San Diego Padres: Reviewing the offseason and what could have been

What would this look like

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In complete fairness to A.J. Preller, he really didn’t have much to work with this offseason. Twenty-four million dollars is not a lot when you’re trying to plug multiple holes.

And again, that’s mainly his own fault because of bad signings/extensions that are hampering him.

But to recap, I would have done the Pomeranz signing, the Pham trade, and signed Teheran.

Here is what that lineup would look like:

Tatis Jr – SS

Pham – LF

Machado – 3B

Hosmer – 1B

Cordero – CF

Myers – RF

Urias/Cronenworth – 2B

Mejia/Hedges – C

That’s not too terribly different than what we actually have now, and it’s certainly not an improvement.

But we do still have Allen, Urias, Reed, and Lauer as trade assets, as well as an additional $4 million.

Here is what the rotation would look like:

Paddack

Richards

Teheran

Lamet

Lucchesi

Again, not too terribly different than what we actually have, but I do like the dependability of Teheran in the rotation over Davies.

If anything, I think this exercise just shows you how difficult it was for Preller to maneuver this offseason.

With only $25 million to spend in the offseason, there was never really a chance to make a huge splash.

He did what he could to make moves on the margins, but in the end I think he would have been better served to stick with what we already had in place.

Looking back, the Pham trade is really the only move this offseason that made a significant difference.

Perhaps Profar bounces back and has a big year, but I’m not banking on that happening. And maybe Grisham breaks out in his first full season, but I’m not counting on that either.

Not that I love the prospects we gave up in those deals, but I think they could have been used more wisely to make more significant moves.

But again, Preller didn’t have much to work with this offseason and he did what he could to put a winning team on the field, and I think he has.

What would you have done differently this offseason? Let us know in the comments below.