The San Diego Padres do not have a clubhouse filled with happy campers this offseason.
Padres: Manny Machado wanted management to do more
According to Thomas Gamba-Ellis of the New York Post, Padres superstar third baseman Manny Machado had this to say about the lack of impactful moves that San Diego’s front office has made to upgrade their roster this winter:
“Are we disappointed we haven’t made any moves? Yeah,” Machado said. “As a team you look up there and you are a little disappointed that we let some of the guys that were a part of our core group here go elsewhere.”
“At the end of the day we can’t control that,” he added. “We can control with the group of guys we have here and we are going to get ready for a long season.”
Padres let several marquee talents leave in offseason
The number of standout players that the Padres saw leave their clubhouse this offseason outweighed the additions they made. San Diego lost superstar closer Tanner Scott to their arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers. They also saw 2024 All-Star outfielder Jurickson Profar depart for the Atlanta Braves.
If that was not enough, their defense took a major hit, as their 2023 Gold Glove Award-winning shortstop Ha-Seong Kim joined the Tampa Bay Rays. The Padres’ already thin depth chart at catcher became even thinner with backup Kyle Higashioka leaving for the Texas Rangers.
In turn, San Diego has brought in two-time Gold Glover Nick Ahmed to take over for Kim at shortstop and former two-time National League triples leader David Peralta for outfield duties. When compared to the reigning World Series champion Dodgers, the Padres were thoroughly outdone. Los Angeles also added two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki to their already stacked starting rotation. L.A. also secured their bullpen with another five-star closer outside of Scott in All-Star Kirby Yates and brought in another Japanese talent in Hyeseong Kim to their infield.
Other NL powerhouses outdid the Padres as well
That’s not even to mention other contenders such as the New York Mets, who made major splashes with the additions of the most sought-after, and expensive free agent in MLB history in OF Juan Soto, as well as All-Star closer Clay Holmes. Also, the Philadelphia Phillies added star talent Jesus Luzardo to their rotation and elite closer Jordan Romano to their bullpen, as well as Max Kepler to their outfield.
Thus, Machado has reason to be let down over the way in which other teams in their league alone outdid the Padres in allocating star players. San Diego still boasts a formidable unit across the board entering next season, but may need to address their bullpen and capitalize on some of the top-shelf talent that’s remaining in free agency and the trade block to measure up in 2025.
