Padres Roster Somehow Ranked One Of Worst In Baseball

The San Diego Padres had a successful season, and they made a deep playoff run. The Padres were a few plays from making it to the NLCS before they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, so you’d think their roster would get pretty high grades going into the offseason. 

Not so much, as it turns out. Mike Petriello of MLB.com did a ranking of each team’s roster going into the offseason, and the Padres ended up being ranked No. 26. 

How is this possible? There are a couple of reasons, starting with the San Diego starting rotation, which almost doesn’t exist right now.  The Padres have allowed ace Michael King to go to free agency, along with injured starter Nick Pivetta and an assortment of veteran pitchers. The lone exception is Randy Vasquez, who’s viewed as a back-of-the rotation option. 

That means it’s a complete rebuild, which seems to be fine with GM A.J. Preller, who loves to wheel and deal. He sees this offseason as a “blank canvas,” although there is that little lockout thing that could get in the way of his big plans. 

From there the arguments get sketchier, though. The Padres do have some veterans who are either on the wrong side of 30 or getting there fast, but they played well under adverse conditions, and this a tough, experienced group that used that to their advantage. There are changes that need to be made, but to suggest that this is the fourth-worst offense in baseball is a tough argument to make.

That becomes especially difficult when you consider the strengths here. The Padres have Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, and Machado is still playing outstanding baseball well into his thirties. They also have a young catcher in Ethan Salas who looks like he could be a future star, both defensively and at the plate. 

Then there’s that bullpen. You know, the one with all-world closer Mason Miller that no one wanted to face in the playoffs? It’s true that the Padres could wind up losing left-handed setup man Adrian Morejon in free agency, but this bullpen is still stacked, with plenty of power arms ready to step in and take Morejon’s place. 

The Padres also have a GM who knows how to win in Preller and a rookie manager who just had a successful first year in Craig Stammen. The bottom line here is that this ranking is wrong, and the Padres probably belong in the mid-teens given the strengths and weaknesses here.