The San Diego Padres have proven they are one of the most dysfunctional organizations in all of baseball in 2015, but this isn’t the right time for management to give up on the team.
This past off-season, San Diego looked to transform from a basement dweller into a playoff contender in just one year — a monumental challenge for a club that plays in the same division as the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Things haven’t gone according to plan.
With MLB’s non-waiver trade deadline coming later this week, the Padres are already reportedly considering blowing up their retooled roster — even if that means hemorrhaging millions of dollars to start from scratch again. San Diego (47-52) is considering trade offers for three of the key additions from their off-season haul — starting pitcher James Shields, outfielder Justin Upton and closer Craig Kimbrel — as well as outfielder Will Venable, reliever Joaquin Benoit, and starters Tyson Ross, Ian Kennedy, and Andrew Cashner. Essentially, anyone of value they feel they can unload is being made available.
While some lauded the Padres‘ expensive off-season spree, others questioned whether San Diego was assembling their roster the right way. While one can clearly see that the players they brought in have not panned out yet, the less obvious reason why these moves have been a disaster is the fashion new general manager A.J. Preller went about his business.
As part of the team’s acquisition of Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, San Diego received $32 million from Los Angeles to help soften the blow of his $107 million remaining contract. Sounds like a good way to protect yourself, right? Well, it doesn’t really help when your GM requests $18 million of that payout immediately.
While the Padres will pay Kemp a mere $3 million in 2015, they’re now on the books for $18 million per year for the next four seasons. As if that move wasn’t bad enough, Preller made a similar decision with Shields, opting to pay him just $10 million this season and $21 million per year the next three seasons.
By delaying these payments, San Diego was able to completely reconstruct without adding a ton of extra payroll in 2015 (their payroll only jumped $17 million this season), but the decision has backfired.
If Preller is indeed trying to move Shields, a financially irresponsible move will only become worse, as the franchise will likely have to pay a good portion of the 33-year-old’s contract if they plan on getting any decent prospects in return. As ESPN’s Buster Olney notes, Kimbrel is another player that San Diego will have difficulty trading for a decent return due to the large number of quality closers available.
Although the Padres’ season has not featured the quick turnaround management was counting on, jumping ship now could ultimately prove to be even more damaging to the franchise’s future. As unlikely as a playoff berth looks with the Dodgers, Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks ahead of them in the division and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets leading them in the N.L. Wild Card race, San Diego would be best-served keeping their team together and going for it.
The Padres have been playing better baseball lately, winning three in-a-row and seven of their last ten, and have a very favorable upcoming schedule. A three-game series with the Mets this week offers a chance to gain ground in the Wild Card race, but the real opportunity exists in the next 16 games, which are all against losing teams: the Miami Marlins (41-58), Milwaukee Brewers (43-57), Philadelphia Phillies (37-63), Cincinnati Reds (43-54) and Colorado Rockies (42-55). If anything, this is the time of the season the Padres should be pushing to get back in the hunt, not surrendering.
Preller may have failed at turning San Diego into the immediate winner he promised, but he owes it to the fans to give his team one last shot to prove they can still accomplish their goal.