Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller made an look on MLB Community Radio this weekend and mentioned his ideas concerning the roster with the deadline looming on the finish of the month.
“Getting Darvish, King again could be large,” Preller mentioned, referring to injured starters Yu Darvish and Michael King. “The bullpen’s been sturdy. We’ve acquired loads of totally different weapons within the ’pen. You would add to a power. And on the offense aspect, it’s most likely rounding out the depth of the lineup. I feel, such as you talked about, the highest of the lineup ought to be sturdy… You’ve acquired to be deep one by way of 9 and I feel most likely including a bat or two is one thing that we’re going to take a look at right here within the subsequent few weeks to attempt to assist our group get to October.”
Wanting so as to add to the offense is an comprehensible focus, as San Diego has some clear holes. It’s been reported earlier within the yr that the membership is in search of upgrades at catcher and left area. Behind the plate, the membership isn’t getting any offensive contributions from Elias Díaz nor Martín Maldonado. The group has a collective .206/.269/.325 line from the catching place. That interprets to a wRC+ of 70, which is forward of simply the Guardians, Nationals and Giants.
The left area scenario is a little more complicated. Jason Heyward had the place for some time however struggled and was launched. Gavin Sheets has taken over and is having an incredible yr offensively, at present sporting a .264/.325/.451 batting line and a 119 wRC+. Nevertheless, he’s not an particularly sturdy outfield defender, so the Friars may think about including a left fielder to push Sheets again to the primary base/designated hitter combine. That will take plate appearances away from Trenton Brooks, who’s hitting .200/.231/.400 on the yr.
How the Friars go about including to these spots might be an fascinating scenario to observe. The membership’s payroll has been an apparent concern lately, which led to the Juan Soto commerce. In the newest offseason, they primarily restricted themselves to modest one-year offers. The one exception was Nick Pivetta’s four-year pact, which was backloaded to cut back the monetary impression in 2025.
On high of that, the membership has traded away loads of prospects lately as they’ve tried to maintain the foremost league roster stacked with expertise. Their farm system is highlighted by two actually sturdy kids in Leo De Vries and Ethan Salas however all reporting has steered the Padres are reluctant to half with both of these two.
Put all of it collectively and will probably be a tough steadiness for Preller however he ought to have loads of choices, a minimum of for the left area spot. The Friars are recognized to be thinking about Jarren Duran, although that is perhaps extra of a long-shot chance with the Sox hanging within the American League race and Duran managed for 3 extra seasons after this one. Guys like Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Jesús Sánchez, Andrew Benintendi, Mike Tauchman, Ramón Laureano and Adolis García are among the different potentialities. Behind the plate, outdated pals Kyle Higashioka and Gary Sánchez could possibly be accessible.
As for the bullpen, as Preller talked about, it has been a power. San Diego relievers have a collective 3.25 earned run common, which is third within the majors, trailing solely the Giants and Astros. However even a membership with a powerful aid teams can add one other arm or two, and accidents can all the time pop up and alter the calculus, so Preller’s openness to including there may be comprehensible.
The rotation is probably a bit extra in flux. Beginning depth hasn’t been the membership’s sturdy swimsuit for some time and it wouldn’t be a shock to see them goal upgrades there, although as Preller alluded to, their aggressiveness on this division would possibly depend upon how issues unfold within the coming weeks.
Darvish has been out all yr because of elbow irritation however will come off the injured listing right now. He’ll bounce right into a rotation combine that additionally consists of Pivetta, Dylan Stop and Randy Vásquez. King is out with a pinched nerve in his shoulder and his standing is up within the air.
Having a playoff rotation of Stop, Pivetta, Darvish and King could be good however it’s nonetheless unclear how life like it’s for the Padres to anticipate that. Vásquez has a 3.79 ERA on the yr however pretty uninspiring peripherals. He nonetheless has an possibility remaining, so maybe the Padres would think about grabbing yet another starter and bumping him to the minors, although they must weigh that in opposition to different wants whereas additionally contemplating their payroll and the prospect price of constructing such a transfer.
Photograph courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Photographs
