The San Diego Padres have made their share of noise when it comes to transactions, but have they built the best team? MLB Network posed the question on Twitter on Wednesday. The question certainly provoked a lot of debate.
Many fans noticed that MLB Network left off the pitching staff when discussing whether the San Diego Padres were the best team on paper. San Diego’s staff has Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and Blake Snell as its top three starters. Not bad, but not nearly the best, according to many.
No, infield is good but not at their strengths. Defensively Kim is more valuable at short and Cronenworth at second (he also isn’t very valuable at first base offensively). Outfield is poor defensively outside of Grisham twitter.com/mlbnetwork/sta…
Half this lineup is very ordinary and there’s no backup plan for any of these guys. You can’t just discount how the first four are better than any other teams but things can go horribly wrong easily twitter.com/mlbnetwork/sta…
Many fans also noticed that the Padres are moving a lot of players out of their natural positions in order to facilitate an elite-level hitting lineup. December’s signing of Xander Bogaerts immediately pushed Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to right field next year, which in turn, pushes right fielder Juan Soto to left field.
San Diego’s 2023 defensive alignment, as shown by MLB Network, features five players — Bogaerts, Tatis, Manny Machado, Ha-seong Kim, and Jake Croenenworth — that either came into the major leagues as a shortstop, or who have played a substantial number of games at the position.
The “on paper” part is doing a lot of work here. Cronenworth at first still just feels dumb, and I think Grisham and Nola are a lot more ordinary than other top lineups. twitter.com/MLBNetwork/sta…
Again, if the Padres hit the ball as well as their lineup indicates they will, then perhaps this is the best team in MLB on paper right now. It remains to be seen whether the defense will suffer with several players not in their natural positions and how much possible defensive failings will affect the pitching staff.
Other teams in the Padres’ on-paper strata are doing so with many more players in their natural positions. But that is not to say that San Diego’s team lineup isn’t scary. It remains to be seen whether January dominance will lead to October and November success.
The San Diego Padres are built like a fantasy team
