San Diego Padres: Stay The Course Or Move Some Assets

Should the San Diego Padres stick to the plan and let their prospects develop or start moving them for veteran pieces?

With so much to do and Tuesday bringing the next deadline for the major league offseason, the San Diego Padres front office staff has some important questions facing them which will be answered in the coming days. There are also numerous reports suggesting that this franchise plans on being very active in the trade market for veteran pieces that start to move the needle in 2019.

Will the Padres stay the course or start moving their deep collection of assets? While it appears that the Padres want to make big trades, they also seem very content in letting the 2019 season play out with the next wave of prospects making their major league debuts. By staying the course and not making any Eric Hosmer-like free agent acquisitions or Noah Syndergaard-type trade additions, they continue on the developmental path they were on at the end of last season.

Plenty of in-house options will only give team evaluators more time to decide who stays and who goes when their window to compete blows open.

Assuming the Padres stay the course, I’ve outlined a potential 25-man roster for the Padres (below) and the subsequent four full-season minor league teams showing how much talent and depth they have. Just maybe, they don’t necessarily have to make any significant upgrades to the current team and would still have an improved team over last year.

The projection models believe the Friars will be better with their roster, as is. Very early projections from Fangraphs put the team at 77-85, a big jump from last season, largely with projected help from soon-to-be Padre Chris Paddack.

Now, if you’ve paid close attention to the words coming from A.J. Preller so far this hot stove season, it might lead one to believe (myself included) the Padres are thinking of moving top prospects now and moving up their window for contention a little earlier than expected. Being connected to names such as Eugenio Suarez and Noah Syndergaard are potential big moves by this team.

Honestly, Preller could go either way. There is a case for both. As a fan, I’m fine either path the front office pursues. It would be much more calculated this time around for sure. This time AJ Preller has the power, as in we don’t have to make moves unless it makes San Diego a better team now. Starting with this Tuesday’s deadline for setting their 40-man roster for the Rule-5 draft in December, we could see which direction they want to go.

Below is a quick preview of a possible 25-man roster if they were to stay the course.

Starting Lineup and Batting Order:

1) Luis Urias-SS
2) Eric Hosmer-1B
3) Wil Myers-3B
4) Hunter Renfroe-LF
5) Franchy Cordero-CF
6) Franmil Reyes-RF
7) Francisco Mejia-C
8) Cory Spangenberg-2B

Bench:

Starting Rotation:

Long man/Spot Starter:

6) Robbie Erlin

Bullpen:

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If this roster can meet their projected 77-85 record, I’m just fine with staying the course, seeing as that projection doesn’t include the likes of Fernando Tatis Jr. MacKenzie Gore, and other top prospects.

A few shrewd trades, a smart free agent signing or two and they could be much more competitive next year. Which way do you prefer, to stay the course for at least one more season or use this deep farm system and start putting the pieces together now for a possible championship run in the very near future?

Either way. The next 48 hours should start the fun.

Should the San Diego Padres stick to the plan and let their prospects develop or start moving them for veteran pieces?

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Schedule