What went right, what went wrong, and what are the top priorities for the San Diego Padres this offseason?
It’s a full-on rebuild in San Diego. The three most expensive contracts the Padres had on the books this year were for players no longer on the team’s active roster (Melvin Upton, Jr., James Shields, and Hector Olivera). The Padres had to eat salary to make up for some bad moves from year’s past. The result was a dirt-cheap roster that struggled to a 71-91 season.
The Padres’ losing season made it seven losing seasons in a row. They did win three more games in manager Andy Green’s second year than in his first but had a much worse run-differential. Based on their negative-212 run-differential, the worst in baseball, the Padres played like a 57-105 team.
A big part of their struggles could be attributed to their young, unproven roster. The average age of their hitters was 26.2, which was nearly two years younger than the Padres hitters’ average age in 2016. The last time the Padres had a group of hitters with an average age younger than this year was in 1981.
The season started poorly, with the Padres winning just eight of their first 22 games. By May 20, they were 15-30 and already 12.5 games out of first. From that point forward they weren’t that bad, going 56-61 over their final 117 games. That might be a good sign for the future.
Here is a look at what went right, what went wrong, and the team’s top offseason priorities.