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“PADRES AT A CROSSROADS”
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There is alot of unfinished business for the Padres, just four weeks out from spring training.

Alot of talent in the lineup, a still strong pitching staff, a collective of accomplished relievers.

But a team with no established left-fielder, a hole behind home plate, virtually nothing on the bench, missing one established starting pitcher, and searching for help within the rotation.

Add in a player budget that is going up to pay players who earned raises last year.

There is a real issue with ownership, the fight among the Seidler family.  There is the issue of the profits the team is raking in, but not willingly spending.

And there is the GM-AJ Preller, given carte blanche by the late Peter Seidler, who burned thru so much money in non winning seasons.

He is no longer to operate without guard rails.  Last year the Padres put themselves into a pennant race only to get knocked out right at the end of the Dodgers.

This year his 170M-payroll may be bumped up as they reward Michael King, Jackson Merrill and what they must pay Dylan Cease-Luis Arraez.

The problem for Preller, there’s nothing ready in the farm system.  They do not have Jurickson Profar.  They lost catcher Kyle Higashioka. And there will be no Joe Musgrove for 2025.  And the bench bunch has not been re-signed or replenished yet.

If they trade Arraez or Cease, they may get young players back, a less salary, but they are not getting established stars, who got the team to within 1-game of the NLCS last year.

The GM cannot take on more outside salary.  He is now a victim of the 10-12-14 year contracts he gave out to everyone, deals no one else wants to trade for.

There are few quality pitchers still on the open market, unless he is willing to gamble.

Why not a phone call to veteran Trevor Bauer, exiled for 2-years to Japan and Mexico, but who went (20-2) in those leagues.  You can get him on a 1-year, cost effective deal, and he probably has learned a valuable lesson, after blowing a big contract.

There is Max Scherzer, coming off arm issues, with alot of miles on that arm, but as a 4th or 5th starter, it’s a one year deal with hope.

You can’t sign journeyman Nick Pavetta without giving up draft pick compensation, and you should not do that.  Is Andrew Heaney, Jose Quintana, Kyle Gibson, a difference maker and at what price?  There’s no real quality left.

Jack Flaherty’s cost might be (15M) and he pitched well for the Dodgers-Tigers-Cardinals, but the cost factor is something they cannot handle.

Maybe the Padres think they will get a better year, a full year, out of Randy Vasquez or Matt Waldron, based on some success they had last year.

A potential replacement might be Adrian Morejon, power pitcher, who had a breakthru season as a 1-inning setup bullpen guy, but who also has a big injury history having been a starter in the farm system.

The options are few.  The roster issues are very realistic.  The team is not equal to what it was last year.  The financial limitations have been imposed.

And Preller’s credibility of putting together exotic deals is now being challenged by all the past deals he’s made.  Now he has to find a trade to make up for bad trades or contracts he’s been involved in before.

And out there is what the Dodgers have done (Sasaki-Scott-Yates-Snell), the add ons in San Francisco (Adames-Verlander) and the upgrades in Arizona (Burnes).

The Padres, at a crossroads.  If they cannot keep winning to the level of excitement they provided in the past, then the fan support will fade, the sellouts will end, and they will draft back to being a small market team.

The window to be a World Series team was short, and you hate to think it is closing fast, because of Peter Seidler’s passing, AJ gambles gone bad, and the Dodger Way.

A real crossroads for lots of reasons, just four weeks out from the start of 2025-spring training.
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