Quote from JasonE135 on September 29, 2019, 3:23 pm

You cannot still be surprised by the team's performance can you?

Quote from WindsorUK on September 29, 2019, 4:14 pm

What an ugly end to what can obviously be considered as disappointing. We have far more questions now than we did at the end of last season.

For me though, the one thing that we can feel confident in going forward is our starting pitching. It's been a LONG time since we've had so many young guys capable of giving us a real chance to win a game.( Lollar, Dravecky, Thurmond, and Hawkins?)

AJ is going to be REALLY busy thinning out the herd for the 40 man and finding us a major league outfield. Should be an interesting off season for us Padre fans.

Quote from Henry Silvestre on September 29, 2019, 5:18 pm

Quote from WindsorUK on September 29, 2019, 4:14 pm

What an ugly end to what can obviously be considered as disappointing. We have far more questions now than we did at the end of last season.

For me though, the one thing that we can feel confident in going forward is our starting pitching. It's been a LONG time since we've had so many young guys capable of giving us a real chance to win a game.( Lollar, Dravecky, Thurmond, and Hawkins?)

AJ is going to be REALLY busy thinning out the herd for the 40 man and finding us a major league outfield. Should be an interesting off season for us Padre fans.

How do you have more ?

 

1B Hosmer

2B Urias ?

SS Tatis Jr

3B Machado

C Mejia

Thats 1 ? And based on his play this last month (like Mejia) more of a question as to "Do we upgrade with a Star or let Urias and Mejia alone?" Rather than a performance ?? Last yr we had 1B Hosmer.. And ????? On the other 4 positions in the IF... So this is huge

OF .. We had ?? Last off-season.. I think Renfroe (surgery) answered most ?? Regarding him when Healthy.. As did Margot.. Margot answered them by saying in An Platoon only player vs lefties...  So in the OF we still have ??

SP ..I think we've answered SP Paddack.. SP Lamet.. Richards health for 2020 ..answered... The other 2 spots are at least Lauer and Joey both improved vs 2018 and at least AJP knows he has a SP 5.. With a little depth..SP ? Answered BUT we know we need an upgrade or 2 and xontinued progression...

BP Yates gave us an answer.. Munoz..Baez gave us answers... Some ?? Remain ..but of anything 2019 has given us plenty of answers..

Quote from Henry Silvestre on September 29, 2019, 6:43 pm

Quote from David Nevin on September 29, 2019, 1:47 pm

We may as well lose this one too so we can pick 8th.

If we win and Rockies lose “they” get #8 and us #9.

 

Good call... CF Garret Mitchell UCLA vome on down

Quote from JasonE135 on September 29, 2019, 6:47 pm

Quite right sir. We still have a few questions but we have definitely answered a lot. If all the rookies from this year continue with their normal progression and our other guys play up to their abilities all year we could be in the playoffs next year even without changes. And there will be changes.

Quote from WindsorUK on September 30, 2019, 12:05 am

I'll disagree guys.

Last year we had plenty of what we thought were capable OF's - Myers, Margot, Renfroe, Reyes, Jankowski. Can you honestly say you'd want ANY of them starting in our OF in 2020?

As for C, Hedges was the guy. Not anymore. But is Mejia, Allen, or someone outside the organisation to fill in until Campusano is ready?

At 2B, we THOUGHT  Urias was the guy THIS year. Does anyone REALLY think he earned a guaranteed spot for next year, based on his 2019 numbers?

Our bullpen, outside of Yates( our top trade candidate by the way) is COMPLETELY up for grabs. Outside of maybe Strahm( who was a starter for us coming into 2019) I don't know if anyone has locked down a job.

Tatis obviously answered one long outstanding question and I can't wait to see what he does with a healthy year.

And as I said, I'm REALLY excited about our starting rotation. We're good there for the foreseeable future.

Most of the pen, C, 2B, and the entire OF are up for grabs. That too me is A LOT of questions.

