The Pad Squad

[Sundance]

San Diego. The Padres. The Murph. The Q. Petco. The house that Gwynn built. The 1984 series against the Cubs. Hoffman’s changeup. Caminiti’s Snickers bar. The great teams of 1996 and 1998. The dominant pitching staffs after the move to Petco. The perennial underachievers.

Despite being America’s eighth largest city, San Diego has never been a big market for the Padres. As a city of transplants, it’s not unusual to see loyal Padres fans matched, or often outnumbered, by hordes of opposing fans. In addition, a penchant for failure deters the casual fan, while simultaneously breaking the hearts of diehard fans.

After years of disappointment, the Padres finally seem to have a front office that desires to win. And although the initial effort failed spectacularly, there remains a glimmer of hope for Padres fans. Enter Johnny Thumbs, San Diego’s newest GM. Thumbs, working with former, and now assistant, GM A.J. Preller, will look to push this franchise to the next level; to achieve new heights; to obtain the championship that has eluded this city for so long.

That’s right – I’m back at it again with San Diego. Will I be able to replicate the success of the 2025+ Padres? Will we ever win that first championship? Will there ever be another 27th round wonder? Only time will tell.

[Sundance]

Role: GM + Lineup Control
Ratings: 20-80

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2016:

Everything on default

[Sundance]

Normally I would go over the team before getting into this, but with just three days before the season gets underway, this remains Preller’s team for the time being. So with that being said, let’s just jump straight into the outlook for this season.

Despite the front office’s attempts to revitalize the roster, early season predictions for the Padres look rather bleak. Most experts have us in a battle for third place in the West, well out of the playoffs. That being said, I think we’re a team that has the potential to cause some surprises. We have an emerging ace in Tyson Ross, a solid #2 and #3 in Cashner and Shields, and enough offensive players with potential that we could really challenge teams if the lineup gets hot.

I’m not predicting success this season with any sort of certainty, but I do see the club moving in the right direction. And with a few moves, it wouldn’t completely surprise me to see the team in the hunt for a Wild Card spot.

[Sundance]

2016 – Play close to .500
2018 – Extend Alexei Ramirez
2018 – Acquire nationally popular player
2020 – Reach the playoffs

[Sundance]

April 4-6 – Dodgers

4/4 – W, 3-2 – Ross (W, 1-0); Kershaw (L, 0-1)
4/5 – L, 2-11 – Cashner (L, 0-1); Maeda (W, 1-0)
4/6 – W, 6-3 – Shields (W, 1-0); Kazmir (L, 0-1)

The season-opening series went just about as well as we could have hoped. We got to Kershaw early in the opener, knocking in two runs in the first. From there, Ross outdueled Kershaw over the course of six innings, striking out seven and walking two. Cashner fell apart in the sixth inning of Game 2 – surrendering five of his seven earned runs. Myers was our lone bright spot of the evening, scoring both of our runs and netting his first HR of the season. We bounced back in the last game of the series behind a terrific effort from Shields – 7 IP, 1 R, 6 K, 3 BB. Once again, we found success early with two runs in the first. Our top three batters went a combined 5-14 with 3 RBI to lead the way.

April 15-17 – Diamondbacks

4/15 – L, 3-8 – Rodney (L, 0-2); Greinke (W, 1-2)
4/16 – L, 3-9 – Morrow (L, 0-1); Miller (W, 2-1)
4/17 – W, 6-5 – Rodney (W, 1-2); Ziegler (L, 0-1)

Our first series against Arizona was less than ideal. A strong performance from Cashner (7 IP, 2 ER, 8 K, 1 BB) wasn’t enough for us to come out on top in the first game. The game went to extra innings, where our bullpen imploded and gave up five runs (Including a grand slam) in the tenth. In all honesty, we just barely averted disaster in this series. We were down 4-0 after 5.5 innings in Game 3, at which point we launched a massive comeback, scoring two in the bottom of the sixth, one in the seventh, and three in the ninth to secure the win and avoid the sweep.

April 22-24 – Cardinals

4/22 – W, 6-3 – Shields (W, 3-0); Wacha (L, 1-2)
4/23 – W, 4-1 – Villanueva (W, 1-1); Wainwright (L, 1-2)
4/24 – W, 3-0 – Ross (W, 4-1); Leake (L, 0-2)

Our first sweep of the season! The story of this series was really just us having that one big inning – four in the first in Game 1, four in the eighth in Game 2, and three in the second in Game 3. Our starting pitching was excellent over the course of this series, combing for 22.2 IP, 23 K, and just 3 ER. This should hopefully give us some momentum as we head into back to back series against NL West rivals.

Monthly Review

We finished the first month of the season with a completely and utterly average record of 12-12. Our batting and pitching stats place us right around the middle of the pack in the bottom tier of teams in the National League. The surprising exception being that we currently rank 5th in runs and are tied for 4th in home runs. Unfortunately, neither of those stats have translated into an abundance of victories out on the field. 1B Wil Myers has been the team’s lone star on offense with a current line of .292/.382/.596 with 7 HR and 16 RBI. On the other side of the diamond, SP Tyson Ross has led the way with a record of 4-1, 2.08 ERA, and 35 K.

In injury news, two of our starting outfielders were sent to the DL. CF Melvin Upton Jr. suffered a hamstring strain and has been out of action since 4/16. He should be coming back from that injury during the first week of next month. RF Matt Kemp sprained his ankle on 4/11 and was expected to miss 6-7 weeks. We won’t be seeing him until the second half of the upcoming month.

