Xander Bogaerts and the San Diego Padres Adjust Expectations

“They’re a good team, but this is the big leagues and every night you’re facing All-Stars,” Blackmon said, adding: “A few years ago, San Diego went for it and had a bunch of big contracts and had to blow it up. It’s not necessarily a sustainable model, what we’ve seen so far. So it makes you wonder.”

Specifically, he was referring to 2015. That was the first full season for A.J. Preller, then the general manager, now the president of baseball operations, always the aggressive architect whatever his title. Preller traded for the All-Stars Matt Kemp, Derek Norris and Craig Kimbrel and signed free agent pitcher James Shields that season. The Padres started slowly, fired Black in June, finished 74-88 and started all over again after finishing 68-94 in 2016.

The payroll reached a then-Padres record $108.3 million in 2015 and $99 million in 2016. The 90 wins in 2010 with a payroll a third or so of those remains the most victories for the club in any season since San Diego’s 1998 N.L. pennant-winning team.

“That was maybe the most fun we had, that group of players,” Black said of a team led by González and infielder David Eckstein that squeezed 14 wins each out of starters Clayton Richard, Jon Garland and Mat Latos. “What a great year that was. That was a ton of fun. Those seasons are special because nobody expects you to do anything, and then you do it.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/03/sports/baseball/san-diego-padres.html