4 horrible moves that doomed the San Diego Padres from making the playoffs in 2023

After signing Xander Bogaerts in the offseason, the sky truly felt like it was the limit for the San Diego Padres. They were coming off a season in which they were three wins away from a World Series berth and had, at least on paper, the best roster in the NL West. The season ended with no playoffs and a whole bunch of questions about the future.

While A.J. Preller and Co. have done mostly good things for the Padres, it's abundantly clear that this roster simply wasn't good enough. They had the starpower, but the surrounding pieces lacked for much of the season.

Here are four moves that hurt the Padres chances to make it back to the postseason in 2023.

1) The Matt Carpenter/Nelson Cruz DH platoon failed miserably

It's hard to envision a worse outcome than what San Diego got out of their veteran DH platoon that had Matt Carpenter and Nelson Cruz in it. Both came in as established veterans who were looking to play big roles on championship teams, but neither came close to fitting what the Padres actually needed.

Cruz began the year as the team's DH against left-handed pitching but was so unproductive, to the point where the team cut bait with him in July. He had just a .682 OPS in 143 at-bats. Cruz struggling in his age-43 season wasn't a huge shocker as he had a down year the season prior in Washington and only signed a deal worth $1 million. If the Padres or other teams around the league thought he still had something left, he would've signed on for more.

On the flip side, Matt Carpenter was expected to be a real force for San Diego. He was coming off a season that revived his career in 2022 with the Yankees and inked a two-year deal to come to Southern California. Carpenter was one of a few Padres that actually hit in April, but he had a .539 OPS from May 1 until the end of the season, and only had 46 plate appearances in the second half despite being healthy most of the time.

Padres designated hitters had a 92 WRC+ this season, which was in the bottom 10 of the majors. Carpenter and Cruz's ineptitude offensively was a huge reason why this team struggled to score runs early this season.

3) The Rich Hill+Ji Man Choi trade hurt the Padres more than it helped

The big move the Padres made at the trade deadline was the deal that netted them Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi from the Pirates. The fact that this was the big move Preller made was disappointing as the Padres were nowhere near a postseason spot at the time of the deadline, so him being more aggressive of a buyer or selling some expiring contracts felt like the rational thing to do. This deal felt like a lame attempt at showing the fan base you were buying, but not really.

At 43 years old, Rich Hill had a 4.76 ERA in 22 starts with the Pirates this season. Expecting him to join his 13th team and somehow catch lightning in a bottle didn't make much sense, and he only made the team worse. The southpaw struggled mightily in five starts before being moved to the bullpen to finish the year. He pitched decently well out of the 'pen to lower his Padres ERA to 8.23. Nope, not a typo.

The Padres went just 2-8 in games he appeared in, and missed the playoffs by two games. Obviously the losses weren't only on him, but it's not unreasonable to claim that this team might've squeaked into the playoffs even if they stood pat instead of acquiring Rich Hill.

Ji Man Choi is a bit harder to blame, simply because he missed most of the stretch run due to injury. While that's certainly not ideal, he had just two hits in 31 at-bats with the Friars. Both of those hits came on the second-to-last day of the season after the team was eliminated. He was hitless in 24 at-bats while they were alive.

To sum up, Choi was worth -0.3 fWAR. Hill was worth -0.4 fWAR. You can realistically say these two hurt more than they helped, which is unfortunate considering how likable they are as players.

4) Austin Nola as the starting catcher never clicked from day one

Austin Nola beginning the year as the Padres number one catcher wasn't quite as indefensible as some of the other decisions the front office made, but sticking with him as long as they did wasn't ideal.

Nola was never the best hitter but was a solid defender behind the dish. This season, he provided nothing. First, as a hitter, he was brutal. He slashed .146/.260/.192 with one home run and eight RBI in 154 plate appearances. A .452 OPS is simply unacceptable for a guy who was the team's primary catcher for the first two months of the season.

His defense wasn't much better, unfortunately. He was in the 31st percentile in pitch framing according to Baseball Savant, costing his team three runs. He also threw out just 17% of would-be base stealers. Not great.

The Padres added Gary Sanchez later in the year and he was a major upgrade. Even Luis Campusano turned it on at the end of the season and looked like the top prospect Padres fans had been waiting for. Pretty much anyone the Padres threw behind the dish was an upgrade over Austin Nola, and that's a problem when he was the starter for one-third of the season.