[Sundance]

May 1 – Trade News

To San Diego: CL Jumbo Diaz
To Cincinnati: SS Alexi Amarista

All in all, I would say that this is a fantastic move for us. We address our need at closer and only have to give up a bench player to do it. Diaz has 8 saves, 18K, 2 BB, and a 0.00 ERA. He’s a quality arm in the pen with two plus pitches and a decent third option. Amarista has performed very well as a backup so far this season, hitting .313 so far. But, as stated, he’s a backup. I doubt he’s going to hit this well all season. I definitely think we came out on top in this trade.

May 2-4 – Rockies

5/2 – W, 3-2 – Quackenbush (W, 1-0); McGee (L, 1-1)
5/3 – L, 1-8 – Pomeranz (L, 0-2); Gurka (W, 1-1)
5/4 – W, 5-3 – Ross (W, 5-1); Castro (L, 1-1)

Game 1 of this series was filled with drama. Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eleventh, 1B Brett Wallace stepped up to the plate and played the role of hero – hitting a laser that cleared the left field fence in the blink of an eye. Wallace was apparently determined to carry the team to victory as he was responsible for knocking in all three of our runs. Game 2 was a night to forget. Tied 1-1 after four, our pitching staff decided to throw batting practice – surrendering at least one run every inning for the remainder of the game. Despite a rocky (no pun intended) outing by Ross, we were able to close out the series with another win. Good things happen when the top of our lineup is hot – Our top four went 6-14 with 4 RBI.

May 9-11 - @ Cubs

5/9 – W, 10-5 – Ross (W, 6-1); Arrieta (L, 4-2)
5/10 – L, 3-10 – Cashner (L, 2-3); Johnson (W, 3-2)
5/11 – L, 0-2 – Morrow (L, 1-3); Lester (W, 5-1)

Our first trip to Chicago to face the ’27 Yankees, as Tony Kornheiser has dubbed them. A number of solid offensive performances lead the way for us in Game 1. In the 3-4 spots, Myers and Wallace went 5-10 with 3 RBI, Blash replaced an injured Jay in the first and went 3-4 for the game, and Ross helped his own cause with a 2-4, 2 run effort. Unfortunately, we apparently spent all of our luck at the plate in that first game as we struggled to mount any sort of threat over the rest of the series. The lone bright spot was Myers, who went 4-8 over the last two games.

May 12-15 - @ Brewers

5/12 – W, 7-1 – Shields (W, 5-0); Nelson (L, 0-5)
5/13 – W, 9-4 – Frasor (W, 2-1); Anderson (L, 4-1)
5/14 – W, 12-4 – Ross (W, 7-1); Thornburg (L, 1-3)
5/15 – W, 5-3 – Frasor (W, 3-1); Jeffress (L, 0-1)

Sweep! A grand slam from Solarte secured the win for us in Game 1. Norris had a monster day at the plate in Game 3, hitting one home run, two doubles, and driving in six. Myers continued to swing a hot stick going 7-14 with 9 R over three games in the series.

May 20-22 – Dodgers

5/20 – L, 1-2 – Ross (L, 7-2); Kazmir (W, 3-4)
5/21 – L, 3-6 – Cashner (L, 2-4); Kershaw (W, 6-3)
5/22 – L, 2-5 – Morrow (L, 2-4); Wood (W, 6-1)

Swept! If you like offense, Game 1 of this series was not for you. Ross and Kazmir each went eight innings, with Ross surrendering two runs and Kazmir giving up one. The biggest thing to note from that game was that Kazmir threw just 67 pitches over those eight innings. When you give up a grand slam to an opposing pitcher, you probably aren’t having a great day. That was exactly the case in Game 2. Let me just repeat that. A grand slam. To the pitcher.

Monthly Review

We ended up going 13-16 for the month. We just can’t seem to net any momentum. There’s still a long way to go in the season, but an image of the team is starting to appear. We score a lot of runs. Our team stats are not all that impressive, but we get runners across the plate, and we do it with great frequency. We’re currently tied for 4th in runs in the National League. You would think that would translate into a winning record. However, we seem to give up just as many runs as we score. It’s not our starters, it’s our pen. Our bullpen ranks 15th in the National League in ERA. Our starters are actually pitching pretty well too. It’s just a shame that they all can’t throw complete games every outing. A Padres team with an efficient offense and a horrendous bullpen – go figure.

[Sundance]

SS Colby Woodmansee – 1st Round, 8th Overall
Our first selection in the 2016 draft came down to two shortstops. Option one was a high school kid with one of the highest ceilings in the draft. Option two was a college player with a slightly lower ceiling, but who was much further along in his development. We went with option two – Woodmansee. The consensus on the 21 year old is that he is a premium talent. He projects to be a .290 line drive hitter. He’s got a fantastic eye and works the count, always looking for his pitch. Great defender with a rocket for an arm.

LF Francisco Del Valle – 1st Round, 25th Overall
If he reaches his potential, Del Valle would become a player that could anchor any lineup. He’s got a smooth, effortless swing with raw power. He’s got a good eye and has the ability to fight off pitches until he gets one that he likes. He’s a solid defender and has good speed.

3B Carter Kieboom – 1st Round, 26th Overall
He’s a superior offensive prospect with a consistently solid approach at the plate. He projects to be a .290 hitter with raw power and a good eye. His ceiling is a little lower than our first couple of picks, but he’s a solid prospect that should have a long and productive career.

