San Diego Padres - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

Decade

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Titles:

Top Padres Players of the Twenty Twenties

2020 - WC Beat St. Louis; NLDS Lost to LA

2022 - WC beat Mets; NLDS beat LA; NLCS Lost to Philly

Pitchers:

2024 - WC beat Atlanta; NLDS Lost to LA

Yu Darvish (8.55) - 26

2025 - WC lost Cubs

Joe Musgrove (10.58) - 23

Blake Snell (9.44) - 19

Ballpark:

Dylan Cease (4.2) - 12

Petco Park

Josh Hader (1.43) - 12

Mark Melancon (2.12) - 12

Team Name:

Michael King (4.1) - 11

Padres

Nick Pivetta (5.3) - 11

Robert Suarez (3.43) - 10

Owner:

Michael Wacha (2,4) - 8

Consortium led by Peter O'Malley, Eric Kutsenda and Sheel Seidler

Zach Davies (1.64) - 8

Chris Paddack (-0.44) - 8

General Managers:

Adrian Morejon (3.54) - 8

AJ Preller

Catchers:

Managers:

Austin Nola (2.73) - 4

Jayce Tingler (2020-2021)

Luis Campusano (-0.24) - 3

Bob Melvin (2022-2023)

Gary Sanchez (2.5) - 3

Mike Schildt (2024-2025)

Craig Stammen (2025)

First Basemen:

Jake Cronenworth (15.94) - 27

Hall of Famers:

Eric Hosmer (3.21) - 13

None

Second Basemen:

Rookie of the Year:

Xander Bogaerts (7.6) - 25

None

Luis Arraez (2.3) - 10

MVP

ShortStop:

None

Ha-Seong Kim (15.51) - 30

No Hitters:

Third Base:

2021 - Joe Musgrove (Texas)

Manny Machado (25.22) - 51

Cy Young:

Outfield:

2023 - Blake Snell

Fernando Tatis (20.1) - 59

2024 - Dylan Cease

Trent Grisham (10.38) - 29

Jackson Merrill (7.2) - 22

Notable Events:

Jurickson Profar (8.52) - 18

Juan Soto (7.41) - 11

2020 - After nine years of losing seasons, most well below .500, San Diego

Will Myers (3.88) - 10

turns it around in the Covid shortened '20 season seeing their record move

to a posh 37-23 mark (which extrapolates to 100-62 in a full schedule).

Notable Events:

The difference was that San Diego started to spend. In 2019, they surprised

everybody signing high priced star 3B Manny Machado away from the Dodgers.

2024 - After making it to the ALCS in '22 and bringing in a bunch of high

In 2019, superstar twenty year old SS Fernando Tatis, who had been stolen

priced free agents for '23, expectations were high, championship high.

from the White Sox three years earlier, came up as a rookie and went

Instead the Padres laid an egg and have abandoned the high priced

22-53-.317 with 16 stolen bases. In 2020, the Padres added pitchers Mike

star route. Losing revenue on their TV contract and their high spending

Clevinger, 29, from Cleveland and Zach Davies. 27, from Milwaukee.

owner Peter Seidler made the decision to pull back on spending a

foregone conclusion. San Diego traded away their best hitter, young

□ The owner of the Padres is a consortium led by Ronald Fowler and Peter Seidler

slugger Juan Soto to the Yankees for a couple of quality pitching prospects.

who bought the club in '12. The consortium looked like the typical shallow

They let go in free agency stud closer Josh Hader (33 saves). Starter

pockets ownership San Diego has traditionally had until '19 when they

Michael Wacha (14-4), starter Blake Snell (14-9) and Seth Lugo (8-7).

started spending. Unclear what prompted ownership to reverse course and

The two youngsters from the Yankees, Michael King (4-8) and Randy

let go of the purse strings, but it was great news for San Diego fans.

Vasquez (2-3) plus veteran Dylan Cease (7-9), acquired from the White Sox,

have some pretty big shoes to fill. Robert Suarez who had a 4.33 ERA

□ AJ Preller was brought on as GM in '14. After floundering for a number of years,

last year will attempt to replace Josh Hader. Good luck with that.

he has been at the forefront of the San Diego turnaround in '20. It has helped

On offense, the Padres will struggle to retain last year's mediocrity now

him, big time, that the Padres purse strings were loosened considerably

that Soto is gone. They have three studs in 3B Machado, OF Tatis and

over the last couple of years.

SS Bogaerts, who should all do better than last year. However, after them,

the offensive talent drops off a cliff.

□ Jayce Tingler was hired as manager in '20. He's a new age type of

San Diego has a group of quality minor league prospects, but they are

manage and young at 38 years old. He speaks fluent Spanish.

not major league ready: C Ethan Salas; SS Jackson Merrill; OF Samuel

He has a lot of experience managing Latin players in the Dominican Winter

Zavala; P Dylan Lesko and P Robby Snelling

and Summer leagues. Unfortunately for Jayce, he lasted only two seasons

The outlook is non-contention for San Diego.

as he was the one who had to fall on his sword after the 79-83 '21 season.

