Sunday Brunch: Are The Padres Emulating The Dodgers Old Strategy?

Clearly A.J. Preller is a man of his word. He said he was going to re-make the Padres offense and within one week added Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Justin Upton, Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks. That’s a lot of bats. But is there function with this?

New Dodgers President of Baseball Ops Andrew Friedman came in and dealt away guys like Matt Kemp and Dee Gordon. They too have a lot outfielders, but they have a more functional roster with their acquisitions. Here’s the quote of MLB.com:

"“It all gets back to us doing everything we could to mold the roster into a highly functional team, instead of a collection of talent,” said Friedman, the president of baseball operations and architect of a flurry of moves that included Friday’s confirmation of the acquisition of shortstop Jimmy Rollins and $1 million from the Phillies for Minor League pitchers Tom Windle and Zach Eflin.Friedman twice used the words “highly functional” in describing the new roster, implying that the team he just broke up had 94 wins despite a degree of dysfunction that he’s addressed by acquiring Rollins, second baseman Howie Kendrick, catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitchers Brandon McCarthy and Chris Hatcher in the past 10 days, with pitcher Brett Anderson a physical exam away from joining them."

Now, Preller isn’t done. The Padres have 17 outfielders and most of them are going to be dealt away for other pieces. But the Padres as presently constituted don’t have a functional outfield.

Upton certainly isn’t a centerfielder. Myers really isn’t and Kemp isn’t anymore. Middlebrooks and Norris certainly fill holes and make sense, but in a ballpark and an era when you need defense, the Padres outfield could be pretty terrible as presently constituted.

Kemp’s arthritic hips almost got the deal nixed and because he isn’t good defensively anymore, was moved out of center. Myers is young and athletic enough that they could move him to another spot. He was a catcher before being drafted. How about first? (sorry Yonder Alonso)

The Padres have adopted a get as much talent as we can philosophy and figure it out later. Much like the Dodgers used to.

They aren’t done, but right now, they could resemble the way the Dodgers used to be. Talented but not functional.