Padres new-look OF is improved, but still work to be done

The San Diego Padres have been busy trying to rebuild the outfield this season. We take a look at what they’ve done so far and what’s left to be done.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres as they try to navigate through the trade market to improve this team for 2020 and the future.

In the past couple of weeks they’ve traded for two outfielders and a second baseman, while also signing a relief pitcher in an effort to make them contenders in 2020.

Coming into the offseason, one of the biggest priorities for Preller was to re-work an outfield that struggled mightily in 2019.

Padres outfielders ranked 20th in all of baseball last season with a combined WAR of 4.4, according to FanGraphs.

They did hit the 10th most home runs as an outfield, but they also ranked third in strikeout percentage at 27.4 percent.

And they ranked 25th in OBP with a .308 mark that the front office is desperate to improve in 2020.

Wil Myers, Manuel Margot, and Hunter Renfroe were the primary outfielders for the Padres in 2019 with Franmil Reyes and Josh Naylor each playing more than 90 games as well.

Only Reyes hit better than .250 and he was traded to the Cleveland Indians during the 2019 season. Myers was the only one with an OBP over .320.

Something had to be done to change this pattern in the offseason, and it’s clear Preller is on his way to fixing this problem.

Let’s take a look at what the outfield could look like right now in 2020, and then what work is left to be done.

Current outfield construction

Once the Pham trade is made official, that will once again give the Padres eight outfielders on their 40-man roster.

Of those eight, six will likely be fighting for five spots on the Opening Day active roster.

Pham and Myers are certainly a lock for a starting spot at this point, but the problem with that is they both have primarily played left field in their careers.

One would have to move to right field, and that’s most likely going to be Myers who has more experience there.

That leaves center field open in what looks to be a platoon situation between Manuel Margot and Trent Grisham.

Margot has been much better against left-handed pitchers in his career hitting .278 against them with a .775 OPS.

It was a very short sample size for Grisham in his big league debut in 2019, but he did hit better against righties with a .234 average and .333 OBP — granted his averages weren’t great against either.

Josh Naylor and Franchy Cordero would battle for the fifth outfield spot on the active roster.

That outfield certainly seems like an upgrade over last season’s group, but I wouldn’t say it’s a dramatic difference.

Even if you count on a bounce-back season from Myers, I would expect this outfield to combine for a WAR of around 6, which would still rank in the bottom half of the league.

That’s why I think there is still more work to be done in the outfield this offseason.