Veteran Bob Melvin, a traditional sort, took Tingler's place.

2025 - The Padres looked like they were trending downward in '24, but

instead gained thirteen games in the standings in '24 and made it to the

2021 - The bumpy ride begins. Despite spending big on their pitching staff,

playoffs losing to the champion Dodgers.

bringing in Yu Darvish, 34, from Texas, Blake Snell, 27, from Tampa,

Funny thing, altho' the Padres lost a bunch of significant players, they ended

Joe Musgrove, 28, from the Pirates and closer Mark Melancon, 36, from

up with almost identical run totals to 2023. They overachieved on their run

the Braves, the staff actually goes from giving up 4 runs per game in '20

differentials slightly in '24 after horrifically underachieving on them in 2023.

to 4.5 runs per game in '21 and the team falls under .500. This was a huge

surprise and it cost manager Jayce Tingler his head.

2025 Pitching:

This would have been a pretty decent rotation for '25 if Joe Musgrove

2022 - The Padres double down on their spending. They add LHP Sean

hadn't gotten hurt. Instead, it's just sort of OK.

Manaea, 30, from the A's before the start of the season and then score a couple

Newcomers Dylan Cease, R-29, and Michael King, R-30, slotted in very

of blockbusters landing twenty three year old super superstar Juan Soto, 23, from

nicely at the top of the Padres rotation going a combined 27-20 3.25.

Washington and stud closer Josh Hader, 28, from Milwaukee at the trade

Matt Waldron, 28, was promoted from within and somewhat surprisingly

deadline. San Diego yo-yo's up to an 89-73 mark and the arrow is

held his own going 7-11 4.91 and Randy Vazquez, 26, the other guy obtained

definitely pointing up. The pitching staff knocks the half a run a game it added

from the Yankees in the Juan Soto trade also managed to stay afloat at

in '21 back down to four runs per game given up.

4-7 4.87. Ancient Yu Darvish, 38, was still effective at 7-3 3.31. A big blow

to the Padres was ace Joe Musgrove, 32, 6-5 3.38 going down and

2023 - The Padres make another splash in the off season signing star SS

undergoing Tommy John surgery. He will be unavailable in 2025.

Xander Bogaerts, 30, and RHP Michael Wacha, 31, both from the Red Sox

The Padres signed Nick Pivetta, 32, FA from Boston, to a four year $55 million

and they add 3B Matt Carpenter, 37, from the Cards. They have an all star

deal to fill Musgrove's spot in the rotation. He was 6-12 4.14 last year.

semi circular lineup and a high priced talented pitching rotation and a stud closer.

Expectations are very high for the Padres to contend with perennial hundred

2025 HItting:

game winners, the Dodgers, for supremacy in the NL West.

When healthy and playing up to their potential the Padres have something

of a murderers row in the middle of their lineup.

2023 - The Padres lay an egg going 82-80. They were expected, with the

3B Manny Machado, 32, 29 105 .275 is a stud. OF Fernando Tatis, 26, has

roster they had, to win around a hundred. Very disappointing for San Diego.

fallen off a cliff since coming back from his PED extension at 21 49 .276.

The Padres run totals indicated a 92-70 record while not what was expected

The Padres need him to return to his former studliness.

would have made their season palatable as they would at least have made

Jackson Merrill, 22, is the next stud at 24 90 .292, numbers that would

the playoffs. Usually when a team underachieves this badly, it is because

normally have gotten him Rookie of the Year. As it is, you have to feel there

their closer was a disaster, blowing one close game after another. That wasn't

will definitely be awards in his future. Luis Arraez, 28, is a flat out hitter.

the case here. Closer Josh Hader was brilliant with 33 saves on a 1.28 ERA.

He hit .318 last year and has three batting titles under his belt.

The pitching staff overall ranked second in the National League and gave up

SS Xander Bogaerts, 32, battled with shoulder problems last year and

a hundred runs under the league average. The starters went 54-33. The culprit

had a sub par 11 44 .264 stat line. He is much better than that.

was the bullpen depth beyond the excellent starters and closer. They had a

1B Jake Cronenworth, 31, 17 81 .231 is a decent bat that helps solidify

combined 28-47 record and blew one game after the other in the middle innings.

the lineup a bit. Losing OF Jurickson Profar to free agency hurts.

The Padres also supposedly had a circular all star lineup, but managed to score

only four runs over the league norm. Juan Soto pulled his weight with a .930 OPS.

But nobody else was over .800. Stars 3B Machado, SS Bogaerts, OF Tatis and

C Sanchez all had decent years, but not star quality seaons.