MLB: Assessing the NL West GMs at the midway point
By Bill Felber
San Diego Padres, A.J. Preller, +4.3
Preller was the early front-runner for MLB GM of the Year when he landed front-line starters Yu Darvish (+1.1) and Blake Snell (-0.6) from the Cubs and Rays respectively. As you can gather from their numbers, Darvish (7-3, 3.09) has been the better acquisition. Snell (3-3, 4.99) has been ordinary.
The deals of course have to be assessed in their totality. Darvish brought along personal catcher Victor Caratini (-0.3) at a cost of starter Zach Davies (-0.1 for Chicago) and minor leaguers. That’s a net impact on the Padres of +0.9 games.
To get Snell, the Padres surrendered catcher Francisco Mejia (+0.4) and pitcher Luis Patino (-0.5). The net impact on San Diego is -0.5 games.
Preller had better, if less publicized, moments. Well one of them, the signing of Fernando Tatis Jr. to a $338 million contract through 2033 got plenty of ink. Through the first half, Tatis has delivered a .299 average, a league-leading 1.065 OPS, and a 3.8 WAA.
The trade that landed starter Joe Musgrove from Pittsburgh was a sleeper compared with the Darvish and Snell deals, but it has thus far worked in San Diego’s favor. Musgrove (+0.6) is 5-6 with a 2.97 ERA while the two major league players they lost – Joey Lucchesi (-0.2) to the Mets and David Bednar (+0.4) to the Pirates, bring the net impact on San Diego to +0.4 games.
Preller also gets credit for finding veteran reliever Mark Melancon (+0.8) and infielder Ha-Seong Kim (+0.4) on the open market.
Although hard-hit by the winter trades, the Padres’ rookie class has managed to produce pitcher Ryan Weathers (+0.8), 4-2, 3.02.