What happened to the Padres? Article from the Athletic

[welch]

Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin try to explain what went wrong:

The Padres’ disastrous season reveals shaky foundation and ‘institutional failure’

Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin
Sep 19, 2023


As the San Diego Padres play out the string in one of the most disappointing campaigns in major-league history, a club that spectacularly collapsed two years ago must again confront the shakiness of its foundation.

Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller continues to prove himself to be a gifted evaluator and collector of high-end talent. His default setting of simply trying to outwork the competition, however, has not always sat well with managers, players, coaches and other team officials.

One player called the season an “institutional failure.” Multiple members of the team spoke of a persistent atmosphere of pessimism as the Padres watched their season slip away. And while numerous people downplayed or rejected rumors of a dysfunctional clubhouse, the overall environment around the team garnered less positive reviews.

“It’s the most toxic,” one former staffer said.

pening-day payrolls ranked in baseball’s top 10, and the last two in the top five. Since 2015, Preller has spent close to $200 million between amateur draft picks and international signings, yet all of that capital produced only three All-Stars (infielder Ty France and relievers Emmanuel Clase and David Bednar), each of whom blossomed after being traded away.

Many other prospects were moved for star-caliber performers such as Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Juan Soto. While the arrivals of those players helped fuel the 2022 postseason run, they also compromised upper-level organizational depth.

The Padres, through Sunday, have the second-best rotation ERA in the National League, but they have suffered from a near-historic combination of bad luck and poor clutch hitting. Their 6-22 record in one-run games and 0-11 mark in extra-inning games both are the worst in the majors. Yet the Padres’ talent is such that some believe the team should simply try again with a similar roster.

Soon after the 2017 season ended, Preller made an unusual hire. Don Tricker, the Padres’ new director of player health and performance, had come to San Diego from the other side of the world.

Tricker had spent the previous several years as high performance manager for New Zealand’s famed All Blacks, the most successful rugby team of all time. For the Padres, he was at first expected to oversee multiple departments, including the medical and training staff and the analytics department.

Tricker knew little about baseball, got shifted away from anaytics, and had no medical training.

Several people interviewed for this story described a lack of a coherent message from the top of the organization. “There’s no consistency,” a former employee said. Another former Padres staffer added, “I think the philosophy is, get a bunch of athletes and we’re just going to out-athlete the other team and out-ability the other team.”

Preller’s hands-on approach elicits both irritation and admiration. “I think A.J.’s got just a brilliant mind,” an ex-staffer said. “And it’s always on. It’s always like, how can I incrementally make this roster better?” Another former team official noted that many of Preller’s suggestions to the coaching staff — say, that an infielder take extra ground balls to improve his range — were not without merit. Said one Padres player: “Nobody cares about winning and trying to figure this out more than he does. … He’s obsessed.”

But when the Padres fail to win, people around the club say, the same hands-on approach can foster a negative environment. One former staff member said he had never worked in an organization where players dealt with as much veiled criticism. Some Padres coaches, throughout Preller’s tenure, have said they felt nitpicked by the front office.

Preller’s roster construction also created difficulties for Melvin. The Padres played much of the first half with essentially only one position-player reserve beyond the backup catcher. Melvin didn’t have many levers to pull. Most of the Padres’ regulars play every game, and their lineup was essentially cemented once Fernando Tatis returned on April 20 from his 80-game suspension for testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance.

The rest of the article: https://theathletic.com/4874799/2023/09/19/san-diego-padres-disaster-season-preller/

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I'm not a finance guy so I don't know what the proper technical term is for the defecation of vast sums of money, but the Padres, Mets, and Twitter are all pretty spectacular.   

[UMDNats]

You'd think a player worth over $500 million in Juan Soto would be able to provide some leadership in the clubhouse.

[nfotiu]

It's kind of a crazy year for them.   There is a case to be made that it is mostly bad luck.

+79 run differential and 5 games under .500 is tough to do.

They have 78 more runs than the Marlins and have given up 39 less, yet are 5 games back from them, and Marlins are .5 out of a playoff spot.

Some of that luck is being corrected lately though recently, and if they played another 50 games, they'd probably pass the Marlins.

[OfftheBat]

Thanks for your post, Welch. Sounds like Preller is "suffering" from major micro-management.

Also, I have heard, by listening to some Padres podcasts on Youtube, that Manny Machado is the main problem in the Padres clubhouse. I'll try to find one of those podcasts; I wonder if this is true.

