The San Diego Padres had a sleepy winter, as the stalemate between members of the Seidler family slowed the process of the selling the team to the point where baseball moves barely happened. The resolution of the family lawsuit led to a flurry of minor moves by GM A.J. Preller, but Chad Jennings of The Athletic described those changes as “spinning their wheels” in his recent rundown of the biggest offseason changes by each team.
As of yesterday, FanGraphs projected the Padres for 79 wins and a 22 percent chance of making the playoffs, while the PECOTA system employed by Baseball Prospectus weighed in at 80 wins and a 30 percent chance, respectively.
The best-case scenario at the moment is that Preller’s moves add depth, especially to the starting rotation. Bringing in pitchers German Marquez, Griffin Canning and Walker Buehler adds some competition for fourth and fifth starter, and Dennis Lin of the Athletic mentioned the possibility of a six-man rotation to start the season.
This feels optimistic, but it would help the top of the rotation with starters Michael King and Joe Musgrove both coming off serious injuries. There’s a lot to be sorted out, but right now Lin has Randy Vasquez as the favorite for the fourth spot, with Marquez and Buehler competing with JP Sears, Marco Gonzalez and Tristan McKenzie vying for a roster spot with the possibility of becoming the fifth starter.
The bullpen group is stronger, of course, but the big question is the status of reliever Jason Adam as he returns from surgery to repair a torn left quad. Relievers Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are bullpen locks, while David Morgan, Wandy Peralta, Yuki Matsui and Ron Marinaccio competing for other bullpen roles.
Marinaccio is out of minor-league options, and Lin thinks this gives him a chance to make the team based his ability to cover multiple innings. Kyle Hart is another long-relief option, and he could be especially important given the injury situation at the front of the rotation. One of the veteran starters could be relegated to the pen to cover for Musgrove and King, so there’s a lot to watch once the fake games start for real.
There’s not a lot of reasons for optimism here, and rookie manager Craig Stammen and pitching coach Ruben Niebla will have a lot of juggling to do. It’s part of the job description, but this year their workload will be bigger than usual.