3B Will Toffey – 2nd Round, 48th Overall
Could develop into an impact bat in the middle of a lineup. He projects to be a .270 hitter with plus power and a great eye. He’ll need to work on his tendency to pull the ball because it won’t take long for big league pitchers to figure him out. It’s a bit of an area of concern as I don’t think that he has the contact ability to overcome that tendency.

CF Chase Creek – 2nd Round, 71 Overall
He’s a prototypical contact hitter through and through. He projects to bat well over .300, but has little in the way of pure power. He doesn’t try to do anything fancy at the plate, he just hits it where it’s pitched. He’s got top notch speed and natural instincts on the base paths. He’ll put pressure on the defense every time he makes contact.

[Sundance]

June 1 – Trade News

To San Diego: CF Adam Engel, SS Ricky Mota
To Chicago White Sox: C Derek Norris, LHP Brandon Alger

Norris just hasn’t figured it out this season. When he’s hot, he’s the type of guy that can drive a lineup. Unfortunately, he’s been cold all season long so far. And with Austin Hedges seemingly always waiting in the wings, it was just time for a move.

Engel looks like a solid big league prospect. Our head scout thinks that he has a high ceiling, although I’m not quite sold on that. Still, he looks like the type of guy that could give us 20 HR and a .270 BA year in and year out. If nothing else, he might make the roster one day as a role player, as he’s one of the fastest players around. Mota is a bit more of a project. Looks like he’ll develop into a career AAA player. That being said, he could definitely find a spot on a roster as a bench player. Average offensive talent, but he’s a great fielder with superb range.

To San Diego: CL Craig Kimbrel, RHP Roniel Raudes
To Boston: LF Jon Jay

The emergence of 1B Brett Wallace made this trade possible, as we were able to move Wil Myers into the outfield.

We bring Kimbrel back to San Diego and he’s a huge addition to our bullpen. He’ll immediately resume his role as closer, giving us what should be a dominant 7-8-9 rotation. Raudes is a prospect that needs a lot of work, but who could one day see action in the team’s bullpen. He’s shown the potential to have great stuff and his curve has shown glimpses of being knee breaking. He’ll need a lot of coaching, but there’s a decent ceiling for him if he develops.

To San Diego: RP Jordan Walden
To St. Louis: RP Fernando Rodney

Not much to say here other than we’re upgrading our bullpen. Rodney hasn’t lived up to expectations and Walden is a quality arm in the pen.

June 2 – Trade News

To San Diego: RP Yusmeiro Petit, C Davinson Pimentel
To Washington: RP Jason Frasor, RP Matt Thornton

Frasor was a free agent signing that just didn’t perform as we would have hoped. Thornton, our lefty specialist, has been rocked this season, so we won’t be shedding any tears as he makes his exit.

Petit is a solid, if unspectacular, arm in the pen. Pimentel is a low ceiling prospect that probably won’t ever see time in the big leagues. Still, he’s a decent option as organizational depth.

To San Diego: SP Kyle Hendricks, RHP Duane Underwood
To Chicago Cubs: SP Andrew Cashner, LHP Christian Friedrich

We were expecting great things from Cashner this season, but he just hasn’t been able to find his form so far. He has all the makings of a solid big league pitcher, but at the end of the day, this is a results driven league, and he just wasn’t getting the results that we had hoped for.

Hendricks lacks an out pitch, but he’s a sinkerball pitcher that’s hard to square up. He was unable to break into the Cubs’ starting rotation, but he’ll find a spot in ours. Underwood won’t ever top anyone’s prospect list, but there is some decent potential there. If he continues to develop, he has the potential of being a back end starter with above average stuff.

June 3-5 – Colorado

6/3 – W, 16-6 – Walden (W, 1-2); Chatwood (L, 1-4)
6/4 – W, 3-1 – Hendricks (W, 2-0); De La Rosa (L, 5-7)
6/5 – L, 1-2 – Morrow (L, 2-6); Gray (W, 2-4)

Despite a rare poor outing by Ross, our offense was able to carry us in Game 1 of this series against the Rockies. Solarte continues to be a feast or famine type of batter and thankfully for us, he was all about that feast today. He ended up just a single shy of hitting for the cycle. Bethancourt also chipped in with a monster game of his own – 4-5 with 5 RBI. The young catcher is now hitting an impressive .327 for the season. Unfortunately we just didn’t have enough steam to complete the series sweep. Morrow actually pieced together a solid outing going 8.2 innings with 8 K. However, two early runs in the first were enough to seal the deal.

June 8 – Trade News

To San Diego: RP Chris Hatcher
To Los Angeles Dodgers: 2B Adam Rosales

Rosales started to throw a fit about not starting. He probably should have hit better than .156 if he wanted me to honor those wishes. Off to the Dodgers he goes for yet another quality bullpen arm. What was once one of the worst pens in the National League is now looking formidable.

To San Diego: 1B Jon Singleton, SS Miguelangel Sierra
To Houston: RP Drew Pomeranz, RHP Juan Arias

With the acquisition of Hatcher, we needed to make a roster move in our pen. Pomeranz was the name we landed on. Unfortunately, he was out of options, so we did what we had to do – we traded him. In return, we get a couple of low end prospects. All in all, this was a pretty fair trade all around.

