Giving Thanks for the Padres

Thanksgiving is here. A day to sit back and reflect, watch football, and most of all eat food and spend time with friends and family.

This past year for myself personally has been a pretty interesting one. After going to college and spending nearly ten years after college living in San Diego, my wife and I moved to Eugene, Oregon last September after she got a job with the University of Oregon.

More from Padres News

• Jurickson Profar free agency update likely rules out Padres reunion
• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher
• This veteran DH target seems ideal for contending Padres roster

With a move comes a lot of unknown factors of course, from finding a new job for myself, making new friends and even finding a place to live.

Fortunately, I was able to land my top job target within two weeks of moving to Oregon and quickly immersed into the University of Oregon sports culture.

For the first year in some time, I was able to attend just one Padres game on a visit back to San Diego in May. They got destroyed that night, but a good time was had by all and I even got to say hello to my old usher who worked the section near my quarter season tickets. I watched on my MLB At-Bat app many late nights as the Padres gave hope, then dashed it as soon as they seemed to be on any sort of roll.

I held out hope late into the season that if they could just catch fire the division was somehow still within their grasp. For a long time, the Dodgers and Giants kept beating up on each other enough that the Padres did have hope, but in the end they tanked and the season ended worse than anyone really imagined.

More from Friars on Base

• Jurickson Profar free agency update likely rules out Padres reunion
• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher
• This veteran DH target seems ideal for contending Padres roster

In all of that, I am thankful for the community of the team here at FriarsOnBase and Padres fans in general. Eugene has a low A-ball professional team, which for 25 years previous was affiliated with the Padres. Of course the season I move here they move to the Cubs, but I had fun going to those games and cheering on the Cubs of tomorrow. Nothing like the lowest level of minor league baseball to bring out the fun in baseball. From the “Beer Batter” where if designated hitter on the other team strikes out everyone gets cheap beer, to the between inning antics like people running in giant hamster balls, minor league baseball can be a lot of fun.

The Padres could be in a much better position than they are, but with stable ownership and at least a General Manager willing to take some big risks and not stand pat, the future seems brighter to me for the Padres than years past. After all, at least there is no fear of the Padres moving to LA!