San Diego Padres: Five bold predictions for the 2020 season

Opening Day is coming up quickly, and it is time to look ahead to five bold predictions for the upcoming San Diego Padres season.

Can you guys believe that Opening Day is two weeks from today? And while the coronavirus has impacted other sports, the San Diego Padres are business as usual. I suspect that may change as we head into the home stretch of spring training. I hope for everyone’s health that that isn’t the case, but this is pretty interesting to monitor.

Back to baseball.

After a disappointing finish to the 2019 season, the Padres have their sights on much higher aspirations this year. The core is another year older – in a good way – and the pitching looks sharp both in the rotation and in the bullpen.

The composition of the team is fairly simple to predict at this point, with mostly bench players rounding out the 26-man roster. However, what’s a little unclear is how the Padres will perform this year. As noted, the talent is there, but health will be a key factor in helping them achieve said goals.

Let’s look at a few bold predictions for the season.

1. The first prospect called up is: Taylor Trammell

Most are going to have MacKenzie Gore pegged here, but I think there will be a greater need in the outfield. Trammell has gotten off to a great start in spring training, but with no at-bats yet taken in Triple-A and a .234 average in Double-A last year – albeit split between two organizations – he is likely to start the year at Triple-A El Paso.

I suspect that the Padres will attempt Joey Lucchesi as the fifth starter with a rather long leash, but if he’s unable to reduce the number of walks, Cal Quantrill is probably the next man up. Look for Gore to make his big league debut sometime in the middle of the year when an injury in the rotation calls him to The Show.

Predicting the first trade and the team’s MVP candidates

2. The first trade to happen is for a second baseman

I remained unconvinced that the starting second baseman is already on the roster. As we discussed yesterday, Jurickson Profar‘s struggles defensively are a significant concern, and the Padres may end up cutting him before the regular season anyway.

Who’s behind him? Brian Dozier, who was signed a couple of days before the start of the exhibition games, and Greg Garcia, a platoon-guy for right-handed pitchers. Garcia, while limited in his career, is awful against lefties – a career .549 OPS – but is roughly leave-average against righties.

Aside from catcher, it’s the most glaring position on the diamond, and General Manager AJ Preller needs to have a short leash before addressing it. Might he make a trade for Francisco Lindor?

3. The Padres will have MVP candidates in Fernando Tatis Jr. AND Manny Machado

You heard it here first. The Padres will have MVP candidates in both Tatis and Machado this year. The team’s rookie sensation was limited to 84 games a year ago but posted a .317/.379/.590 line with 22 home runs and 53 RBI. Over a full season, that projects to roughly 42 home runs and 102 RBI. Sounds like MVP numbers to me.

Machado had a bit of a down year in the first year of his massive deal with the team, but he still posted a .256/.334/.462 line with 32 home runs and 85 RBI in 156 games. Fangraphs pegs him for 33 bombs and an even 100 RBI. Again, those sound like MVP numbers to me.