San Diego Padres in much different position at this year’s Winter Meetings
A year ago, general manager A.J. Preller was the talk of the Winter Meetings as he made several moves to try and put the San Diego Padres in a position to compete in 2015. After a miserable season where they finished 74-88, Preller will be implementing a much different strategy at this year’s meetings.
Through a series of trades last winter Preller depleted the Padres farm system, but he’s already in the process of rebuilding it after trading Craig Kimbrel earlier this offseason. There have been several rumors surrounding the possibility of moving Matt Kemp as well starting pitchers Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner.
Ross is the most attractive piece as he’s only 28 years old and has two more years of control. In order to move either Kemp or James Shields – who each come with a high price tag – they’ll likely have to include Ross. In deals that involve a team shedding money, it’s difficult to get much of a return in terms of prospects, which is what the Padres really need.
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If the idea is that the Padres are going to strip this thing down and rebuild, then there is no reason to keep any of the players that have already been mentioned. The best strategy would be for the Padres to attach young controllable players such as Ross and Wil Myers in a deal with Kemp or Shields and hope to get some prospects that will help them turn it around in a hurry.
No one is blaming Preller for the 2015 season; he put his team in a position to win and the players just didn’t perform. However, now it’s on him to try and turn the ship around as quickly as possible without losing the fan base. A complete rebuild will take at least three years, and with the Arizona Diamondbacks improving to compete with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers, this division isn’t getting any easier.
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At this year’s Winter Meetings look for Preller to be just as active as he was last year, but in a very different way. It would not be surprising to see Kemp, Shields, Ross, Cashner and Myers all gone before the offseason is over.