San Diego Padres: This is Just the First Wave, Folks…Be Patient

The future is looking brighter than ever for the San Diego Padres. Though dreams of the postseason will likely have to wait some time still, there’s plenty to be excited about.

We’ve all seen the comments on social media and heard the chatter among fellow San Diego Padres’ fans. The Friars’ faithful are beginning to grow weary of another failure-to-launch rebuilding process. Their reservations to buy into this group are valid ones, for sure.

Although Joey Lucchesi looks to be the real deal and Franchy Cordero seems to be making huge headway so far this season, Manuel Margot has appeared to have hit a roadblock in his development, but could also simply have a steeper learning curve than his young com-Padres (rimshot).

Eric Lauer has pitched to mixed results since making his debut but is showing promise. Carlos Asuaje, who may be nothing more than a placeholder in the long-run anyway, hasn’t had the same amount of luck.

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What’s to come is the most exciting part for the Padres

We know all about the big-name position players littered throughout the San Diego Padres farm system like Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Urias, Gabriel Arias, Esteury Ruiz, Josh Naylor, Tirso Ornelas, and Hudson Potts.

Not to say that’s old news, but the Friars have arguably more buzz surrounding the young arms in their system than they do around their projected everyday guys.

A few, like Lucchesi and Lauer, have already made their debuts, with a few more to likely come before the end of the season. Others are still marinating but, fear not, they’ll be here soon enough.

MacKenzie Gore, Cal Quantrill, Michel Baez, Adrian Morejon, Logan Allen, and Andersen Espinoza, to name a few, will in all likelihood be populating the Padres rotation and bullpen before we know it.

Guys like Luis Perdomo and Dinelson Lamet, who both missed their opportunities to shine this season in two completely different ways (Perdomo still has a fighting chance to impress in ’18) will have to work that much harder when those chances come back around for them, respectively.

A bright future is a good thing, naturally

This season may not turn out to be magical. But that doesn’t mean that the San Diego Padres can’t be competitive. A .500 ballclub would be A-OK in this writer’s book. It’s a goal. Is it likely? Maybe. It’s certainly not far-fetched.

Give it a couple of months and we’ll have this discussion again. If the Friars can win enough games this season and fight hard in the ones they do lose, the entire, eternally grumpy, “fed-up” sub-set of this fanbase will start to brighten up. Watch.

Next: Buddy Reed is Mashing

Honestly, even if the Padres lost 100 games, how could a fan not be excited about the future. But as we all know, patience is a virtue. Let’s try to practice some more with this team.