[Slateman]

6-22 in one run games and 0-11 in extra inning games

[HalfSmokes]

This could have been written about the Nats if not for 2019

You'd think a player worth over $500 million in Juan Soto would be able to provide some leadership in the clubhouse.

that costs extra

[welch]

You'd think a player worth over $500 million in Juan Soto would be able to provide some leadership in the clubhouse.

Article says that too many of the stars are looking at more at their numbers rather than trying to win by scoring more runs:

- Soto cannot lead the clubhouse because he could be gone at the end of next year, so other players "don't know where he stands". Soto has, however, spoken to one of the problems, He said "We need to get the guy home, rather than try to hit a 500 foot homer".

- Machado is too temperamental, or "mercurial".

- Tatis has no standing because he is coming back from that drug suspension

- Bogaerts is new to the team

[Slateman]

Article says that too many of the stars are looking at more at their numbers rather than trying to win by scoring more runs:

- Soto cannot lead the clubhouse because he could be gone at the end of next year, so other players "don't know where he stands". Soto has, however, spoken to one of the problems, He said "We need to get the guy home, rather than try to hit a 500 foot homer".

- Machado is too temperamental, or "mercurial".

- Tatis has no standing because he is coming back from that drug suspension

- Bogaerts is new to the team

Soto cant lead because he doesnt have a long term contract? Thats actual bullcrap. Yan Gomes and Howie Kendrick were both leaders on the 2019 team.  Soto isnt leading because he doesnt want to.

Agree on Machado

Tatis was never a leader

Bogaerts has the resume to come in and be a leader day 1. He is a WS champion and a veteran. If he hasnt established himself as a leader, its because he didnt want to.

[blue911]

The Padres should trade for Rendon

[JCA-CrystalCity]

The Padres should trade for Rendon

Wander Suero

[nobleisthyname]

This could have been written about the Nats if not for 2019

Or any other competitive team that failed to win a World Series title during their competitive window.

[Senatorswin]

On the Nats broadcast tonight Ryan Zimmerman mentioned the 2019 team had one thing a team needs, Gerardo Parra. He Parra would have certain players working on things before games whether they wanted to or not. Things like that. Together with Howie they showed the rest how to prepare and play. It sounds like the Padres could of used one or two of those type players.

[blue911]

On the Nats broadcast tonight Ryan Zimmerman mentioned the 2019 team had one thing a team needs, Gerardo Parra. He Parra would have certain players working on things before games whether they wanted to or not. Things like that. Together with Howie they showed the rest how to prepare and play. It sounds like the Padres could of used one or two of those type players.

I think Brian Dozier deserves a mention as well.

[welch]

Soto cant lead because he doesnt have a long term contract? Thats actual bullcrap. Yan Gomes and Howie Kendrick were both leaders on the 2019 team.  Soto isnt leading because he doesnt want to.

Agree on Machado

Tatis was never a leader

Bogaerts has the resume to come in and be a leader day 1. He is a WS champion and a veteran. If he hasnt established himself as a leader, its because he didnt want to.

Soto can't lead players who expect him to be gone soon. Bogaerts just got there. One player said that the Padres have four or five stars but and nobody agrees who the leader is. And a big thing is that the stars each look at their numbers rather than at winning games. That even seems to be Soto's point. And it fits with Zim's point last night: the Padres don't have game-winning role players. Nobody like Parra.

[Slateman]

Soto can't lead players who expect him to be gone soon. Bogaerts just got there. One player said that the Padres have four or five stars but and nobody agrees who the leader is. And a big thing is that the stars each look at their numbers rather than at winning games. That even seems to be Soto's point. And it fits with Zim's point last night: the Padres don't have game-winning role players. Nobody like Parra.

That's not how that works. That the Padres players think that a long term contract is what makes you a leader is a fundamental failure of their manager and pretty much shows that none of them are even interested in leaders. But having a short contract doesn't automatically disqualify you from being a leader. You don't think Cody Bellinger isn't a leader on that Cubs team? That the Dodgers aren't expecting guys like Martinez to be leaders? That Freddie Freeman wasn't a leader in that clubhouse last year? Jayson Werth was a clubhouse leader on Day 1 in DC.

Soto isn't a leader because he doesn't want to be one. All the more reason not to give him a big contract.

