The San Diego Padres have some important pitching fixes to implement, and having a deep-pockets owner would help.
The San Diego Padres have only played a single series, but almost nothing we saw over the weekend against the Detroit Tigers ran counter to what was expected.
The Padres rotation had a hit-and-miss weekend, with Nick Pivetta getting knocked around and Randy Vasquez being surprisingly effective. More important, the bullpen was taxed early, and it seems fairly clear that’s not likely to change any time soon.
The is one significant variable in the team’s fortunes, though, and it’s not happening on the field. The process of selling the team havs been picking up steam, and there are reports that it could be a done deal by the end of next month.
So why does this matter? A lot of the Padres’ struggles have been related to their frozen payroll and the inability of GM A.J. Preller to make significant moves to improve the team. Preller has done the best he can to make minor moves, but it’s unlikely that they’re going to amount to much over the long haul.
Having a new owner who’s willing to pay the expected $3.5 billion price tag to buy the team could change that in a hurry. It’s fair to speculate that that’s one of the reasons the sales process is accelerating, although the owners get a lot more working capital when the value of the most recent sale goes up from $2 billion to $3.5 billion.
The added capital doesn’t mean all that much in the short term, but it is important to the Padres. Getting a new owner in place would set up Preller and the Padres to make significant moves at the trade deadline, which is something that’s long been one of Preller’s strengths.
The Padres could definitely use the help. Reinforcements aren’t coming soon, and it will be interesting to see how long the Pads can hang on with pitchers like Walker Buehler and German Marquez as mainstays in the starting rotation.
It’s too soon to speculate about what kind of moves Preller might make, of course, but he needs resources to fix this roster. The Padres are built around having a strong bullpen, but that strength will quickly be diminished or go away completely if the ‘pen has to pick up four or more innings in most games. It’s an important situation to watch, and it would take the team out of payroll limbo as the early-season results start to add up.