2 reasons San Diego Padres fans should give up on 2023 and 1 why they shouldn't
![San Diego Padres v Los Angeles Angels](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4856,h_2731,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/133/01h4e18d8ttv5zzpfc94.jpg)
Things have not gone according to plan for the San Diego Padres in 2023. With a high payroll, a roster loaded with stars and they are buried in fourth place in the National League West and slipping in the NL Wild Card race.
The good news, if there is any, is they still have six games before the All-Star Break, then the unofficial second half of the season and two and half months to make up some ground. It won't be easy, but it's not impossible.
It is easy for Padres fans to waive the white flag on the season and look ahead to 2024. This team has not shown anything to tell us that they will make a run. Again, it's not impossible. With that said, here are two reasons why Padres fans should give up on the 2023 season and one reason why they shouldn't.
San Diego Padres lack of lineup depth is a reason to give up on 2023
The Padres lineup has been top-heavy most of the season and they are not getting the depth they thought they were when they signed Matt Carpenter and Nelson Cruz last winter. Carpenter and Cruz have struggled most of the season.
Carpenter is someone who played a big role in the 2022 New York Yankees' early season success before an injury cost him a lot of the second half of the season. When he was in the lineup for the Yankees, he was productive and took advantage of the short porch of Yankee Stadium. Last season in 47 games in the Bronx, he slashed .305/.412./.727 with 15 home runs and 37 RBI. This season, he is slashing .180/.310/.327 with four homers and 27 RBI. Not what GM A.J. Preller was hoping for when he signed him. San Diego is hoping he can turn things around.
I get taking a chance on signing Cruz, despite him being 43 years old. With the DH now in the NL, he has always been a right-handed bat with pop in all of the stops during his career. It just hasn't been there this season as he's slashing .248/.267/.404 and right now, believe it or not, Gary Sanchez is someone who should be getting those DH at-bats from the right side of the plate.
![San Diego Padres designated hitter Nelson Cruz](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/133/01h4ed6bz2b72z8ydqx7.jpg)
San Diego Padres lacking fight is a reason to give up on 2023
If your team is struggling, you still want to see them put up a fight on the field. That has not always been the case with the Padres and recently, frustration has boiled over with comments from Bogaerts and Manny Machado.
After dropping two out of three games at home to the Washington Nationals to close out their last homestand, Bogaerts voiced his frustration to reporters. “Lack of fight — I don’t even feel any of that. You know?” Bogaerts said. “But maybe trying to do too much might be one.”
“C’mon, man. We’re playing the Nationals. … I don’t think they have playoff aspirations. I mean, they obviously have a young team and they fight. They do fight. But I wouldn’t say anyone picked the Nationals to be in the playoffs. So you have to beat the teams that you have to beat.”
You would think that the comments would have added some fight to the locker room, but they didn't. They proceeded to get swept by the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates, before dropping two out of three to the Cincinnati Reds. San Diego has lost seven of their last eight series. In Pittsburgh, it was Machado's turn to voice his frustration.
“We need a little more urgency as a team,” he said. “We just do.”
Yes, they do, but following that comment, they proceeded to lose 7-1 that night to the Pirates in the middle game of the three-game set. It's clear that the frustration is boiling over and if the Friars are still not playing without much fight after those comments from Bogaerts and Machado, then just how much fight do they have? Not much apparently.
![Matt Holliday was a key contributor for the 2011 Cardinals.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/images/GettyImages/mmsport/133/01h4ed416vd776f031jy.jpg)
San Diego Padres reason not to give up on 2023 season: The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals
Anything is possible. Yes, it really is. An 11.5 deficit in the NL West is a lot and an 8-game deficit in the Wild Card is even bigger considering the number of teams they have to jump over. One lengthy winning streak, however, can change all of that.
For motivation, the Padres have to look no further than the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. From mid-to-late June that season, the Redbirds went 3-12 and the playoffs seemed out of reach. On the Fourth of July, they turned their season around, and they slowly crept back into the race before going 23-9 over the final 32 games, erasing a 10.5 deficit in the standings and completing the largest comeback to clinch a postseason berth after playing 130 games.
San Diego still has a month to figure out what they are going to do at the trade deadline, but Preller can go out and upgrade his roster if needed. If not, there is plenty of talent on his roster that can go on a lengthy winning streak. Who knows, maybe a streak like the 2011 Cardinals to get into the race is in their future.
The Padres have the benefit of an upcoming schedule that features a home series before the All-Star Break against the equally underachieving New York Mets and series still on the schedule with the Detroit Tigers, and Chicago White Sox, and still two series with the Colorado Rockies. One long streak can change the narrative in a 162-game season.
It is easy to see both sides of things, giving up on 2023 and looking ahead to 2024 and still having hope this season. San Diego needs to show more urgency and start stringing wins together and as unlikely as it sounds now, you just never know
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