San Diego Padres: Three steps towards World Series contention in 2020
By Ben Fadden
3. Find a suitor for Wil Myers (and his huge contract)
Wil Myers was the San Diego Padres everyday best player in 2016. He made it to the All-Star Game and participated in the Home Run Derby in San Diego that season.
If you asked a Padres fan if they believed Wil Myers is their franchise player after the 2016 season, they would have replied with an emphatic yes.
If I would have told them that he would strikeout at a record pace of more than 160 times before the middle of September and be so inconsistent that he would be moved to a bench role in the middle of the season, you would have thought there was something wrong with me.
Well, that all happened and on top of his inconsistent defense, those reasons are why the San Diego Padres are going to be shopping Myers and more importantly his contract to opposing teams.
If Preller was going to shop Myers, he would certainly have suitors. What isn’t there to like? He is athletic, and he would be the second coming off Anthony Rizzo if he became a key player on contending team.
But, it’s the contract.
He is going to be paid $20 million over each of the next four seasons remaining on his contract, and teams are definitely not going to want to pay that for a player who strikes out more than Aaron Judge but doesn’t put up the stats that Judge does.
The only way San Diego would be successful in getting rid of his contract would be to not really get rid of his contract. A suitor would either not want to pay all of the remaining contract or not give anything valuable back in return for him. It would be a replica of the Matt Kemp trade from San Diego to the Braves a couple of years back.
If Myers were to be traded, then it would enable San Diego to fill his spot with someone more impactful which leads me to the second most important step to contention…