafts, Scouting, Finding Talent.
AJ is very good at scouting, finding talent, drafting, signing international free agents and stocking the farm teams..
Hire a 2nd Person to make the trades, roster moves, sign free agents etc. who reports directly to Seidler.
Give Melvin strong input into players acquired in trades and free agency.
If you can keep AJ and Melvin separated so they won’t kill each other, then let Melvin
continue to Manage in ’24.
Melvin does best when he is left alone and is not micromanaged like in Oakland’
where he won with a lot less talent and younger players trying to get established in the big leagues.
These problems are solvable for the Padres.
AJ Preller is too intense, too much of a micromanager.
Veteran Managers like Bruce Bochy won’t work under that kind
of a high stress, micromanaging from the Front Office environment
where the Front Office sucks the oxygen out of the dugout and Clubhouse.
Preller and Melvin are two trains on separate tracks going in different directions.
Preller wants to program the computer to make all the decisions.
Melvin wants to manage with his brain, experience, people skills etc
Melvin looks at the stats and reports, but he won’t let the statisticians manage for him.
Can we switch your responsibilities to reading and not commenting?
As a Dodgers fans this is excellent news. I want the Padres to be as dysfunctional as possible.
Dodger fans should be worried about the Braves and Phillies rather than reliving the burn of last October
Preller has consistently made flashy signings with little to show for it. This isn’t the first time he made a bunch of flashy signing that didn’t work. He doesn’t know how to build a roster that plays well together.
Initially, I assumed Preller had been keeping his job because he had naked pics of Seidler. Now, I’m starting to assume that Seidler has naked pics of Preller
That’s weird and creepy.
I guess the plan is to keep it toxic.
“Preferred” is awesome. Sort yourselves out or we will, gentlemen. I like it.
I wonder what the Madres approach will be regarding Soto. Trade him, sign him, go all in for one year? Should be interesting, with Preller you never know.
Reports today are the padres will make a very god offer and there is a very good chance he stays with the padres.
Won’t be Preller’s decision either way. It will be Seidler’s decision.
Based on his previous comments, I think he will do everything he can to extend the 24 year old superstar. Tatis and Soto in the Padres OF for the next decade plus would be fantastic.
Seriously doubt that Padres will pay Soto 500-600M
and leave huge holes in Rotation, bullpen, OF, bench because budget is “tapped out”.
Soto is t getting close to 600m, be very lucky to get to 500m at this point.
That is too much to pay for one player who can only play one position at a time and who only bats once every 9 times that the team comes to the plate.
Soto cannot pitch.
He is no Ohtani.
What are you talking about? Padres already made him an offer in the past week. Signing him leaves no more holes than are there now and would not keep them from signing anyone. He won’t be traded and he will already make $30 million in arbitration.
The budget is not “tapped out”. In fact, the owner of the team said they will spend around the same amount next season. I believe the guy signing the checks and not a baseball writer who gets paid for clicks, not reporting what is actually going on.
As usual you are talking out your behind.
Soto had a great season. Not his personal best, but still top 10-12 in the game. 5.8 WAR (12th) .930 OPS (9th) 158 OPS+ (7th) Runs Created (6th) He is 24.
Combine those things and unless he takes a Padres discount, he is getting paid $500 million over 14 years.
Hanging on by a thread.
Bottom line Preller was hired to procure talent and build a roster that makes sense and keeps in contention annually. He was given unusually large amounts of cash. With that comes a responsibility to use those resources wisely. He accomplished putting people in the seats but being only game in town the Pads get 2.5 mill even with a bad team. He squandered the resources on the field by overpaying talent, leaving the farm and roster depth void and constructing an incoherent lineup with far too many outs on the back end. Far worse he’s handcuffed the teams future with immovable contracts
The Pads got 3.1 million, not 2.5. Next year is sold out. Great fans. Farm was void but already back in top 10, amazing
Actually over 3.2m and you are right he has already rebuild the farm with more to be added via international draft in Jan.
Do you really think that Preller made the decisions on ANY of the big contracts? That billionaires just said, ‘here is my money, spend it any way you want”?