June 10-12 - @ Colorado

6/10 – W, 6-4 – Villanueva (W, 2-2); De La Rosa (L, 5-8)
6/11 – L, 5-6 – Walden (L, 1-3); McGee (W, 4-2)
6/12 – W, 5-2 – Shields (W, 7-1); Logan (L, 0-1)

Wait, didn’t we just play these guys? Unfortunately, there aren’t that many series that interest me this month, so you all are getting another update on a division rival. Good things always seem to happen when we jump on opposing pitchers early. Really groundbreaking insight there, I know. But, it’s the truth. We jumped all over De La Rosa in the first, knocking in four runs to kick off the series. Game 2 should have been the same story. Once again, we jumped on their starting pitching and scored another four runs in the first of this game. We let Colorado right back into the game and after nine, it was tied up 5-5. Extra innings didn’t last long, as they walked off in the bottom of the tenth. We were able to bounce back in the last game of the series. We went down early, but were able to muster a flurry of offense late in the game to secure the win.

June 16-19 – Washington

6/16 – L, 3-13 – Guerrero (L, 0-1); Gonzalez (W, 6-5)
6/17 – L, 3-9 – Shields (L, 7-2); Solis (W, 6-4)
6/18 – W, 2-1 – Ross (W, 9-3); Strasburg (L, 7-4)
6/19 – L, 3-13 – Morrow (L, 2-8); Giolito (W, 2-1)

We tried giving Harper the Bonds treatment in Game 1 – three walks in five plate appearances. Unfortunately for us, in his two official at-bats he jacked up two big flies, knocking in five runs. I may have to give our manager a talking to if he sees another pitch all series. No Harper in Game 2 surely meant good things for us, right? Wrong. Even without their star, the Nationals destroyed Shields to the tune of 6 ER over 4.1 IP. We were able to officially avoid the sweep with a 2-1 victory in Game 3. At this point, small victories are huge. The Nationals eased their way to a 3-13 victory behind a stellar performance from Harper. Wait, didn’t we already see this game? Outstanding performance from Harper? A 3-13 loss? It’s almost as if this exact same thing happened just a few days ago.

Monthly Review

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – we had a completely mediocre month. We ended up going 13-13 for the month – like I said, completely mediocre. If you were to just look at our batters, you would expect us to be getting much better results. We had a number of guys have a solid month – Bethancourt hit .313 and knocked in 17 RBI, Wallace put up a .905 OPS with 9 HR and knocked in 22, Solarte remained streaky, but still had a .966 OPS, and Upton Jr. hit .304 with a .910 OPS. We really did have some solid offensive performances this month. Unfortunately when you look on the other side of the diamond, positives are few and far between. Aside from a couple of guys in the pen, the truly lone bright spot in the pitching staff has been Ross. Most everyone else has just really struggled this month. I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again. We have a lineup that can score runs, and a pitching staff that leaves a lot to be desired – what kind of Padres team is this?

[Sundance]

July 1 – Trade News

To San Diego: SS Christian Arroyo, RHP Clayton Blackburn
To San Francisco: SS Alexei Ramirez, RHP Colin Rea

Ownership is going to be none too pleased about this move since Fowler was really hoping that I would extend Ramirez’s contract. At the end of the day, I have to do what’s best for the club and keeping Ramirez wasn’t it. He’s hitting .245/.283/.344; that’s not going to cut it when he’s looking to get paid in his next contract. Our head scout ranked Arroyo as San Francisco’s #1 prospect. They are much more in “win now” mode than we are, and everyone seems to see something in Ramirez that I’m just not seeing. That being said, I’m more than willing to take a prospect like Arroyo off of their hands.

Blackburn isn’t a high end prospect, but our scouts and I agree – if he develops, we should get good value from him. He looks like a potential mid to back end starter. Average stuff at the moment, but there looks like he might have a little more room to grow in that department. He’s got fantastic control – the kid could probably knock the wings off of a fly. No one is projecting stardom, but it seems like there is going to be a long career in his future.

To San Diego: RP Adam Warren
To Chicago Cubs: SP Brandon Morrow

Nothing overly exciting about this trade – just one big leaguer for another. Warren has only seen limited action as a reliever so far this season, but he looks to have a decent enough arm. Our scouts see him as a respectable mid to back end starter, so I’m willing to take a chance on him in our starting rotation. He’s got a large repertoire of pitches, but aside from that, there isn’t anything too fancy about him; he looks like he’s just your run of the mill pitcher.

July 1-3 – New York Yankees

7/1 – W, 3-2 – Kimbrel (W, 4-4); Miller (L, 3-2)
7/2 – L, 0-1 – Hatcher (L, 2-1); Chapman (W, 2-2)
7/3 – L, 1-7 – Shields (L, 7-4); Severino (W, 5-4)

Good pitching beats good hitting...Most of the time anyway. Thankfully for us, Game 1 was one of those rare instances when this wasn’t the case. Ivan Nova tossed nine solid innings against us, and with the exception of one mistake to Upton Jr., he kept us in check. After nine full the game was all tied up at one a piece. New York strung together a couple of hits off of Kimbrel in the top of the tenth and ended up taking a one run lead. In the bottom of the inning, Bethancourt lead things off with a clutch double. Immediately following him was Blash, who came up huge with a walk off blast. Unfortunately for us, Game 1 was the only game that had any real highlights for us. Hendricks had a great outing in the second game of the series, but we ended up dropping the game in extra innings.

