Rebuilding season or not, falling short of the playoffs and finishing with a losing record probably means that more things went wrong than went right for a team. This series, however, will focus on those silver linings that each team can take away from an otherwise disappointing season.
[Related: “Top Bright Spots” archive]
Here are the biggest bright spots for the San Diego Padres.
1. Ryan Schimpf, 2B
In seven years with the Blue Jays, Schimpf was never even added to the team’s 40-man roster. It’s safe to assume that they didn’t think he was capable of having anywhere near the success he’s had with the Padres (.890 OPS, 19 homers, 15 doubles, five triples in 79 games). To be fair, neither did the 29 teams who passed on Schimpf whenever he was available in the Rule 5 draft. His unimpressive stints in Triple-A (.648 OPS in 2014; .607 OPS in 2015), despite success at every other level, probably helped to keep him off the radar.
For the 28-year-old, who signed a Minor League deal with the Padres this past offseason, it took a 1.160 OPS with 15 homers in 51 games for Triple-A El Paso to finally earn a big league call-up in mid-June. Schimpf got off to 3-for-29 start, but he’s been one of the most productive hitters in baseball since July 1, posting a .946 OPS and 37 extra-base hits in that time.
Schimp’s arrival has seemingly created a logjam at second base with Cory Spangenberg coming back from injury and Carlos Asuaje coming off of a terrific Triple-A season. In reality, though, there’s no way that a guy who just hit 19 homers in a two-and-a-half month span while playing solid defense won’t be penciled into the projected lineup for 2017.
2. Luis Perdomo, SP
Rule 5 picks are typically stashed in the bullpen, eating up innings in low leverage situations. On occasion, a Rule 5 draftee might perform well enough to take on a more vital role (see Joe Biagini of the Blue Jays). But spending more than half of the season in a big league starting rotation is unimaginable for a guy who had spent most of the previous season in Low-A and finished off the year by giving up seven runs on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings for Palm Beach, the Cardinals’ High-A affiliate. It was Perdomo’s fifth start at the level. If he had not been chosen in the Rule 5 draft, a return to the Florida State League would have been expected in 2016.
Instead, the 23-year-old finds himself in the midst of an eye-opening rookie season with the Padres. While he was being hidden in the bullpen early in the season, mostly pitching when the game was well out of reach and looking very much like he should still be in the minors, Perdomo was forced into starting duty in mid-June. As a starting pitcher, the right-hander has looked like a poised veteran who has the utmost confidence in a sinker that opposing hitters have a difficult time squaring up on.
In 16 starts since entering the rotation for good on June 15, Perdomo has a 4.29 ERA with 26 walks and 70 strikeouts in 98 2/3 innings. He’s completed at least six innings 11 times and has nine quality starts. He’ll enter the offseason as arguably the team’s second-best starting option behind injured staff ace Tyson Ross.
3. Ryan Buchter, RP
Seven-plus years in the minors for Schimpf is nothing compared to Buchter, who was drafted in 2005 and spent most of the next 11 seasons in the Minor Leagues. He logged exactly one big league appearance through the 2015 season before finally breaking through with the Padres in 2016.
The 29-year-old Buchter, who signed a Minor League contract with the Padres this past offseason, made the team out of Spring Training and has been their best reliever with a 2.86 ERA, 4.4 BB/9, 11.1 K/9 and 20 holds in 67 appearances. Opposing hitters have not come close to figuring out the left-hander, mustering only 34 hits in 63 innings. For the first time in his 12-year professional career, he’ll head into Spring Training with a big league roster spot all but locked up.
4. Trade Chips Maximizing Value (Drew Pomeranz, Melvin Upton Jr., Fernando Rodney, Matt Kemp)
Trading away a veteran player for something of value is not an easy task if that player isn’t performing well. But thanks to Pomeranz’s breakout season, strong bounce-back seasons from Rodney and Upton, and a perfectly-timed Kemp hot streak, the Padres were able to get three very good pitching prospects—Anderson Espinoza, Chris Paddack and Hansel Rodriguez—and/or salary relief for four veterans who didn’t figure into the team’s future plans.
- Fernando Rodney: 0.31 ERA, 4.1 H/9, 3.8 BB/9, 10.4 K/9, 17 saves in 28 appearances; traded to Marlins on June 30th.
- Drew Pomeranz: 2.47 ERA, 5.9 H/9, 3.6 BB/9, 10.1 K/9 in 17 starts; traded to Red Sox on July 14th.
- Melvin Upton Jr.: .743 OPS, 16 HR, 20 SB in 92 games; traded to Blue Jays on July 26th.
- Matt Kemp: .891 OPS, 9 HR, 12 2B from June 11-July 29; traded to Braves on July 30th.
Thanks for the memories and for maximizing your value prior to the trade deadline!
