Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images
The San Diego Padres came into the season with high hopes. Over the past couple of years, they have signed and traded for big names players. Manny Machado got a huge deal. Juan Soto was snagged from the Nationals. Josh Hader came from the Brewers and Xander Bogaerts was another huge offseason signing. On top of Fernando Tatis Jr. and a slew of savvy veteran players, it is safe to say the team was going all-in. Now, at the 50-game mark, is it time for the San Diego Padres to panic?
Should The San Diego Padres Panic?
With over 100 games to play, it is hard to say that the team should be in full-out panic mode. A good month of baseball can propel a team up the standings. However, there should be a twinge of panic. Nothing seems to be going right for the team. Usually in situations like this fans can find a bright spot to point towards. Not so much in this situation. All aspects of the team seem to be struggling.
Struggling At The Plate
At the time of writing of this article, the highest batting average on the team is Tatis Jr. with .267. That is…not great for a team that is looking to compete for a championship. Here’s what everyone else is doing at the plate.
-Xander Bogaerts: .261
-Manny Machado: .231
-Juan Soto: .260
–Nelson Cruz: .253
Everyone else is hitting much lower than these players. If the best players cannot approach hitting .300, it is going to be hard to score runs. The Padres currently have a -5 run differential and a big part of that is the hitting. There are two parts of the game and the pitching isn’t doing them any favors.
Pitching Woes
Similar to the hitting, the pitchers are not putting up numbers to write home about. The lowest ERA on the team is Ryan Weathers at 3.42. Yu Darvish and Michael Wacha, the team’s number one and two starters have an ERA of 3.67 and 3.58 respectively. Blake Snell has a whopping 5.40 ERA on the season. With the new rules being more hitter-friendly, it isn’t surprising to see some slightly higher ERAs but this is ridiculous for a team trying to win a World Series.
The Bullpen Is Not Much Better
Hader is the lone bright spot. His current ERA is 0.90. Tim Hill also has a respectable 2.91 ERA in 23 appearances. The rest of the bullpen has similar ERAs to the starters. The problem isn’t isolated to one facet of the game. The Padres cannot get leads or keep leads which does not lead to winning baseball. While all of this is concerning the real reason for the San Diego Padres to panic is where they stand in the division.
Division Standings
Currently, the team sits at 22-26 which is eight games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Again, there is a lot of season but this is a huge hole to have to dig out of. The Diamondbacks have started out hot and look like they are here to stay. They are only four back of the wild card but the one-game playoff nature of the wild card round means a team wants to stay out of that by any means necessary.
The National League is tough even outside of the division. The Braves, Brewers, and Mets are all lurking. The Cardinals, Mets, and Phillies have all started out slow but are expected to pick it up. The Pirates have been a huge surprise and while they have cooled off a little, they still need to be taken seriously. The margin for error is small.
Why It Isn’t Time For The San Diego Padres To Panic
I’ve painted a picture of doom and gloom and am providing as much hope as Dennis Quaid does in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. There is plenty of season left. This team has too much talent on it to continue with these numbers. It is safe to say that considering the history of all of these players the numbers should improve. If even one aspect of the game can find its footing, the Padres should start climbing the standings. We have seen crazy comebacks in September so a comeback in May isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
The San Diego Padres should panic a little. They have sunk a lot of money into this team and long-term are going to be on the hook for a lot of money. If there is a World Series to show for it, it was all worth it. If not, this team could go down as one of the most expensive failures in history.
