These Three Questions Will Define Padres Offseason

The San Diego Padres overachieved dramatically this season, which left them with plenty of questions going into the offseason. Dennis Lin of The Athletic pared the list down to the three most important ones, which is a helpful way of looking at what’s to come, so let’s go there. 

Are the new owners really spenders?

The new ownership group led by Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones came in with plenty of fanfare, and they quicly made a splash by allowing GM A.J. Preller to go for it at the deadline and acquire starters Casey Mize and Robbie Ray.

Both relievers failed in big moments, but they got the Padres to the playoffs and sent a message to the community that their commitment to winning is real. 

But how real? The Padres have a bloated payroll that’s not going anywhere, regardless of what happens during and after the lockout. Lin thinks we’ll know more in November when some clubs try to strike a deal before the CBA expires, but there are also reports about a memo trying to keep teams from doing that, so it’s probably going to be a while before we get a coherent answer to that question. 

Who’s in the rotation next year?

This one is a close relative of the spending question, and once again the surface answer is that we don’t know and it will probably be a while before we do. 

The one thing that will likely play in favor of the Padres is Michael King exercising his option to stick around for another year. King would be taking a huge risk if he opts out, and he’s been a clutch performer and a fan favorite who will probably be around next season. 

After that all bets are off. Mize and Ray probably pitched themselves out of the Padres plans for next year, and Pivetta and Musgrove both come with serious injury risks. It feels like there will be plenty of new names coming in, but even that’s an uncertainty.

Will the core get revamped?

The same answer applies here, but this might be the biggest question of all. Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts are warrior types on the left side of the infied, but a massive infusion of young talent is needed. The Padres got a lot of clutch performances from veterans like Jake Cronenworth, Gavin Sheets and Ty France, but as a group they don’t represent the future, so stay tuned on this one as well.