And lets be clear about Parra: He was a freaking cheerleader. He had one useful at bat in 2019, and after that, he was the morale officer for the team.

[Natsinpwc]

LOL. No one has any evidence that Soto is any kind of a clubhouse problem. He’s gonna be paid bigly.

[UMDNats]

Soto isn't necessarily a clubhouse problem but the guy has no leadership traits. Even Bryce tried really hard to be an edgy gritlord leader and has grown into it, Soto has never shown interest or desire for that (and that's fine -- not everyone is the team captain). I just know if Scott Boras is telling me I need to spend half a billion on a player, he better bring more to the table that some gestures at the plate and some fun home runs. He'll get paid, for sure, but that's a big knock on him, for me.

The excuse that Soto doesn't have a contract is freaking hilarious. Give me a break.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Soto isn't necessarily a clubhouse problem but the guy has no leadership traits. Even Bryce tried really hard to be an edgy gritlord leader and has grown into it, Soto has never shown interest or desire for that (and that's fine -- not everyone is the team captain).

he is as rah rah as Zimmerman. Baseball you don't need to be hair on fire and a big mouth. Soto and Bogaerts can both say, "when we won the world series, this is how we did it." Machado, Tatis, etc... will listen if they want, and won't if they don't.

[Slateman]

he is as rah rah as Zimmerman. Baseball you don't need to be hair on fire and a big mouth. Soto and Bogaerts can both say, "when we won the world series, this is how we did it." Machado, Tatis, etc... will listen if they want, and won't if they don't.

I dont think Zim ever threw his teammates under the bus though . . .

[imref]

this is one of the things i loved about the Crews pick. All he talked about during his press tour was how much he wanted to be a leader on the team and set the example. He had a reputation as a clubhouse leader at LSU. Definitely not a 'me-first' guy.

[UMDNats]

he is as rah rah as Zimmerman. Baseball you don't need to be hair on fire and a big mouth. Soto and Bogaerts can both say, "when we won the world series, this is how we did it." Machado, Tatis, etc... will listen if they want, and won't if they don't.

Zimm wasn't a rah rah guy and there's other forms of leadership out there. Soto threw his team under the bus earlier this season, Zimm wouldn't do that. I love watching Juan but there's no evidence he has any gravitas in the room or leadership desires. The fact that Machado basically runs the clubhouse is a pretty damning indictment of Tatis, Bogaerts and Soto considering the latter two have won titles. It's just one of those things that makes me wonder about Juan moving forward and how off the field stuff matters just as much as a player's final season OPS. I think Juan does his best work when the team has veteran guys who can be the vocal tone-setters and he can relax and just smash homers. It's one reason why I'd be very happy to give him $350 million+ as a free agent to come in and let other guys be the media guys.

Walking around the Yankees back in the day (2012-era), it was so clear who set the tone. Even as the older guys retired/got hurt/weren't around, the same focus was always there and it usually led to players outperforming expectations. crap, Aaron Judge walked in day one as a vocal leader because the organization places such a massive emphasis on leadership. I doubt the Padres are doing that.

[Natsinpwc]

Maybe Zimm should have thrown some guys under the bus 2012-18? 

What Soto said earlier in the year was really innocuous.  Me he didn’t name anyone in particular. 

You guys are going crazy with this stuff. It’s similar to how some here and other places concluded Harper was a cancer on the Nats. 

[dracnal]

Maybe Zimm should have thrown some guys under the bus 2012-18? 

What Soto said earlier in the year was really innocuous.  Me he didn’t name anyone in particular. 

You guys are going crazy with this stuff. It’s similar to how some here and other places concluded Harper was a cancer on the Nats.

I know it's sports, and I know that's what people do when its sports, but there sure is a hell of a lot of tea leaf reading and divining intent in short soundbites without much context past a three question interview after a game.

[Slateman]

Maybe Zimm should have thrown some guys under the bus 2012-18? 

What Soto said earlier in the year was really innocuous.  Me he didn’t name anyone in particular. 

You guys are going crazy with this stuff. It’s similar to how some here and other places concluded Harper was a cancer on the Nats. 

It was, but it was also something that wouldnt have been said by Zim, Werth, or even Harper.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. I have no doubt that Machado and Preller are the main culprits, and that losing Hosmer was a big part of this downturn. But Soto is apparently not part of the solution, despite putting up his typical production at the plate