5. Austin Hedges, C/ Carlos Asuaje, 2B/ Manuel Margot, CF/ Hunter Renfroe, OF (MiLB)
My “Knocking Down The Door: All-Snub Team” was headlined by four Padres, who are finally getting called up to the Major Leagues on September 21—they were part of the Triple-A El Paso team that won the Pacific Coast League Championship—despite each doing more than enough to warrant a much-earlier promotion.
While Asuaje, Margot and Renfroe had their big league arrival time affected somewhat by the performances of Schimpf, Alex Dickerson and Travis Jankowski—we’ll call the latter two “Bright Spot Honorable Mentions”—this talented quartet isn’t likely to spend much more time in the minors, if any at all.
Here’s a look at how they fared for Triple-A El Paso during the 2016 regular season.
- Austin Hedges, C: .951 OPS, 21 HR, 20 2B in 82 games; considered one of, if not the best defensive catchers in the minors.
- Carlos Asuaje, 2B: .851 OPS, 9 HR, 32 2B, 11 3B, 10 SB in 134 games.
- Manuel Margot, CF: .777 OPS, 6 HR, 21 2B, 12 3B, 30 SB in 124 games.
- Hunter Renfroe: RF: .893 OPS, 30 HR, 34 2B in 133 games.
For an organization that relies heavily on producing young talent down on the farm and has had very little success in doing so, there is finally a reason to be optimistic.
At least they didn’t actually get penalized for Preller being shady
There wasnt really any fear of punishment aside from if he outright hid medical records and burned them. Wasnt illegal to do so. Preller got a slap on the wrist for exposing a loophole.
But for them to look at every deal preller made this year and last and only a slap on the wrist means they found nothing deliberately against the rules. As such best-they could do was suspend the gm and fine the franchise for exposing a loophole.
the fact that any real meaningful penalties such as loss of draft picks/IFA-draft spending restrictions would have meant having to include the Players Union into the equation, which is never something MLB wants to do just because it’s one more uncertainty to deal with also might have had something to do with the seemingly light penalties
He got off very lightly for whatever reason, but I think he’s put himself in a tough position for any future trade negotiations as there’ll be zero trust from other GM’s.
On what planet is anything Ryan Schimpf did this year considered “playing solid defense?”
I’m actually excited for the Padres they are actually doing things the right way, they just need starting pitching and to cut some dead weight and they might be in a better spot next year
You didn’t list the player at the top of my list – Yangervis Solarte. He had a terrific season made all the more remarkable because he had to be away from his wife who was battling cancer. Tragically she died last week.
Yeah definitely Solarte is a bright spot. It’s crazy because I had no clue his wife had cancer throughout the year, yet he brought energy and emotion to the team along with solid playing.
Wil Myers could be added to the list. He proved he is healthy and made it a full year. finally. He also made a pretty seamless transition to 1B and is 3 HR and 4 SB away from being a 30-30 guy. He did slump some in the 2nd half, but it is the first time he has played this many games in a MLB year.
No. He couldn’t. He was traded for two future All Stars and can barely keep his OPS above .800. It’s not a slump anymore when your season OPS drops below .800.
I know it’s easy to be infatuated with Trea Turner right now, but think you ought to pump the brakes at least a bit. Right now, he projects for a WAR very comparable to what Myers’ projections were right around July 1 (in fewer plate appearances than Myers had at that point). It’s also an interesting experiment to go back and see what Myers’ production looked like through his first 280 big league PAs in 2013.
Don’t know if you’ve watched any of this week’s games (certainly understandable if you aren’t given how unwatchable both the Padres and DBacks are!), but starting on Sunday, Myers was back to being a bit more upright in the box and having a little less bat wrap than I saw on the last homestand. Don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s been hitting the snot out of the ball again – to all fields – the last few days. The swing he took to demolish Greinke’s change last night was a thing of beauty.
I’d still gladly take the over on a 5.5 WAR season from him next year.
Even if you take trea turner at an equal projection to Myers he’s under control for longer and making less money.
And can play shortstop
Has played shortstop.
And will continue to do so in the future
Totally agree on Solarte. When Hinch sent Headley packing, the early consensus was the Padres return amounted to a bag of balls.. It will be interesting to see if both Shimpf and Solarte are in the 2017 plans;
Solarte should be in the plans for sure, he offers a lot more than Schimpf does. Switch hitter that will hit around .300 and will give you a professional at bat each
I like Schimpf and Solarte but I’d recommend you pay more attention to OPS than batting average.
Schimpf has been a really fun story – more homers than singles, a true TTO guy, but the list of 28-year-old position player rookies who have had major league careers of any length or note is pretty short.
Schimpf is clutch. He’s a guy you want batting in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs.
Brad Hand has carved out a nice spot for himself in the bullpen as well. Nobody saw that coming when we claimed him off waivers from Miami.
This was a good post, as it definitely brought up a lot of good points. It’ll be interesting to see where the Padres go from starting next season now that they are undergoing some positive change.
Also, I personally think that they should sell high on Schimpf. He’s been great to watch and all, but I still think they’d be better off asking around this offseason for what teams might offer for him.