July 7-10 - @ Dodgers

7/7 – L, 4-6 – Kimbrel (L, 5-5); Howell (W, 2-0)
7/8 – L, 2-5 – Hendricks (L, 2-2); Ryu (W, 3-2)
7/9 – L, 0-7 – Guerrero (L, 1-3); Wood (W, 10-5)
7/10 – L, 4-8 – Warren (L, 0-1); Maeda (W, 8-5)

The drama of it all. Game 1 was a thriller. After being shut down for the first five innings, we finally got to Kershaw to the tune of three runs in the sixth. I’ve mentioned this before, but we seem to be the rare Padres team that can’t pitch, and once again, this trend decided to rear its ugly head. After going up 3-1 in the top of the sixth, we proceeded to blow the lead. We made a dramatic comeback in the top of the ninth to force extra innings. There’s just something about closers in non-save situations that never ends up well. Justin Turner launched a game winning two run home run off of Kimbrel. We’re not sure if that ball has landed yet.

Games 2 and 3 were stories of great pitching by the Dodgers and horrendous pitching by us. We took an early lead in the last game of the series and a strong effort from Kemp, Myers, Wallace, and Pirela (A combined 8-16 for the game) put us in a position for success. But then the fifth happened. Warren imploded and surrendered five of his seven earned runs. We tried to mount a comeback in the top of the eighth, but the deficit was just too much for us to overcome. Swept. And at the hands of our enemies.

Monthly Review

Remember like a month ago when we were mediocre? Man, those were the days. It’s hard to find interesting series to write about when the team is playing so horribly. July was far and away the worst month we’ve had all season. We went a miserable 6-20 for the month, yet somehow we haven’t fallen all the way down into the cellar just yet. We ended the month by losing our last six games, and ten out of the last eleven. Our entire offense is in a slump at the moment. Solarte is the only player that hit over .250 this month. Things aren’t much better on the other side of the diamond, where Ross (Who happened to be our lone All-Star representative) is by far our best and most consistent starter. The outlook for the rest of the season is looking pretty bleak right now.

[Sundance]

August 9-11 - @ Pirates

8/9 – L, 0-9 – Shields (L, 7-9); Cole (W, 13-4)
8-10 – W, 6-2 – Guerrero (W, 4-4); Kingham (L, 0-2)
8-11 – W, 7-0 – Hendricks (W, 3-4); Niese (L, 7-12)

Hey we won a series! It’s been about a month since we’ve been able to manage that. We were cruising through Game 1 when Shields decided to implode in the fifth. He gave up four earned runs while only managing to get one out. I looked over at Preller and gave him a look that said, “And you paid $21 million for this guy?” Hatcher came into the game and promptly gave up three runs of his own. Preller tried to return the look, but it didn’t faze me. Unlike him, I only paid $1 million dollars for my player to suck.

That’s essentially what our relationship has devolved into at this point. Some player does something awful, and then we just look at each other like, “That’s your guy.” We may need to go to marriage counseling to help rebuild our relationship.

In Game 2, Myers looked like the type of player that could carry a lineup. He went 3-5 with a two run blast. He’s been one of the few bright spots in the roster this season with a .275 AVG, 19 HR, and 63 RBI so far. Game 3 was a team effort. The scoreboard looks nice, but there was no real standout star in the game. Everyone just kind of did their part. Our first series win in a month. Perhaps we might build a little momentum off of this.

August 18-27 – Diamondbacks

8-18 – L, 2-4 – Diaz (L, 4-3); Collmeter (W, 5-1)
8-19 – W, 6-0 – Ross (W, 12-5); Corbin (L, 6-12)
8-20 – L, 0-3 – Villanueva (L, 2-5); Alvarez (W, 4-2)
8-21 – W, 8-4 – Hatcher (W, 4-2); Hall (L, 2-1)

When you’re trying to find some positives about your starter throwing 93 pitches in just five innings, you know things are rough. As completely inefficient and ineffective as he was, Shields somehow managed to keep us in the game in the series opener. That’s more than I can say about our bullpen, which suffered another cataclysmic collapse. Remember how I was hoping that the team could build a little momentum after winning that series against the Pirates? Well, that didn’t happen. Including Game 1 here, we’ve dropped six of our last seven since that series.

We had a couple of stellar pitching performances from our starters in Games 2 and 3. Ross and Guerrero combined for no runs and 23 K over 15.1 IP. Sadly, it seems like these are the types of performances that we need out of our starters in order to have any chance at winning. And in Game 3, not even that performance was enough for us to win. In the closing game of the series, both starters decided to put on clinics on how not to pitch. Neither starter got out of the fifth inning, and both of them surrendered four runs. The only difference between our two teams was that our bullpen finally decided to show up and be the dominant force that I’ve been expecting all season.

Monthly Review

Remember those early days of preseason when we were full of bright-eyed optimism? When we thought that if we caught a few breaks that we might surprise some teams this season? The days before the soul crushing reality that we just aren’t very good set in? Ah, sweet memories.

At this point, I’m all about small victories because there are no large ones to be found for us. So, small victory...A small victory...Let’s see...There has to be something this month that we can hang our hat on. The record! Yes, the record! We couldn’t possibly be worse than last month, could we? Let’s just take a look here – let’s see, add those, carry over the one, subtract that – 8-18! We improved our record by two games over last month! Success! I should just retire now, for this is surely my crowning achievement.

Like I said, there’s not much to be excited about in recent weeks. We’ve got to find silver linings somewhere because our results surely aren’t going to make anyone happy. Spangenberg had a great month - .327/.354/.505 – and Blash was even better - .346/.379/.692. We actually had four batters hit over .250 this month – an improvement over just one last month. Nothing really to write home about among our pitching staff.