Preller’s job is to put the players on the roster. Obviously those players are good enough to win because other than adding Tatis back to the roster and signing Bogaerts, its the same team that went to the NLCS last season. The only times the Padres won a post season series in this century was with Preller as GM. They did it in both 2020 and 2022. The last time before that was 1998.
He also put 3.2 million in the stands. 700k more than the best season in the past 16 years. The last time the Padres hit 2.5 million was 2007. Next season the Padres season tickets are already sold out. Another 3+ million.
The Padres farm system is top 10 today and they are expected to sign the #2 overall international prospect when the signing period opens in January, boosting that ranking even more.
I don’t see how you could have said more things wrong if you tried to get it all wrong.
I’ve wondered about Preller since he was hired. I was on a plane with him around that time. He seemed then to be very full of himself and his capabilities. The kind that rubs people the wrong way almost immediately. I wondered if the new gig was going to overexpose him.
Know the type of guy who drives a car that costs as much as his home…cause he likes flash more than risking depreciating value? Yeah that was Preller. He had a bigger than the game attitude. Why he got caught up in the scouting scandal. I can’t say I’m super surprised the Padres have disappointed over his tenure.
Bob Melvin BUILT his career on being amiable to a very good A’s front office. You done work if he doesn’t like you.
Watch him driving into the team parking lot at the stadium 50 times a season and he is always in an early 2000s sedan. He wears khakis and polo shirts most days. Always looks like he has not slept in 3 days. One thing Preller is not is flashy.
The car was an analogy. I was stating my viewpoint as he went into the job. Perhaps it’s like the President. They get 20 years older during a 4 year term. Oh, I can assure you atleast at one point he was an acquired taste
Web is wrong about Preller in one way. He is not afraid to flash his knowledge of baseball in conversations. He revels in it. The guy is a baseball rat to the core. If you ask a good baseball question at a charity event you might have to wait through a 10 minute answer before he takes a breath. I have been the recipient of those answers several times.
But in terms of his appearance he is quite the opposite. If you see him sitting in the stands at a game you would never know he is a baseball executive that is making millions per year. He looks like the brother-in-law that was given free tickets to the game. When you see him out in the Gaslamp before or after the game he looks more like a shy accountant type guy than a baseball guy. He certainly does not dress flashy. We are not talking about Larry Lucchino or Theo Epstein here.
“Web” IS you!
What I said was even if they just turn on the lights they get 2.5 and actually got 3.2
They had not had 2.5 million since 2007.
Got back to SD last night and all the rumors on the local radio are about Soto getting an extension offer. Lots of speculation about the amount. Anywhere from 10/400 to 14/500.
Peter Seidler said he wants both Preller and Melvin back. Its not just a report. Acee missed a lot of key points in his attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill. One of those points is that Seidler said he believes in Preller and his plan for the team. It appears to me that Melvin is going to have to step in line with that plan or step away. Seidler referred to his statement back in July that the team would not be changing course. Acee conveniently left all that out of his article in order to spread rumors that would get more people to read his article.
The offseason is going to be interesting for the Padres.
Again! Acee has inside sources.. He was publicizing issues the Padres wanted out there to gauge fan and public reactions that had been discussed in Padres management meetings
Companies do it all the time.market research.
Very likely that it was true info from some of the management factions in Padres Front Office and Ownership Group.
Final Decisions have not been made yet and could be different from what was discussed in meetings.
Already blew all those arguments out of the water. The facts say he is wrong. Peter Seidler’s words say he is wrong. Try again.
Preller may work hard, and he certainly has made good draft picks. Overall, Mike Rizzo would thank Preller for handing the Nats a prospect named Trea Turner (and Joe Ross, who had two Tommy Johns, sadly), and then all the prospects for Juan Soto. And the jokes are already starting…Preller gave the Nats their last two starting shortstops, so maybe Rizzo will snag a 2B this offseason?
Sadly, in 3-4 years fans will be watching multiple former Padres on the NL All Star Team and a Nats team contending for another World Series.
Padres will still be suffering from Preller’s bloated payrolls and give away trade deals.
But do you really think that this only applies to the padres?
Look at an all star lineup and tell us just how many of those guys are home grown and stayed with the team that drafted them.
The Padres are not a cohesive unit, just a bunch of drama queens