The Padres franchise has been stuck in something of a holding pattern for the past five seasons, garnering between 71 an 77 wins each season despite various attempts at rebuilds. In the process, particularly the most recent version which imported James Shields, Matt Kemp and The artist formerly known as B.J. Upton at substantial prices, the Padres haven’t exactly left themselves with a loaded farm system despite a handful of promising prospects. The Pad’s farm system consistently is ranked at or near the bottom among all MLB systems.
The Padres also face a problem in that their pitching-friendly park seems not to have given them any significant advantage on the mound, and their hitting was actually worse on the road in theoretically friendlier confines.
So entering the process my idea was to lose at least one large salary, trim the age a little bit and address a couple of key needs (specifically shortstop and starting pitching depth).
Pitching
Most notably gone other than free agents such as Ian Kennedy and Brandon Morrow were James Shields, Tyson Ross, Craig Kimbrel and the very useful Kevin Quackenbush totally around $44 million. Replacing these are Neftali Feliz, Drew Pomeranz, Drew Hutchison and Edinson Volquez at $17.6 million.
For reference, James Shields doubled his walk and home run rates last season while posting ERA’s of 3.21 and 3.91. He’ll be 34 in December and will pull down $21 million each year for the next three seasons (club option in 2019). Edinson Volquez who doesn’t turn 33 until July, has improved his walk and home run rates the past two seasons, while posting 3.04 and 3.55 ERAs.
Ross, who turns 29 the first month of the season gets replaced by Pomeranz and Hutchison who are 27 and 25 coming into next season, Pomeranz coming off an excellent season in a mixed role with Hutchison leaving a park that was very friendly to him (2.91 ERA at home vs. 9.83 in 57.2 ip away).
Kimbrel is a premium closer, but there no question that the Padres can’t afford this luxury in a rebuilding season. Feliz Was excellent upon his return in Texas in 2014, though less good in 2015.
Infield
In the infield the Padres have essentially nothing. Despite showinh some short periods of offensive competence, Jedd Gyorko has regressed as a player and doesn’t really field any position well. Yangervis Solarte, whom I sent off, fielded third reasonably well but very difficult to carry his bat at that position. Alex Amarista can field the middle infield, but offensively is best suited for a utility role. Further, the Padres system is without a single shortstop anywhere near in the pipeline. So we acquired Jose Iglesias and Brett Lawrie. In outsourcing Shields, we had to take back Billy Butler so first will be split between Yonder Alonso and Butler if Butler’s isn’t simply eaten. Wil Middlebrooks comes back for $1.5 million.
Outfield
Outfield is a true mess with Justin Upton leaving, Melvin Upton and Matt Kemp staying with their immense contracts. Rounding out the problem is Wil Meyers who may or may not round into an offensive player. This leave the Padres with two dreadful outfielder (Myers and Kemp) and a really good outfielder who takes all that value back at the plate in Melvin Upton. To “fix” this we acquired Ben Revere with the idea that when Kemp and/or Upton gets moved (in a contract-eating swap later in the season) Revere takes over and at least provides fly-catching until Rymer Liriano, Travis Jankowski and/or Hunter Renfroe are ready to go. This is the one area of their minor league system with some possible additions.
25 man roster
Catchers: Derek Norris/Josh Thole
1b: Yonder Alonso/Billy Butler
2B: Jedd Gyorko
SS: Jose Iglesias
3B: Brett Lawrie
IF: Alex Amarista/Will Middlebrooks
LF: Matt Kemp
CF: Melvin Upton
RF: WIl Myers
OF: Ben Revere/Rymer Liriano
SP: Edinson Volquez, Andrew Cashner, Cory Luebke, Drew Hutchison, Odrisamer Despaigne.
RP Beftali Feliz, Joaquin Benoit, Drew Pomeranz, Brandon Maurer, Robby Erlin, Nick Vincent
Non-roster invitees include Jeremy Guthrie (probable rotation guy), Felix Doubront and Esmil Rogers.
I think you’re a little hard on Myers, here. He’s not a CF but I think he’d be acceptable in an OF corner. And he was hitting pretty good — .833 OPS — before the injury. When he came back, he hit just .198 with a .660 OPS. I don’t think that’s the hitter he really is.