Grading the San Diego Padres offseason through November

We take a look back at the first month of the offseason and grade how A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres have done so far.

It’s still very early in the offseason, but already the San Diego Padres have made several moves as they look to contend in 2020.

I wanted to take a quick look at the moves that were made in November and give my grade for the job Preller has done to this point.

These are only moves made in November, so this won’t include the trade for Jurickson Profar or the players non-tendered (and later re-signed to Minor League deals).

I plan on doing another article like this after December and will grade those moves then.

Right after the season, the Padres made several small moves releasing players and designated others for assignment.

We really won’t get too deep in those moves as I don’t believe they’ll have much effect on the offseason.

The first big move came when Preller traded Luis Urias, Eric Lauer, and a player to be named later to the Milwaukee Brewers for Trent Grisham and Zach Davies.

I didn’t love this move when it happened, and after digesting it for a week I still don’t like it, but it’s not as bad as I thought at first.

In the end, I think this trade is a wash, so I give it a grade of a C.

The only other big move in November was the signing of Drew Pomeranz.

San Diego signed him to a 4-year, $34 million deal.

In my opinion, this is an overpay for a guy who has been a dominant reliever for half a season.

Now if he can reproduce what he did in the second half of 2019 over the next four years, this could be a steal. But that’s a big ‘if.’

Pomeranz was projected to get a two-year deal for $16 million, so the Padres certainly went above-and-beyond to sign him.

It’s hard to imagine they couldn’t have gotten him on a much shorter deal even if they had to give him a higher AAV.

I want to like this move because I think Pomeranz can be an Andrew Miller-type reliever, but because of the overpay I have to give it a B.

In the first month of the offseason, Preller has filled one hole by acquiring a left-handed bat for the outfield. He’s filled an unnecessary hole by adding to the bullpen.

And he created a hole at second base by trading away Urias.

On top of that, he’s added around $15 million to the payroll (including the Profar move) and it’s hard to see where the team has really improved.

Overall Grade: C+

There is still a lot of work for Preller to do this offseason to make this team a contender in 2020 (if that’s even still the plan). So far I have not loved the moves he’s made. Let me know what you think in the comments below.