Padres Future
So this under-achieving, disappointing, typical Padres baseball season is over.
They wind up with a strong second half finish (36-30), after a miserable first half showing, that nearly set records for ineptitude.
And this afternoon, they will begin “organizational meetings'” under new GM-AJ Preller and his new lead Scout Don Welke. There’s not much to evaluate atop, and they’ve seen what is far down the road in the farm system.
Manager Bud Black and his staff coming back used the word ‘rebuild’ last night in his postgame press conference in the clubhouse in San Francisco. Maybe another word to use will be ‘purge’, the type that leads to a houseclearning.
You wonder if they will start parking bodies out on the curb shortly for the sanitation department to start picking up. The roster needs to be overhauled, a couple of middle of the order power bats must be imported. They can no longer put this team of utility men out on the field everyday.
Carlos Quentin, the nearly crippled left fielder still has another 8M left on his contract with a half million buyout for 2015. He’ll never get on the field to be what he used to be with the White Sox. Bone on bone knee problems have pretty much eradicated his ability to play everyday, and there is no DH in the National League. Do you eat the contract, release him, and clear a spot on the 40-man roster?
How much longer do you stay with Cameron Maybin, a year by year underachiever. Will Venable may be classy, and plays with heart and good glove, but .220 batting average guys should not be regulars.
Seth Smith has a two year deal to stay in San Diego, but he did tail off much the second half of the season. .260-hitters are .260 hitters regardless if they hit .333 for a month.
What do you do with the troubled Evreth Cabrera, drugs, PEDs and now possibly not trustworthy?
Jed Gyorko is rock solid, and so is the multi position Alexi Amirista, coming off an amazing second half. Yonder Alonso may be a better first baseman, from a wear and tear factor, than he is holding up at catcher. And Rene Rivera turns out to the find of the season, and what a season he had, hitting nearly .300 the last 2-months, this from a .207 lifer. What do you do with Yonder Alonso, who has played the outfield in the past, but has hand injury history problems?
That’s it. That’s your roster. Please don’t try to sell us, the public, you are going to be a true playoff team running out a lineup filled with names like Solarte, Almonte, Goebbert, Medica and other refugees from El Paso.
A sneak preview showed us the Liriano-Spangenberg potential. But there is nothing left at AAA, and much of the future talent is way down the line. San Antonio and Ft-Wayne are a long way from San Diego, in miles and players’ ability.
Let’s not hang our hat on a decent second half of the season. We cannot forget stretches of time, where the core players were hitting (.118) for a month. You cannot forget a team batting average (.211) the entire first half of the season. Anybody ache at the all the good pitching San Diego wasted this season, when they were shutout 20-times, and scored 2-runs or less in 68-of-162 games?.
Some tough decisions are coming, maybe beginning tonight.
“Play in October” was the theme this year at Petco Park. The good teams will begin Tuesday, with wildcard games. The Padres won’t be there again, for something like the 8th year in a row.
Team Utilityman and its roster has to change. The leadership philosophy has to change. The payroll has to change. The results in San Diego have to change. The fans and the media should demand that.
The words “Wait till next year” sure get old everytime this time of year.
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