The San Diego Padres came up just short of the NLCS, but you wouldn’t know it from where their roster landed in one offseason ranking.
Mike Petriello of MLB.com placed the Padres at No. 26 when he sized up every team’s roster heading into the offseason, a spot that feels awfully low for a club that was a few plays away from advancing before falling to the Milwaukee Brewers.
The biggest issue, according to the ranking, is the state of the rotation. Right now, it looks thin to the point of almost being empty.
Michael King has reached free agency, Nick Pivetta is injured, and a group of veteran arms is also gone. Randy Vasquez is the one holdover mentioned, and he’s viewed as more of a back-end starter than a centerpiece.
That leaves San Diego staring at what amounts to a full rebuild on the mound, though that doesn’t seem to bother A.J. Preller. The Padres’ general manager is known for making moves, and he described this offseason as a “blank canvas,” even with the possibility of a lockout hanging over everything.
The case against San Diego gets harder to buy once the conversation shifts away from the rotation. Yes, the roster has veterans who are either past 30 or closing in on it, but they handled tough conditions well and proved to be a battle-tested group. There are changes that need to happen, but calling this the fourth-worst offense in baseball feels like a stretch.
The top-end talent is still obvious. Fernando Tatis Jr. is there.
Manny Machado is there, and he’s still producing at a high level deep into his thirties. Ethan Salas also gives the Padres a young catcher who could become a star on both sides of the ball.
And then there’s the bullpen, which remains one of the strongest parts of the roster. Mason Miller gives San Diego an all-world closer, the kind of arm nobody wanted to see in the playoffs. Left-handed setup man Adrian Morejon could leave in free agency, but even that wouldn’t wipe out the depth here, because the Padres still have plenty of power arms ready to fill the gap.
Add in Preller, who knows how to win, and Craig Stammen, who just finished a successful first year as a rookie manager, and the No. 26 ranking starts to look out of place. However shaky the rotation may be, the Padres still look more like a mid-teens roster than one of the worst in baseball.
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Now the market is part of the equation, and it may not be a quiet one. There is speculation the Cubs could get involved, though no official offers have been confirmed, which leaves San Diego weighing both value and urgency before the bidding even begins. For a club that has leaned on King in meaningful spots, the decision is no longer just about what he did in October, but whether that kind of production is worth the price of keeping him around. [Read more 🡒]