Bojang0301
Omar4Heisman
Tigers fan but former local of SD. Giving Randy Smith a run for his money.
Padres record: 0-3
Runs scored: 0
Official countdown day: 1
Padres record: 0-3
Runs scored: 0
Official countdown day: 1
Wisler and Turner might not be big stars, but both are probably going to be contributing MLB players. That's not nothing, as are guys like Smith or Joe Ross. And taking on bad contracts because every team has bad contracts is, again, flawed thinking. Kemp's a disaster. So is Shields. And they're going to be millstones around Preller's neck now as he tries to rebuild.Padres ownership deserves some of the blame. Based on their hire of Preller and support of his 14-15 moves, they appear to have been unwilling to tank like the Astros and 76ers. This arguably would have been their best long-term option because of the lack of talent in the organization at all levels.
There really wasn't much of a farm system for Preller to gut. The best prospects he dealt are Wisler and Trea Turner, neither of whom projects as a big star. Kemp and Shields aren't great contracts but every team has an overpaid veteran or two and their payroll is still only around the $100M mark. Ramirez and Jay aren't great but they fill needs and their contracts don't have long term implications. The churn of Kimbrel didn't really hurt the team.
If Preller survives, his ultimately success will depend on whether the Padres organization can acquire and develop young talent. I think his worst move as a GM was to effectively not have a first rounder the past two years. They dealt Turner and lost their pick last year as compensation for the Shields signing. But drafts are more than one round deep so we'll have to see how their other 2015 picks pan out. The Padres haven't been very active players in the international free agent market aside from signing a young Dominican pitcher named Henry Henry. The current international system favors teams spending big in one year of a three year cycle. I'll be curious if Preller is a big spender starting this July.
All true to a degree but Myers + compensation pick for Kimbrel may exceed the value of Turner + Wisler. The Kimbrel/BJ Upton deal also allowed Preller to dump $23M worth of Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin money.Wisler and Turner might not be big stars, but both are probably going to be contributing MLB players. That's not nothing, as are guys like Smith or Joe Ross. And taking on bad contracts because every team has bad contracts is, again, flawed thinking. Kemp's a disaster. So is Shields. And they're going to be millstones around Preller's neck now as he tries to rebuild.
It's boring, but I think SD's best course of action was to just keep the ship on course. Spend carefully in FA, bring up prospects, etc. They didn't need a full tear-down until Preller blew it up, but obviously "going for it" was utter folly.
The Kimbrel trade was an inspired bit of business. If SD didn't see to firing him immediately after they knew what he was doing, might as well give him a chance to turn it around. But if I'm a fan of any other NL West team, I think I'd want him staying there as long as possible.
The stadium and fans deserve better. It's a great place to watch baseball.God I forgot how giddy and excited gunZ was last year for the kemp-Upton-Myers outfield. That seems really sad now.
Do you really think the Padres could trade 3 years of Myers for Turner and Wisler (let's assume they're on the same team) right now? That's insane. I wouldn't even assume that Myers would net a compensation pick. I certainly would give Turner a better chance of netting one.All true to a degree but Myers + compensation pick for Kimbrel may exceed the value of Turner + Wisler. The Kimbrel/BJ Upton deal also allowed Preller to dump $23M worth of Carlos Quentin and Cameron Maybin money.
I think you're underestimating the marching orders Preller got from SD ownership. They won 77 games the year before he was hired, 11 games out of the wild card. That's a lot to make up but not beyond the realm of possibility. Obviously, things didn't work out but staying the course usually involves building around more talent than Yonder Alonso and Andrew Cashner.
Wisler was part of the Kimbrel deal. Turner was a PTBNL in the Myers trade. In retrospect, the Myers trade was the worst move of Preller's tenure. They gave up Joe Ross and Jake Bauers in addition to Turner.Do you really think the Padres could trade 3 years of Myers for Turner and Wisler (let's assume they're on the same team) right now? That's insane. I wouldn't even assume that Myers would net a compensation pick. I certainly would give Turner a better chance of netting one.
The Padres did dump Quentin and Maybin, but they also took back double that amount of salary in Melvin Upton. As I'm sure you remember. And while he's more highly regarded, Kimbrel only netted the Padres a win and a half last year.
For all of the double-speak and business school platitudes that were rife in Hinkie's interview and resignation letter this week, I think he did make a really good point about a GM's priorities (e.g. keeping one's job) not always being aligned with the team's (usually, realistically building a contending team). I have no clue if the ownership told him to go for broke, or gave him carte blanche, or what. Certainly they do deserve some blame in this mess.The Padres weren't terribly exciting pre-Preller, something that GunZ repeatedly pointed out last year, and he wasn't wrong, but if that was the problem, 2015 wasn't the answer. They're reeeally not exciting now.
It's all in the wrist.What happened to Myers? I know his K rate was high in the minors and his season in Tampa...but what else? Pretty hard fall for him.