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Padres News: The Padres Already Won With Their Off-Season

By James Clark

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With all this talk about the San Diego Padres team being a squad set up for failure, I thought it was time to set all the haters straight. To compare the Padres to the 2012 Miami Marlins or 2013 Toronto Blue Jays is way off base. Anthony Witrado recently wrote about it on Bleacher Report, and I believe he is correct.

It is true the roster is completely overhauled on the offensive side, but the changes were needed. It’s not as though the Padres had adequate offense and wanted to add more. They had absolutely nothing. Seth Smith, Yonder Alonso and Jedd Gyorko in the middle of the lineup was just not cutting it.

The 2014 Padres with the offense that was worst in the Major Leagues still won 77 games. The pitching staff is all returning, and with the addition of James Shields, is sure to be better. Yes, the defense will be worse off than in seasons past, but the offensive output should easily counter act the diminished defense. 

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I have heard people say the Padres are trying to buy a championship and nothing could be more ignorant than thinking that. The payroll this season will go up about $10-15 million dollars, to around $105 million. They did not attract a bunch of high-priced free agents. Nor did they take on huge salaries without a fiscal plan.

A.J. Preller has been absolutely brilliant in his acquisitions. Both Wil Myers and Derek Norris are cheap, young talents that are under team control for the next four years. They are not high-salaried veteran players that are past their prime. The Los Angeles Dodgers are paying most of Kemp’s salary this season, and James Shields‘ contract is mostly back-loaded. Great way to think out of the box when you have a smaller market team to work with.

Next season the likes of Carlos Quentin ($8 million), Will Venable ($4.25 million), Cory Luebke ($5.25 million plus $2 million buyout), Ian Kennedy ($9.85 million), Shawn Kelley ($2.835 million), Clint Barmes ($2 million), Brandon Morrow ($2.5 million), Justin Upton ($14.25) and Joaquin Benoit ($8 million) salaries all come off the books. That’s a total cost of $58.935 million off the books for the 2016 season. Sounds like Preller has a plan even after this season, doesn’t it? Yoan Moncada could easily be afforded, if he wishes to roll the dice on this young Cuban phenom.

To say the Padres are trying to buy a winning team is an ignorant statement. They are trying to improve their team, and have done so, responsibly. Critics will say they are too right-handed, or their defense will be horrible. My response is, did you not watch last season’s Padre team? The offense was embarrassing and completely unwatchable. This team might not be the best team ever assembled, but it will be fun to watch regardless of the score.

To overhaul a team like this is no easy task, yes they have some issues, but the world is not perfect. A.J. Preller did one heck of a job rebuilding and yet not tearing down the whole farm system. Let us not forget we have yet to reap the fruits of Preller’s true expertise. He was brought on because he is a scouting genius and impeccable talent evaluator. The upcoming drafts should be interesting to see in which direction he goes.

Another valid point in why this team cannot be compared to the likes of the Marlins or Blue Jays, is their dominant pitching staff. The aforementioned teams did not possess a staff like the Padres presently have.  Not too many in the history of the game have for that matter. The ammount of quality starters they have is incredible, Josh Johnson and Brandon Morrow have incredible stuff. If they both never throw for the Padres this year, the rotation will still be in great shape. The Padres have that kind of depth.

So sit back and enjoy Padres fans, this season is surely going to be a memorable one for San Diego. This team is built to contend now and into the future. I personally have never craved Padres baseball more in my life. So with this renewed enthusiasm, the San Diego Padres have indeed already won the off-season and are well on their way to winning in the regular season too. Go Padres!!!

Next: Padres Fans Need To Support THIS Team

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