As cynical as I may sound this month, the truth is that I don’t think we are all that bad off. Sure, this season done. We’re 34.5 games back and have no shot at the playoffs. But when I look to the future, I see the makings of a good ballclub. Bethancourt is slumping right along with the rest of the team, but he’s shown that he can hit at this level and he’s just 24. We’re still waiting for Hedges to put everything together, but he’s also just 24. Myers has been one of the few bright spots in our lineup this season, and he’s just 25 and still has a little bit of room to grow. Spangenberg is another 25 year old with room to grow. Ross is a legitimate ace at this point. And if our bullpen can gel together, they’ll be dominant. I’m not saying that we’re close, but I am saying that there is a strong foundation here for us to build upon. I just have to hope that ownership doesn’t run me out of town before I get a chance to do it.

[Sundance]

September 5-7 – Boston

9/5 – L, 4-5 – Villanueva (L, 2-6); Light (W, 4-1)
9/6 – L, 2-4 – Hendricks (L, 4-6); Kelly (W, 6-5)
9/7 – W, 8-7 – Petit (W, 3-4); Ramirez (L, 1-1)

It would be interesting to know what our record is in games where we put up a crooked number in the first. Normally, doing so seems to lead to good things. Sadly, this was not the case in Game 1 of this series. We jumped on their starter early, knocking in three runs in the first and adding another in the fourth. Nothing comes easy with this club at this point in the season. Going into the seventh with a one run lead, we promptly blew the game. Our bullpen is a lot better than this on paper, but they have yet to translate that into real life success. One step forward, two steps back with this club.

Game 3 was by far the most exciting of the bunch. For the third time in the series, we got to their starter early and scored in the first. Our defense then uncharacteristically let us down – the team surrendered four runs in the top of the fourth, three of which were unearned. We immediately responded with four of our own shortly after. The game would eventually go into extra innings, and in the thirteenth, the flood gates opened once again. Boston jumped on our pitching and took a two run lead. We responded with a run of our own in the bottom of the inning. We continued to rally when Myers stepped up to the plate with a runner on. He got a pitch middle-in and absolutely crushed it, giving us a two run walk-off. The top of the lineup dominated in this game with our first three batters going 8-19 and scoring five runs.

Monthly Review

Just the one series write-up this month. The rest of our games were against division rivals and we were in no position to challenge for anything. This month was all about the future. As much as I hate giving up on a season, we really had nothing to play for this year. Still, I didn’t want to let this opportunity go to waste. Step one was to clear some space off of our 40 man roster. SP Buddy Baumann, SP Cory Mazzoni, RP Ryan Butcher, RP Leonel Campos, RP Jon Edwards, 2B Jemile Weeks, and SS Jose Pirela were all placed on waivers and then released.

Step two was to give a couple of guys experience. SP Robbie Erlin, RP Jose Dominguez, RP Josh Martin, CF Travis Jankowski, and 3B Jose Rondon were brought up for September call-ups. None of these players would be considered among our top prospects, but they are all players that could certainly play a role on our roster. Even just a little time up in the big leagues should do them some good.

Step three was to protect some of our young talent. CL Josh Martin, 2B Fernando Perez, CF Michael Gettys, 2B Carlos Asuaje, 2B Taylor Lindsey, and SP Duane Underwood were all placed on the 40 man roster. Asuaje and Gettys are among are top prospects, Lindsey is just under them in the next tier, and the rest of the group are players that could eventually fill a role.

In injury news, Tyson Ross starting suffering from rotator cuff tendinitis, so we shut him down for the season. Craig Kimbrel joined him a little while later with a strained abdominal muscle.

And in case you were really interested, we ended up 8-20 for the month.

[Skitch929]

Hello there! I just recently started a 2016 Padres dynasty too (I wanted to pick a team nobody else was doing but I didn't look back far enough -- my bad!). It's interesting to see the differences between yours and mine. I'm at the All-Star break and haven't made any trades yet (trying to go for a somewhat real-life model) and am getting very different performances out of certain guys -- Jankowski and Shields are studs for me while my versions of Spangenberg and Blash are awful awful awful. The results aren't much better though so I'm probably about to do a full-on fire sale. Good luck going into the offseason!

[Sundance]

Originally Posted by Skitch929

Hello there! I just recently started a 2016 Padres dynasty too (I wanted to pick a team nobody else was doing but I didn't look back far enough -- my bad!). It's interesting to see the differences between yours and mine. I'm at the All-Star break and haven't made any trades yet (trying to go for a somewhat real-life model) and am getting very different performances out of certain guys -- Jankowski and Shields are studs for me while my versions of Spangenberg and Blash are awful awful awful. The results aren't much better though so I'm probably about to do a full-on fire sale. Good luck going into the offseason!

It's all good. I've been MIA since Overwatch came out, so my thread had fallen to the back page. Anyway, it's always great to see a Pads dynasty pop up. As much as I love doing my own, I love seeing what others do with the franchise as well. Looking forward to seeing how your team develops!

I thought about going through my first season with minimal trades, but I just couldn't help myself. I'm hoping to emulate the success I had with my four year plan in my other dynasty - i.e., building a competitive team within four years of taking over. Preller did some of the work for me before I took over, but I still wanted to put my stamp on the team I suppose. Hoping to repeat the success I had in my last dynasty - 16 playoff appearances and 7 championships in 20 years.

[Sundance]

Unless you have somehow missed my many hints that we were bad this season, it should come as no surprise that we finished last in the division. Our record of 61-101 was the worst record in all of baseball. If we were to fish for some silver lining at all in this horrible defeat, we could say that we were just three games behind the Rockies, who finished with the second worse record. We were a whopping 47 games back of the first place Dodgers, who pieced together the best record in the MLB this season.

