1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Thursday “PADRES-QUESTIONS-ANSWERS”
“PADRES-SO IT BEGINS”
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The Cactus League opening game on Thursday at noon vs the Dodgers starts the spring training season.
The Padres open the season with more question marks than answers.
They’ve lost their owner, run off their manager, traded an MVP-candidate, let the Cy Young Award winner and top closer walk as free agents.
The Peter Seidler passing, the departure of Bob Melvin, the Juan Soto trade,and the defections of Blake Snell and Josh Hader are all negatives.
Starters 1-2 in the rotation are both coming off health issues, and durability becomes a question for both Yu Darvish-Joe Musgrove. Do they have 30-starts in them?
The Yankees may have liked Michael King, may have used Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez alot, but they dealt them all away to the Friars.
Yuki Matsui and Woo Suk-Go come with credentials, but that is in Japan-Korea, and this level of baseball is really different, from the mound, to the ball, to training methods in the US.
There are no legitimate stars in CF-or-LF. Can you tell me who is your real first baseman? Is there a true DH on the roster?
Will the rookie Jackson Merrill hit enough to warrant staying on the roster?
Can Robert Suarez stay healthy after last year’s elbow ailing season?
Have scouting reports figured out Jake Cronenworth?
Can Manny Machado hold up post elbow surgery?
Is young C-Luis Campusano ready to do it with the glove and the bat?
Who is starter 4-and-5 if Brito-Vasquez cannot be whom the Padres hope they are?
Does the phrase ‘bullpen day’ come up once a week with a 9-man deep relief core?
Will Adrian Morejon ever become anything beyond a prospect always hurt?
Will it be Mike Schildt’s clubhouse and dugout or will the meddling of AJ Preller and his people still exist?
Will fans feel Padres baseball is ‘bait and switch’, buy the season tickets at high prices, but sorry our payroll is 101M lower than last year?
So you can be excited what’s infront of you at 12 noon when they open against the Dodgers?
But you cannot ignore all the points I just raised?
A year ago, the expectations were thru the roof. A year later I sense much less excitement about Padres baseball, almost a cloud of resignation, because of the loss of Seidler’s leadership and money.
And one final question, if this season isn’t the season, how much longer will fans keep coming to games and how much longer is AJ Preller allowed to the decision maker?
You tell me baseball fans. You are allowed to have an opinion.
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