The Padres have not won the NL West division since 2006. They have not had an above .500 winning percentage since 2010. This team has not helped themselves at all in their major league system. The Padres traded closing pitcher Brad Hand and starting pitcher Adam Cimber for Francisco Mejia, who is the number 15 prospect for Major League Baseball. The Padres have done this far too often where they have showcased a player in the All-Star Game, only to have them traded away for a prospect. People forget that prospects do not always pan out to be great players. In most cases, they spend a few years in the minor leagues before they actually get pulled up to the major league system. This has happened in multiple times under Padres General Manager A.J. Preller.
In 2015, the Padres traded Craig Kimbrel, who is a seven-time all-star, for Logan Allen (former No. 9 prospect in 2015), Carlos Asuaje, who is not even in the Majors anymore, Javy Guerra, who is not even in the organization anymore, and Manuel Margot, who has been pretty average with the Padres. The Padres also acquired Drew Pomeranz that season, who ended up being an All-Star with the Padres in 2016, he was then traded to the Boston Red Sox for Anderson Espanoza, who was a number 22 prospect at one point before his season ended with Tommy John Surgery in 2017. They also traded Yangervis Solarte, who currently has 16 home runs and 48 RBI's for two prospects. This has pretty much summed up A.J. Preller's tender so far with the Padres. Our first wave of prospects in the majors has not looked good so far. Currently standing in the last place (40-59 as of the all-star break), this could not look any worse for us.
Currently, our best pitcher is Clayton Richard, who was picked up in free agency in 2016, who has a career earned run average (ERA) of 4.34. Pitching is the one thing we need and we have traded two closers that appeared in all-star games to contending teams. This team has been waiting for something to happen for a long time. Nothing has happened under A.J. Preller. The first thing he did when he was hired in August of 2014 was try to do a quick fix of the Padre's free agency. If the plan is to make the playoffs by 2020, how have we not progressed since Preller has taken the General Manager position? Do the owners care about the fans or just running a business?
There are real concerns with how this process is turning out. Trading all-stars for prospects in return only makes the rebuilding process much longer. The fans need something that will get them to games. Fans would rather watch excellence than a progression. People want to see guys like Craig Kimbrel, Yangervis Solarte, and Brad Hand in Padres jerseys still. Fans want to rock a current jersey other than a Tony Gwynn jersey or a Trevor Hoffman jersey. They were great players during their time with the Padres, but fans want to rep current players also. This same franchise also drafted Johnny Manziel, who was indicted for domestic violence and ran himself out of the NFL because he could not stop partying. Now, he is nowhere near the Padres. He is trying to make an NFL comeback and is currently playing in the CFL.
The fans need something productive from the Padres, The San Diego Chargers left for their rival city of Los Angeles, the Padres are all that San Diego has now. The demand is high for quality baseball with this city only having the Padres as their only professional team.
