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San Diego Padres Top Offseason Priorities

By Benjamin Chase

Oct 1, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; A detailed view of the San Diego Padres logo on the field before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; A detailed view of the San Diego Padres logo on the field before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

Make Room for the Kids

Fantasy baseball podcasts (and many regular baseball podcasts, frankly) were all upset in September when the promotion time came, and the Padres left their best players in AAA rather than bringing them up to the majors. What good, the argument went, would spending more time in AAA give these players when they could be playing for a major league team and get that experience?

What many pundits did not understand, but the Padres had been re-iterating since the beginning is that they were not going to rush their young players to a major league team that was struggling. On top of that, the young players in question were primarily on the AAA El Paso roster, and that team was competing for a Pacific Coast League championship, something that can be a great bonding experience for players down the road as they work their way through major league struggles together.

When those guys arrived in the big leagues, they did so with a bang. Top prospect Hunter Renfroe hit .371/.389/.800 with monster power, including back to back days against the Dodgers where he hit three home runs and drove in 11 runs. Manuel Margot may not have overwhelmed with his hitting (.649 OPS), but his defense in the outfield turned plenty of heads, as was the case with both Austin Hedges and Carlos Asuaje, who provided defensive value at catcher and second base, positions that had been sorely lacking defensive production on the season to that point.

The Padres featured a number of late-20s hitters in 2016, but many, like outfielder Travis Jankowski, outfielder Alex Dickerson, infielder Alexi Amarista, and infielder Cory Spangenberg were fringe guys at best on a typical 40-man roster, even though many produced solid seasons for the team. As they have more of their young players work their way to the major leagues, the team will need to be willing to part ways with some of these guys, and in the past, they’ve often shown a loyalty to fringe guys that perhaps should have been let go rather than holding onto a guy with more premium value.

In 2017, a big season from defensive stalwart Javier Guerra at shortstop or highly regarded hitting outfielder Michael Gettys could leap both of them from AA to the majors. The Padres also selected advanced college players in the 2016 draft in RHP Cal Quantrill, LHP Eric Lauer, and OF Buddy Reed that could move through the system very quickly, looking for an open position. Having the willingness to clear space on the roster for those players is going to be paramount to the team’s growth.

Next: Catching

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