I expected this to be a summer long baseball season of challenges for the Padres.
Now in the middle of a 17-game in 17-day stretch, they are trying to stay in the Wildcard playoff race, with a team fraught with problems.
Never ever did I think we would be talking about a Padres batting order, highly paid as it is, ranked virtually last in every offensive category there is. Could you have ever imagined a lineup that includes Tatis-Machado-Bogaerts-Merrill-Sheets, would have a team batting average of (.219)?
Tatis is hitting, though not with home runs.
Machado continues to stagger at home plate
Merrill, a second year in a row, with substandard offensive numbers
Bogaerts has always been streaky, but this year, more so.
And that does not include the anemic production of Cronenworth, and the black hole bats behind home plate, at the catcher position.
When a career minor leaguer like Samod Taylor is the bright light story of the summer, you have a team with problems.
Too many empty slots in the batting order.
What I feared has now reached fruition. They do not have enough starting pitching to stay in the pennant race. And it seems a big challenge for AJ Preller to go find pitching.
Michael King-Walker Beuhler are carbon copy bulldogs at the head of the rotation. King is as solid a 6-inning starter as there is.
Buehler is a lottery ticket that has cashed in value, with a (2.68-ERA) in his last 9-starts, this coming from a guy coming off 2-elbow surgeries, who no longer has the 98mph fastball but the fire to find a way to stay on the mound.
After that, the story is fraught with problems.
Randy Vasquez took a big leap of faith with a (2.68-ERA) over 2-months of starts. His last 7-outings, his (8.41-ERA) puts future starts and his role in jeopardy. Alot of work to be done.
Lucas Giolito is no longer a reliable starter..his (5.76-ERA) complicated by hits allowed, walks and home run balls. Nothing left in the gas tank.
Griff Canning is a mystery. It’s not arm related. Is it stuff-confidence? How many more times can you give the ball to someone with a (7.58-ERA).
Where to go next-is anything out there any better and how do you go get them
German Marquez had a (5.76-ERA) when he got hurt.
Matt Waldon has an (8.49-ERA) and is a shadow of what he was two years ago.
JP Sears had one good outing, but the A’s gave up on this lefthander.
Kyle Hart has a role as a short reliever-beyond 2-innings, cannot be relied on
Jhonny Brito, coming off injury, probably gets the next call, he was (0.98-ERA) on rehab
There seems little hope that Nick Pivetta nor Joe Musgrove can be a factor-because neither has been on a fast track in rehab from elbow and forearm issues, and both have to prove they can hold up with max effort outings in the bullpen, then in the rotation.
Out there on the trade block, yes, Freddy Peralta (Mets)..Joe Ryan (Twins)..Antonio Senzatella (Rockies)..Sandy Alcantara (Miami)…Robbie Ray (Giants)..Reid Detmers (Angels)…Luis Castillo (Mariners) and a few others. There are complications here. Some are old. Some are hurt. Some have big salaries. Some are inconsistent.
And there are always two issues now about potential deals. Will outgoing-incoming ownership allow Preller to take on more salary that increases their luxury tax payments? And who is he going to trade away from a strip mined farm system to get a pitcher?
I always feared the Padres were ‘living on borrowed time’ with this pitching staff. Now they have to ‘save the season’. I don’t know how. Do they?
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The Padres should kick the tires on Trevor Bauer. His story isn’t that different than Matt Araiza. Yes, his personality is prickly, but the guy can pitch. False accusations should never destroy a person’s career.