SAN DIEGO — Last year the San Diego Padres made it to the National League Championship Series and it was somewhat unexpected because they had to beat two 100+ win teams —the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers—to make it while only having won 89 games themselves in the regular season.
The Padres weren’t a bad team—they finished second in the NL West behind the 111-win Dodgers—but they had some issues and positions to address this offseason in order for them to be a contender again in 2023.
So did the Padres and General Manager AJ Preller do enough to address those issues?
Host Javier Reyes of Locked On Padres discussed all the moves the Padres made this offseason on his latest episode starting with the big one: Xander Bogaerts. Reyes touched upon how Padres fans were thinking the Padres would go after guys like Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger or maybe even someone like Jean Segura, but instead, the Padres landed Bogaerts.
They signed him to a 11-year/$280M deal and Reyes thinks it’s a great contract. He added, “I understand this is Xander Bogaerts at age 30 and that this is going to take him to his 42nd year. And people are wondering will his skills translate?” Reyes thinks they will.
Bogaerts isn’t going to crush the ball but he is a plus bat in the lineup and will more than likely hit a lot of doubles and singles in Petco Park which will work well with the other guys the Padres have in their lineup.
One last thing Reyes wondered about when it comes to the Bogaerts signing is: Does this mean the Padres don’t think they can keep guys like Manny Machado who has an opt out in his contract after this season or Juan Soto who could leave after 2025? That remains to be seen.
The Padres also added Adam Engel, which Reyes said was more for depth and that Padres fans shouldn’t expect too much offensively from a guy whose career batting line is .225/.280/.350 and that his defense is the reason you’ll see him playing.
Reyes also discussed the Padres acquiring both Matt Carpenter and Nelson Cruz. He joked about how Carpenter did “mythiological” things in 2022 when he was with the Yankees and Reyes added, “Frankly, he didn’t make sense,” because of how high Carpenter’s numbers were after his career seemed to be over. Carpenter’s sample size from 2022 was small but mighty. He batted .305/.412/.727 with 15 home runs in only 47 games. But the downside of this, as Reyes states, could be that Carpenter hit a lot of those home runs to rightfield in Yankee Stadium which is smaller than Petco Park which is a pitcher’s park. But overall, Reyes likes the signing because Carpenter could be a key guy off the bench for the Padres.
As for Cruz, he’s similar to Carpenter as far as not being an every day player. He’s someone you can platoon if needed and the thing that should be exciting for Padres fans is this guy has been around a long time and maybe having his presence in the clubhouse could be a good thing for someone like Fernando Tatis Jr. who like Cruz, was suspended for steroids—Cruz’s suspension was in 2013 when the Biogenesis story broke. They have something in common and Cruz was able to resurrect his career after that steroid suspension.
Overall, Reyes thinks the Padres did enough on offense but what about pitching?
Reyes believes the Padres’ biggest pitching acquisition this offseason was right handed reliever Robert Suarez. He pitched for the Padres in 2022 and then signed a five-year/$46M deal in November after having a solid year. He finished with a 2.27 ERA in 47 and ⅔ innings with 61 strikeouts and 21 walks.
Reyes wasn’t too high about Nick Martinez’s signing. He called it solid but he likes that Martinez is a gamer and called him the Swiss Army knife of the Padres because he can start if you need him to or come in for relief. He had similar thoughts on Seth Lugo and mentioned how the health of Drew Pomeranz can affect both Lugo and Martinez and could see them both moved into the bullpen.
So did the Padres make enough moves this offseason? Reyes thinks they can be World Series contenders.