San Diego Padres: Three players entering make-or-break seasons

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SAN DIEGO, CA – OCTOBER 31: Jayce Tingler speaks at a news conference held to announce his hiring as the new manager of the San Diego Padres at Petco Park October 31, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

This season hopes to be a joyful one for the San Diego Padres, but these three players need to prove they are worth hanging onto long-term.

“Time to prove your worth.” It’s not exactly a comforting statement when it pertains to people’s jobs, but baseball is a business when all said and done. If a player can’t perform at a high level while negatively impacting your team’s overall success, then eventually, there needs to be a parting of the two sides. For the San Diego Padres in 2019, Hunter Renfroe was that guy.

While he consistently posted at least 26 home runs with regular playing time, his strikeout rate was well above average, including a career-worst 31.2 percent last season. Combined with the fact that his BABIP was also below average for his career, the writing was on the wall when the Padres traded him and Xavier Edwards to Tampa Bay for Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth.

Renfroe was a major contributor to the Padres’ struggles with strikeouts last year, and that simply isn’t conducive to helping the team reach their ultimate goals. As we look towards the upcoming season, the Friars roster looks sound on paper.

Highlighted by arguably the best bullpen in baseball and a wealth of young talent both in the rotation and in the lineup, the Padres’ arrow is trending up for the next several years.

However, there are a few players on this roster that need to perform well this year, or they could find themselves in another uniform next season. Let’s look.

Wil Myers

Like Renfroe, Wil Myers needs to step up this year. Entering his fourth year of a six-year extension, his salary increases from $5.5 million last year to $22.5 million in what’s a textbook backloaded deal. His 2018 and 2019 seasons left a lot to be desired, including a career-worst 34.3 percent strikeout rate in the latter year.

He’s been subject to trade rumors again this offseason, most recently drawing interest from the Boston Red Sox. The trade would have essentially been a salary dump for the Padres, but nothing ever materialized from the speculation.

Myers hasn’t logged an fWAR higher than 2.0 since 2016, and his defense continues to be questionable. Would the Padres have extended him had they known this was coming? Probably not.

Fangraphs projects him to post a .240/.318/.440 line with 21 home runs and 65 RBI but negative offensive and defensive ratings again. With reports that Myers and former Padres’ manager Andy Green never seeing eye-to-eye, there is a glimmer of hope that he will rebound under Jayce Tingler this year.

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If spring training is indicative of his regular-season – .421/.476/1.000 through seven games – then he’s likely in store for an outstanding year.

Franchy Cordero

Injuries have derailed any chance for Franchy Cordero to showcase himself over an extended period of time. He’s under team control through the 2023 season, but with playing time expected to be limited again in 2020, Cordero has to make the most of it.

The 25-year-old signed as an international free agent in November 2011, and his teammates know what he’s capable of. Unfortunately, none of that really matters if it doesn’t show up in the box scores.

He played in just nine games last year, 40 games in 2018, and 30 games the year before and has a .240/.306/.431 career slash line to show for it. He’s been widely known for his exit velocities, but, again, hasn’t had the chance to prove that’s not a fluke.

And now with the outfield becoming ever more crowded, Cordero is likely going to serve as the team’s fourth outfielder, unless Taylor Trammell‘s spring is enough to uproot him. Speaking of, through seven games, Cordero has a .200/.385/.200 line with two hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.

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He needs to give General Manager AJ Preller a good reason to not dump him after the season like his predecessors in Renfroe, Franmil Reyes, and Manuel Margot.

Austin Hedges

I mean, this one’s obvious, right? The former second-round pick of the 2011 MLB Draft has been a massive disappointment, offensively. He was always a defensive catcher first with the potential for the bat to develop, but that has yet to happen.

I have little reason to believe that will occur in Austin Hedges‘ career. The fact of the matter is that he simply cannot hit. The Padres tendered him a one-year, $3 million deal, and that was likely because he’s been so good behind the plate.

Hedges was second only to J.T. Realmuto for best defensive catcher last year, but he was the second-worst offensive catcher in the league. That cannot continue beyond this year and was a big reason why the Padres failed to score more runs than they did.

With Luis Torrens now being considered for the starting catcher, there is a three-person race for the position with both Hedges and Francisco Mejia potentially below him through 12 spring games. Add to that that Luis Campusano is coming, and Hedges may be sent packing during or after the 2020 season.

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He is under team control through the 2022 season, but I think we have more than enough sample size to understand what Hedges offers.

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This season hopes to be a joyful one for the San Diego Padres, but these three players need to prove they are worth hanging onto long-term.

Wil Myers

Franchy Cordero

Austin Hedges

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