The San Diego Padres finished the season with a 68-94 record, “earning” them the 3rd overall selection in the 2017 draft, due to tiebreakers putting them behind the Reds but ahead of the Rays in order. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the Preller of the Padres season:
The Good Stuff
Wil Myers – While he had a rough second half, Myers still finished the season with 28 home runs and 28 stolen bases, posting a slash line of .259/.335/.461, and most importantly, he played 157 games. Myers has struggled to stay healthy in his career, and when he’s been healthy, he’s not flashed the incredible power/speed combo that he was rated so highly for as a prospect. He definitely showed that this year. The 2013 AL Rookie of the Year had totaled 27 home runs and 16 stolen bases in his career coming into this season, never playing more than 88 games in a season. He’ll be just 26 when 2017 opens, so he’s entering the prime of his career and poised to be the Padres’ offensive leader going forward just a year after the Padres were seriously listening to offers in the offseason but didn’t get an offer of requisite value in their eyes for Myers. They’re glad they didn’t make that move!
Alex Dickerson/Ryan Schimpf – Two older prospects (Dickerson is 26, Schimpf is 28) with minimal track records (8 combined plate appearance in the majors before 2016 with over 4.700 combined minor league plate appearances) that combined for 33 doubles, 7 triples, 30 home runs, 88 RBI, and 87 runs in 615 plate appearances. Add in Travis Jankowski, a 25 year-old guy who made the most of his chance by stealing 30 bases in just over 380 plate appearances and playing excellent defense, and you have a collection of older prospects that contributed to the Padres lineup this season.
Brad Hand/Ryan Buchter/Brandon Morrow – Three experienced relievers with plenty of previous failed experiments were picked up on the cheap, and combined, they made 167 appearances, struck out 197 hitters, and had a combined 2.78 ERA for the Padres. The Padres certainly have had success in the past with their park, but since they moved in the fences, they’ve not had these same surprising successes, so to have three members of their bullpen come out of the scrap heap was a very pleasant surprise on the season.
Red Sox trades – The Padres made two significant trades that impacted their future in the last 12 months. In the offseason, the Padres traded closer Craig Kimbrel to Boston and received Logan Allen, Javier Guerra, Carlos Asuaje, and Manuel Margot. Padres fans got to see Margot in the majors already this season and the other three all had solid debuts in the minor league system. Then in July, the Red Sox made a more controversial trade with the Padres in a deal that received scrutiny that we’ll discuss in depth later. Drew Pomeranz, who the Padres acquired from the Athletics before the winter meetings in the offseason, was shipped to Boston for the Red Sox top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza. Those two deals added a load of talent to the system.
Draft/International Signing Period – Either one of these could be a singular huge moment in the organization, but the Padres had two monster talent acquisition moments this summer, so much so that they actually had two fall Instructional League teams to host all the young players they wanted to get time with this offseason before sending them home for the winter. The Padres drafted 8th in the first round, but they had the 2nd most draft pool money to spend, so they were able to accumulate a significant amount of talent in the June draft. Then came the July signing period. The Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox had blown past the international free agent pool before, but the Padres did it with a style that had never been seen before, spending an absolute ton (no official numbers released due to numbers for Venezuelan signees left unpublished because of the political unrest in that country). They added more young talent this year than most teams bring in over 3 years of draft and IFA work!
Next: The Bad