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truthlemonade
Re: Gyorko at shortstop 2016. In 2015, the Padres “punted” on defense, as it was not a priority. Definitely. But do the Padres have to address that? If GM AJ Preller anounced, “Defense was bad this season, we have to improve,” I would wonder why? Yes, defense was bad, in 2015, as it was expected. To now prioritize defense in 2016 is tantamount to admiting to being a moron in 2015. I would have more respect for Preller if he said, “I think defense is overrated, that was my philosphy in 2015, and it is now in 2016.” If SD can sign Ian Desmond, I would be totally fine with that. But if SD goes with Jimmy Rollins at shortstop instead of Jedd Gyorko, I would be disappointed.
nypadre66
Does Preller have to admit to being a moron? I would think the trades made last winter indicate that without a shadow of a doubt.
truthlemonade
Yeah, he played it fast and loose last winter. Hopefully, he’s once bit and twice shy. But do you understand my point? Everyone could see in 2015, that Preller was uninterested in defense. Everyone predicted the Padres would be bad at defense, and that is exactly what happened. For him to now say, “Last year, we were bad at defense, we gotta address that,” would strike me as moronic. I would rather he said, “Frankly, I think defense is overrated.” If the Padres sign Ian Desmond, fine. But honestly, I am intrigued by the possibility of Gyorko or Spangenberg playing shortstop in 2016.
petrie000
uhhh… when you play in a park as big as Petco, saying defense isn’t a priority is pretty much the same as calling yourself a moron? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice park and i’m not trying to slam the Padres.. but nobody is ever going to win there consistently with offense alone.
zippytms
According to a 2014 study, Petco Park was exactly league average in the area of the field: They’ve since brought the fence in left field in a little. I’m not saying that defense is irrelevant, but it’s not like they’re playing in the Grand Canyon.. static4.businessinsider.com/image/5333190aecad0428…
truthlemonade
San Diego is on the coast and there is a marine layer, particurarly during night games which makes the air dense and hampers fly balls.
disgruntledreader 2
That doesn’t make it harder to play outfield defense. Having Matt Kemp anywhere in the OF and Wil Myers in CF makes it hard to play defense.
On the day he took over the club, Preller had ONE player who clearly belonged as a big league starter, and that guy was apparently strongly disliked by both his manager and pitching staff. Preller’s goal was to acquire some guys who had a reasonable claim to be big league starters, and by the time he was done wheeling and dealing, he had four of them. Now, the parts didn’t all line up to get them in the lineup together at same time all that well (and I think he would have been better using Grandal to get an infielder rather than Kemp), so he punted on defense for the year. But he doesn’t have to “admit to being a moron” last year. He has to say he gave it his best go to get some players who ought to be starting big leaguers, and now his goal is to get more of them.
Clearly, Myers isn’t going to wind up in CF next year. He either moves over to LF or to 1B. Either way, Preller’s positioned to have a MUpton/Jankowski platoon in CF, which gives him a gold-glove caliber defender when the opponent sends out a RHP and a guy who at least has some business in CF when they don’t. Kemp is still a total black hole, but Myers/Jankowski at least has the makings of a viable OF defense, and they have to expect to be able to slide Kemp into the DH role in 2017.
I’d also guess that the club expects Austin Hedges to become the starting C for next year, which will be a massive defensive upgrade and gives them a tradeable commodity in Norris. They’ll need to acquire a backup with some bat, but Hedges is so good defensively, they can live with his lack of offense if they other hitters.
I happen to think that bat could/should be Byung-Ho Park to play 1B, and then a trade that centers on something like Cashner + Liriano (a guy Hinch liked) for Jed Lowrie and Hank Conger. Sliding Gyorko to 3B as the primary starter with Spangenberg at 2B gives them a deeper lineup that looks something like:
Jankowski 8
Lowrie 6
Myers 7
Kemp 9
Park 3
Gyorko 5
Spangenberg 4
Hedges 2
P
Now, all of the sudden, you have six guys in the starting lineup who have a decent argument for being big league starters, you have a few viable bench guys. Yes it’s still RHH heavy (but the NL West Parks are much more favorable to RH pull hitters than LHH). And yes, the rotation is still quite thin that way, but if the salary line they’re floating out there is accurate, it would give them room to still add an innings-eater and a reclamation project to slide in behind Ross and Shields.
alexpadres
some people believe the marine layer is not affecting as in previous years because of the big screen we have now, don’t know if it holds any true though.