3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The San Diego Padres
The 2021 San Diego Padres finished the season with a record of 79–83 for a distant 3rd in the NL West. After starting the season hot and having a record of 49–33 over the first 3 months of the season, they went 30–50 the rest of the way. A disappointing season for what, on paper, was a roster built to stand toe to toe with the LA Dodgers. They look to change that this year. After firing manager Jayce Tingler and bringing in Bob Melvin to steer the ship, they hope to get back on track in 2022. Let’s take a look at 3 ways they can do that.
1. When Tatis Comes Back In Mid June, Keep Him On The Field The Rest Of The Way
It’s already official. Before the season has even started, the Padres will be behind the 8-ball thanks to their star player’s motorcycle antics. Fernando Tatis Jr is once again on the IL in what is now be the 3rd of his 4 seasons in the Major Leagues.
Debuting on Opening Day of 2019 for the Padres, Tatis has had the opportunity to play in 384 games. He has only played in 273 of those games for a games played rate of 71.1% or 115 games a season. That is, of course, not counting this season where he is expected to miss roughly 64 games (assuming he is back with the Big League club on June 16th), which will have him playing less than 100 games for the 2nd time in 4 years.
When Tatis is on the field, he is one of the best hitters in baseball. With a career line of .292/.369/.596 with 81 homeruns and a 160 OPS+ over 1,175 plate appearances, the kid can hit. 42 of his 81 homeruns came in 2021 in which he only played 130 games. Had he stayed healthy last year, he would have broken 50 homeruns easily.
It has been said time and time again that the best ability is availability. To this point in his career, Tatis has not shown that he can be available to help his team over a full season. He is still young and that can definitely change as he gets older, but he hasn’t shown any signs of durability yet. Should he be able to stay on the field for the rest of the season once he returns, the Padres would add 3 wins to their total from 2021.
2. Keep Blake Snell On The Field Enough To Qualify For The ERA Title
From an injury prone position player to an injury prone pitcher. Blake Snell is a 1 time All Star, and the 2018 AL Cy Young award winner. He has pitched to a career line of a 3.42 ERA with 818 strikeouts over 684.2 innings and 135 starts. He has ace calibur stuff, and he’s the Padres 2 pitcher behind Yu Darvish.
The problem with Snell is, as has been preached all series, his durability. Since debuting for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016, Snell has started 30+ games in a single season 1 time. He has only qualified for the ERA title, you guessed it, 1 time. Both came in his Cy Young year of 2018, 31 starts and 180.1 innings. Outside of 2018, he has not made more than 27 starts or pitched more than 130 innings in a single season.
Already having the “fragile” lable applied is hard to get away from. But Snell has shown that over a full season of work, he can deal. Should Snell be able to stay healthy over a full season, he would add 4 wins to the Padres total.
3. Call MacKenzie Gore Up By June 1
The 3rd overall pick of the 2017 draft, 23 year old lefty MacKenzie Gore is the Padres top pitching prospect and 4th overall prospect in their system. Throughout his minor league career, Gore has pitched to a 2.85 ERA and 304 strikeouts over 233.1 innings and 55 starts.
Gore is coming off a down year statistically in which he had a 3.93 ERA through 4 different levels of the minors and 61 strikeouts over 50.1 innings and 12 starts. This could be attributed to the 2020 season in which he only pitched at the Padres alternate site, and he should get back on track this year. The Padres should have him pitch in AAA for a month, maybe two, before calling him up to make sure he’s back on track. After calling him up, if he can join their rotation in the 3 hole and live up to expectations, he would add 3 wins to the Padres.
Tatis staying on the field from the time he returns from injury to the end of the season, Snell bouncing back and staying healthy, and 5 months of MacKenzie Gore would add 10 wins to the Padres 2021 total. This would give them a record of 89–73, which would still have them 3rd in the NL West, but would give them the 3rd Wild Card spot.
This has been the 24th entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and see what we can do to improve them year over year. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Guardians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles, the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the San Francisco Giants. Follow me on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 for updates and other sports musings. Next up will be the Seattle Mariners!
