The Padres launch a press release from chairman Peter Seidler this morning, seemingly providing a vote of confidence for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and supervisor Bob Melvin, although neither was talked about by identify.
“We entered 2023 with expectations that we might construct on final 12 months’s NLCS look and contend for a World Collection Championship. We fell in need of that aim,” the assertion reads, “The Padres group will be taught from this season and emerge in 2024 with the items in place to compete for San Diego’s first World Collection title. Our present management group has my full help, and I’ve requested them to carry out a radical evaluation of our group, starting at the moment. We’ll make the adjustments essential to play championship-caliber baseball for our extraordinary followers in 2024.”
The assertion largely tracks with previous reporting, which indicated not solely Seidler’s choice to retain each Melvin and Preller in 2024, but additionally that the membership can be present process an inner evaluate. Importantly, regardless of the seeming vote of confidence for the duo, the assertion doesn’t assure their return for the 2024 season, as an alternative noting that the membership plans to “make the adjustments essential” to return to the postseason subsequent 12 months. In spite of everything, experiences of philosophical variations that result in the non-public relationship between the Padres’ supervisor and GM fraying are nicely documented. Melvin is below contract by the top of the 2024 season, whereas Preller is signed by the top of the 2026 season.
Whoever is on the helm of the Padres subsequent season, they’ll have a tough process set earlier than them as they appear to enhance the membership’s roster following an 82-80 season. Shutdown nearer Josh Hader and NL Cy Younger award candidate Blake Snell are each poised to depart the membership at no cost company this offseason, and the membership is reportedly trying to trim payroll right down to $200MM for subsequent season. Whereas RosterResource signifies the membership’s payroll in 2024 stands at simply over $128MM at this level, that determine doesn’t embody arbitration-level contracts for gamers like Juan Soto, Scott Barlow, and Trent Grisham, amongst others.
These arbitration-level contracts may strategy $50MM or extra this offseason, with Soto alone anticipated to get a big increase on his $23MM wage in 2023. That leaves the membership with minimal house to tackle further monetary commitments regardless of important holes to fill within the rotation and bullpen, to not point out the necessity to deepen a place participant group that suffered from a particularly skinny bench all through the season.