Quote from JasonE135 on September 30, 2019, 1:34 am

We traded Hand for Mejia because he was the future at C, and is now the present. If you cannot be happy with our current catching situation then you will never be satisfied. Urias was given half a year. In case you forgot, our second baseman this year was Kinsler. He stunk. We finally put Urias in halfway through. He is hitting now. It just took him some time to get going.  Does he only get 200-300AB at the show before he is declared a bust? Gurerro was hitting what, .220-.230 after 200AB this year. Should someone else be brought in to play 3B for them? Urias is our 2B next year. Period. We have tons of starters. We are overflowing. But that also means we have plenty of extra arms that can go in our bullpen. Yes we could use a few more reliable relievers. So could every other team in MLB. Our BP was average. In needs to get better but we are in no way in desperate straits there.

We need OF help. Trammell is coming but we need more. But that's really the only true question we have.

Quote from Cptjack on September 30, 2019, 4:35 am

Quote from Henry Silvestre on September 29, 2019, 5:18 pm

How do you have more ?

Some ?? Remain ..but of anything 2019 has given us plenty of answers..

The only way we didn't end 2019 with more question marks is if you're okay with bad answers.

Quote from fenn68 on September 30, 2019, 10:11 am

A team that lost over 90 games for the 4th straight season has to have a lot of questions ... it is how to address those questions ... that is the issue.

Now a team that lost 90+games ... no matter what the home fans want .... just does not have that compelling bank of assets to ship out AND end up with a full array of better players ... sort of the wishful lead to gold / silk purse from a sow's ear plan ... not happening. Padres need to address the most impactful spots to improve and bet on incumbents to perform better in 2020 (and beyond) for the remainder of the slots.

For me that upper rotation starter who can eat innings and a LHH offensive oriented OF are the two to focus on.

Take your gamble on Urias, Mejia, and just accept Myers is not going anywhere from an offense standpoint.

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Urias ... first impressions are just hard to drop ... but Urias is just 22 and a much heralded prospect with good defense for 2B and consider his ML development:

Jul .... 48 PA ... 097/300/194

Aug ... 91 PA ... 238/330/338

Sep ... 89 PA ... 300/371/425

Even with that bad start (plus a very bad Apr) he still generated a 1.0 WAR. Don't waste assets on finding a "better" 2B (not the most critical of positions) and bet the upside of continued development.

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Mejia hit 305/355/571 in the second half after he started to get some more regular playing time. He too should be an upside bet. Considering the Padres will need two catchers splitting time (that is the norm in MLB) ... not worth debating Mejia (or probably Hedges) .... Allen does not seem to be pushing his way in and to deal for an upgrade is somewhere between unlikely (find one available) and extremely costly in assets that are needed for that SP / OF upgrade.

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Myers is not going anywhere ... and probably shouldn't if the cost to move him is eating his salary and/or giving major trade assets to get the deal done. Assets that should be used for the SP/OF. A long run of frustration with Myers but he does "tease" with a 2nd half of 2019 at 271/332/442 .... that actually makes him the best hitting OF on the Padres in the second half. Bet on him being "average" in 2020 ... focus on the other two OF slots .... move him (if needed) next winter with he is carrying a lower contract liability).

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IF the Padres want a significant upgrade to the OF and SP, then they must focus their limited quality trade chips toward those improvements ... not waste any on marginal, incremental adjustments.

IF they want to make a major jump in wins in 2020 they need to go big in those two spots AND win on the bets for incumbents developing / performing.

Frankly going to 81-81 (not in playoffs) is an 11 game improvement ... and not out of the question. Going up to 89 wins (MILW's 2nd WC) is a 19 game improvement and a bit more of challenge ... and not likely to happen without those adds at SP/OF. I would guess that even though the prize is a one game play in for a chance for more ... at the point this organization will "overpay" a bit for that chance .. for their own sanity.

However, catching the LAD (106 wins) will require the LAD to collapse .. not expecting that in the near term ... so Padres do have to be judicious in what they give up to improve 2020 so they are still position to challenge the LAD when the return to the pack.