The team was fifth in the NL in homeruns, but just tenth in runs scored. Our pitching staff had the fifth most strikeouts in the NL, but ranked among the bottom tier of staffs in every other significant stat.

[Sundance]

AL Champions: Los Angeles Angels
NL Champions: Chicago Cubs
World Series Champions: Chicago Cubs

AL MVP: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
AL Rookie of the Year: Steven Moya, Detroit Tigers

NL MVP: Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Rookie of the Year: Kenta Maeda, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Good

SP Tyson Ross
12-6, 164.1 IP, 161 K, 3.18 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 4.4 WAR
Ross was by far the biggest standout on our pitching staff. He’s a legit ace with nasty stuff and four plus pitches. He was the only starter this season to manage double digit wins. He had to be on every night as our lineup didn’t manage to give him much wiggle room to work with. He handled the pressure exceptionally well and was a rare bright spot on an otherwise dismal pitching staff.

RP Chris Hatcher
77 G, 83.1 IP, 90 K, 2.81 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 2.84 FIP, 1.6 WAR
Without a doubt our best option in the pen. Hatcher was the only pitcher not named Ross to get over a 1.0 WAR. His 1.6 WAR out of the pen is incredible. He held opponents to just a .221 AVG and .596 OPS. Alongside Ross he was one of the few bright spots in the staff.

1B Wil Myers
.281/.364/.512, 39 doubles, 33 HR, 97 RBI, wRC+ 146, 5.4 WAR
This is the sort of player everyone was hoping for when Myers won the AL Rookie of the Year back in 2013. He led the team in hits, doubles, homeruns, RBI, walks, AVG, OPS, and WAR. Needless to say, he carried the lineup this year.

2B Cory Spangenberg
.263/.320/.406, 36 doubles, 13 triples, 10 HR, 3.4 WAR
At first glance, Spangenberg’s line may not seem all that impressive. But if you look deeper into his stats, you can see just how versatile of a hitter he is. He was third on the team in doubles, had double digit triples, managed 12 sacrifice hits/flies, led the team in stolen bases, and was just a touch above league average in OPS+ and wRC+. He’s not a superstar, but on a team that really struggled this year, he tried everything in his power to give us some sort of success.

The Bad

The Pitching Staff
Our pitchers were abysmal this year. We got absolutely nothing from Preller’s foundation, and the guys I brought in didn’t perform much better. On paper, we have a lot of quality arms, but those scouting reports just aren’t translating into on-field success at the moment. Maybe it’s the fact that I shook up the roster and players are still finding their way in the roles I’ve given them. I’m hoping it’s just that. The ceiling is high on this pitching staff, but they were just downright terrible this season.

The Position Players
The simple fact of the matter is that our lineup, as a whole, was awful. There were a few exceptions in addition to the players named above – Bethancourt showed glimpses of ability, Solarte had an ok season and showed that when he’s hot, he can carry a lineup, Blash hit .280 and had an OPS+ of 130 and a wRC+ of 134, and Kemp probably would have had a good season had he not missed half of it. But the lineup as a complete unit was just awful – so much so that he’s not even worth calling individuals out on it. We were bad, plain and simple.

Our GMs

Preller and I pieced together this team, so we have to take our fair share of the blame. Not many thought that we’d have a successful campaign this season, but I doubt many thought that we would be this bad either. I think that we are building a team that’s headed in the right direction, but for now we are just going to have to take our lumps and own up to our lack of success.

Goals Review

2016 – Play close to .500 – We weren’t even close
2018 – Extend Alexei Ramirez – I traded him and the owner was none too happy about it
2018 – Acquire nationally popular player – Adam Warren got us a little leeway with this one, but the owner wants us to do better
2020 – Reach the playoffs - Ongoing

[Sundance]

Options

RP Yusmeiro Petit – Executed
RP Jordan Walden – Executed

Extensions

1B/RF Wil Myers – 3 Years, $34,800,000
C Christian Bethancourt – 3 Years, $15,350,000
2B Cory Spangenberg – 3 Years, $12,350,000
RP Chris Hatcher – 1 Year, $2,450,000

Free Agents

RP Drew Storen – 4 Years, $20,600,000
CL Akeel Morris – 3 Years, $9,400,000
RP Matt Belisle – 2 Years, $7,200,000
LF Peter Bourjos – 3 Years, $3,497,250
1B Yonder Alonso – 2 Years, $2,030,000
SS Ian Desmond – 1 Year, $1,116,500
3B Danny Valencia – 1 Year, $1,015,000
C Jeff Mathis – Minor League Contract

Rule 5 Draft

To San Diego from Chicago Cubs: 3B Jeimer Candelario
He’s a prospect that’s ready to play in the big leagues now. And with the departure of Solarte in an earlier move, it made sense for us to go out and grab Candelario. He’s a gap to gap hitter that brings an all around solid approach to each at-bat. He’s got impact potential.

To San Diego from Milwaukee: CF Tyrone Taylor
Another prospect that’s ready to play now. He’s got enough talent to be a starter, and at the very least, should be poised for a platoon role entering the season. Very nearly a prototypical leadoff type of hitter – just lacking a truly keen eye at the plate. Still, he’s a tough out that can battle with any pitcher.

Trades

To San Diego: SP Francis Martes
To Houston: 3B Yangervis Solarte, RF Matt Kemp, 2B Fernando Perez, SP Zech Lemond

Solarte was the only part of this trade that made us hesitate. I like him, and when he gets hot, boy does he get hot. Unfortunately he’s very streaky, he’s eligible for arbitration at the end of next season, and at the end of the day, his contribution to the team is just average. Kemp is still a good player, but we were paying him a superstar salary and I just couldn’t justify it. Houston targeted him in our negotiations, so we jumped at the chance to ditch that contract. Perez and Lemond are both lower end prospects, so no need to worry about losing them.

