The typical cast of lame-duck offseason characters has morphed this offseason. The San Diego Padres haven’t won more than 77 games over the last four seasons, but this year, they’ve decided the losing stops.
The Padres have just executed a deal with the Atlanta Braves that will send outfielder Justin Upton to the west coast for the final year of his current contract.
Looks like LHP Max Fried, 2B Jace Peterson, 3B Dustin Peterson and OF Mallex Smith are headed to the Braves, while the Padres will receive a low-level prospect in addition to Upton.
The acquisition of Upton is the latest of several hot moves made by San Diego’s GM A.J. Preller. The Padres also traded this offseason for Matt Kemp, 2013 AL ROY Wil Myers and All-Star catcher Derek Norris.
The outlook for this team’s 2015 season has changed entirely in what Joe D accurately described as ‘overnight’, or at least it feels that way from the perspective of a Mets fan who is enduring yet another offseason of rumored promises and potential hope.
In fairness to the Mets and GM Sandy Alderson, there haven’t been any clear choices to make this offseason. In fairness to the fans,(you know- the group of downtrodden optimists who pay good money to see a good team play great baseball in the greatest city in the world) when is there ever a clear choice in this business?
After seeing all that the Padres have done this offseason, yes the Padres, I can understand why so many fans are getting increasingly impatient. Unless pitching becomes the only component of this game that matters going forward, it does appear that Alderson still has a lot of work to do.
