San Diego Padres scapegoats: 1 to fire, 1 to put on the hot seat, 1 to be patient with

The San Diego Padres have been arguably the most disappointing team in all of Major League Baseball, sitting in fourth place in the NL West with a record of 25-29. Only the Nationals, Cardinals, Cubs, and Rockies have worse records in the National League. Fans are starting to lose patience, and rightfully so.

San Diego went from a team that was just three wins away from an NL pennant to one of the worst teams in the National League. While we do expect the Padres to eventually start winning games consistently, it's fair to question whether this team will even squeak their way back to the postseason.

Obviously if this team doesn't even make it to the postseason moves will be made, but it's possible things will happen before then if the Padres keep slipping. There's one move they really should make, one they should start to think about, and another they should stay away from.

San Diego Padres hitting coaches Oscar Bernard and Scott Coolbaugh should be fired

The Padres are one of the rare teams that doesn't have an established hitting coach. They have Oscar Bernard and Scott Coolbaugh splitting duties in that role, both with titles of assistant hitting coach.

The Padres offense has been, to put it bluntly, dreadful. It's a group that was above-average in 2022 and should be elite in 2023, but has been among the league's worst two months into the season.

The Padres, a team with Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth all in the same lineup, ranks tied for 25th in runs scored. They're lower than teams like the Royals and Nationals, just to name a few.

The Padres are 12th in home runs so they can hit the ball out of the yard, but are dead last in hits and are tied for last with the lowly Athletics in batting average. How that's even possible is beyond me.

I have no idea what these hitting coaches do or how much blame they actually deserve, but the only Padres player holding up his end of the bargain is Juan Soto, and even he was bad in April. Virtually every other player in the Padres lineup full of stars is underperforming, and someone has to take the fall for that. It can't just be a coincidence.