The Padres, called out by their GM, show off their potential again
By winning another game by a score of 8-1, the Padres are showing that they didn't need big trade deadline acquisitions to be great. They needed to be called out by their leader.
The most annoying thing about the 2021 San Diego Padres is that we know they have the ability to be great. It seems like, about 50% of the time, we get the great version of the team. And the other half the time, the offense is lifeless and the pitching falls apart.
Considering the Padres hadn’t won back-to-back games in two weeks, I assumed that they would follow their 8-1 drubbing of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday with a disappointing performance against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday.
The setup was ripe for failure. Blake Snell, who has been awful on the road, was starting the road game. And Sean Manaea, who toyed with the Padres offense a week ago, was back on the mound for the A’s.
But then something happened. A.J. Preller said something unexpected.
The GM speaks truth to power
Here what the Padres GM said to beat writer A.J. Cassavell:
“We have starters that we believe in,” said Preller in the aftermath of the deadline. “We could’ve added a starting pitcher, but if the other four or five guys don’t pitch like they’re capable of, honestly, it’s not going to matter. We feel like we have enough from a starting pitching standpoint.”
One of the weird things about American sports is that front office members generally stay away from criticizing players. They either say nice things, really nice things, or nothing at all when discussing players. Especially players on their own roster. It’s a professionalism thing, I think.
Here, Preller actually called out his guys. He’s saying, in response to the question about the Padres not trading for a starting pitcher last week, that he already did this. He traded for Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove. He did his work. And if they don’t pitch well, that’s not really on him. He’s not going to send even more prospects out the door to try and make up for their failure. They need to perform.
It was, in a subtle way, Preller calling out his guys. He was telling them that the team was talented enough, they didn’t need anything more than some depth and bench pieces to have a World Series-ready roster. So, go out there and prove that you are as good as everyone knows you are.
Back to basics
Before the game, the Padres released their starting lineup. It included Tommy Pham in his favorite spot: leading off. It also included both Trent Grisham and Jake Marisnick.
It was a far cry from what we’ve seen since the team added Adam Frazier, where they have tried to find ways to shoehorn him into the lineup. Frazier actually spent this game on the bench.
And, instead of worrying about how bad Pham and Grisham had been offensively for the last few weeks, the Padres put them out there. It was, similar to what Preller was saying about the pitchers, a statement. It said, “We know you’re talented. We know you’re better than what you’ve been doing. We need you to be play better. We’re not replacing you. We don’t need new players. We need you to play the way we know you’re capable of.”
Pham rewarded that faith by going yard in the first at-bat of the game…
Both Pham and Grisham would end the night 2-5 with 2 RBIs each. It was a tremendous sign that they might be finding their way out of the poor stretch of offense they have simultaneously found themselves in.
Austin Nola, who the team was treating as something of a deadline acquisition coming off injury, went 4-5 with 2 RBIs as well. Showing that, even without Fernando Tatis Jr., this is an incredibly dangerous offense that can put up a lot of runs against any team and any pitcher on any night.
Picking up Snell
When we last checked in on Blake Snell, he had a road ERA over 8.00 and seemed afraid to throw his fastball.
Against the A’s, he took baby-steps in the right direction. He still got in trouble regularly, but would then throw his fastball relentlessly to get out of jams.
He also got picked up by his teammates in the infield and outfield, who did everything they could to keep those road runs from scoring…
Snell gave up just 1 run over 5 innings, striking out 6 and walking only 3. It was probably his second best road start of the season behind his performance against the Mets at Citi Field.
The same way Pham and Grisham paid off Jayce Tingler’s faith in them, Snell answered the challenge put down by his own GM.
But showing that they can dominate games has never really been the problem with these Padres. The issue has been whether they can do it consistently, from game to game.
They now have back-to-back wins, both by a score of 8-1, and that’s a great start. With series coming up against the Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Rockies (and not a lot of travel), this would be a good time for the sleeping giant to wake up.
In two weeks, we’ll know a lot more about this team. We’ll know if they have found a way to stay in the gear they need to dominate every game, which we haven’t really seen since June, and we’ll know if Tatis is coming back this season or not. We’ll also know if Darvish, Snell and Musgrove are able to pitch closer to their career averages and less like whatever they’ve been over the last month.
Basically, we’re waiting to see if this team’s season-long bugaboo of falling flat on their face when they need to go on a roll is a real problem or something that can be overcome with some leadership from the front office.