Martes is a 21 year old prospect that looks like a future ace. He’s got great velocity at 94-96 MPH and is already developed enough to be a borderline talent. Both Preller and I agreed that this was a good move for us.

To San Diego: SP James Kaprielian, SS Hyo-jun Park
To New York Yankees: SP James Shields, SP Adam Warren, RP Ryan Butler, RF Jose Urena, 3B Ryan Schimpf

Shields was the next big contract that we wanted to try to deal away. We targeted the Yankees because Shields has enough left in the tank to entice them and they obviously have the money to afford him. Warren is a decent enough pitcher, but much like in the situation above, he’s a player that’s going to be arbitration eligible at the end of next season. The Yankees targeted him in our negotiations and we were willing to part ways with him.

At the suggestion of Preller, we added a second prospect to our target list. We threw in Butler and Urena – both lower end prospects – and the Yankees negotiated for Schimpf. No sweat lost over any of these players.

Kaprielian is a 22 year old pitcher that looks like he could develop into a #2 or #3 guy. He’s got ok velocity, should develop above average stuff and control, and has a four pitch repertoire. Park is a low end prospect, but there’s a lot to like about his potential. He’s got no power to speak of, but he could develop into a decent contact hitter. He’s got good speed, great hand-eye coordination, and he’s solid as a rock defensively.

To San Diego: RP Marco Gonzalez
To St. Louis: RP Jordan Walden, 2B Ariel Ortega

Not much to say about this trade. Walden just didn’t turn out to be the player that I was hoping for. We shopped him around and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Cardinals were interested in taking him back. Gonzalez is a low ceiling prospect that could eventually fill a role, and Ortega was one of our low end prospects that they negotiated for.

To San Diego: SS Garrett Hampson, 3B Jomar Reyes
To Baltimore: C Christian Bethancourt, C Wilfri De La Cruz

It was only a matter of time before we had to make a decision between Bethancourt and Hedges. They’re both young, both defensively solid, and neither of them has been able to establish themselves as a big league talent just yet. Hedges has been in the organization longer and our head scout prefers him, so we went with him.

Hampson was a second round draft pick for the Orioles in last year’s draft. He went on to be named the CAR Round 1 MVP. He projects to be a fantastic contact hitter, although he might not be top of the lineup material just yet. He’s got good, but not great, speed and he needs to work on his eye at the plate. Still, he’s a great prospect. Reyes projects to be a power bat. He doesn’t swing at many bad pitches, but he also doesn’t hit every pitch that he swings at. His strikeout numbers will be higher than we would hope for, but the payoff should be worth it.

To San Diego: RP Blake Treinen
To Washington: RP Jose Dominguez

Dominguez is a young arm with a lot of talent, but between last year and this spring, he just hasn’t done enough to impress me. Treinen is a more established big leaguer, but he’s a couple of years older than Dominguez and he has a lower ceiling. Still, I feel like he’ll be an upgrade in our pen.

To San Diego: SP Logan Verrett
To New York Mets: CF Travis Jankowski

Fairly simple trade – We have an abundance of outfielders and a lack of starting pitching. Jankowski is a player with a lot of tools, but who just wasn’t cutting it for us. Verrett is still finding his way in the big leagues. He looks like a backend starter at the moment, but there have been glimpses that he might exceed that – last season in AAA he went 10-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. Unfortunately, those numbers skyrocketed when the Mets called him up. We’re willing to a take a chance on him as our starting pitching currently leaves a lot to be desired.

To San Diego: SP Beau Burrows, C Luis Torrens
To Chicago White Sox: LF Peter Bourjos
To Milwaukee: 1B Yonder Alonso
To Detroit: CF Melvin Upton Jr., SS Ian Desmond, SP Tayron Guerrero, RF Yeison Asencio
To New York Yankees: RP Tyler Thornburg, RP Paul Voekler, 3B Jefry Marte

We saved the biggest deal for last – a trade that took all winter to iron out. It was a struggle to find all of the right pieces, and even harder to get everyone in a room together to finalize it. With the development of Manny Margot and Hunter Renfroe, our outfield was becoming incredibly crowded. Bourjos had a spot in my plans going forward, but he was simply outplayed in the spring, and I certainly am not going to second guess getting rid of Upton Jr.’s contract. Alonso was actually the player I was most upset to lose, but as spring played out, it became obvious that we could get more value out of another player.

Torrens is a fantastic catching prospect, but he’s still very young and very raw. He’s a very smart kid and is already a pretty developed fielder. That being said, he still has quite a ways to go at the plate. He doesn’t have as much pop as we would have hoped, and he has a tendency to try to pull everything. He looks to be open to coaching though, so hopefully we can get some of his issues ironed out.

Anyone familiar with my last Padres dynasty should remember Burrows – we selected him 19th overall in 2015 and he went on to be a five-time All-Star and Cy Young runner-up. He finished his career 198-120 (193-109 with us) with a 3.21 ERA, 2,214 K, and 3023.2 IP. Now, this isn’t that Burrows, but how could I pass up the opportunity to bring him into the organization?

Other Notes

We brought in former Padres players Joey Hamilton and Akinori Otsuka as pitching coaches for our A+ and A teams, respectively. They are both inexperienced and unproven, but I’m willing to give them their starts here with the Padres organization.