MLB

Padres Roster is Set … For Now

Friars general manager addresses trade possibilities (kind of) at Spring Training

For most of the off-season there were rumors swirling that the Padres were trying to trade outfielder Wil Myers. Those rumors continued right into the first week of Spring Training.

On Thursday Padres general manager A.J. Preller addressed the speculation

"I don't think we ever comment on any kind of player trades or anything like that in terms of what's out there," said Preller. "For us, the start of Spring Training, this time of year there's not really a lot of activity. We've come into camp excited about the group we have."

So that basically means nothing is on the brink of breaking loose right now. But that does not mean we won't see another potential move or two made before Opening Day at Petco Park on March 26.

"I think we'll use Spring Training to evaluate our group and our team. I think conversations in terms of our roster will pick as we get closer to the end of Spring Training," said Preller.

For now, the group that's here is the group the Friars will have to pick their 26-man roster from. That roster is going to be expected to be a whole lot better than the team that fell apart after the All-Star break in 2019. It's got talent, no question. It's a lot deeper than it has been at any time under this ownership group.

The easiest way to measure improvement is in the win column but Preller is not putting up any hard and fast edicts on how many W's this team must have.

"For us it's not about any one set number or anything like that," said Preller. "We expect to be competitive and we expect to play winning baseball. What exactly that looks like at the end of the day, does that result in a set number? I don't think we want to limit ourselves that way. We're going to expect our guys to go out there every single day working to improve and I think we'll look forward to the team having better results here in the standings."

A year ago the Brewers were the 2nd National League Wild Card team with 89 wins. That alone would be a 19-win improvement by the Padres in just one season. It's a tall order.

What would certainly help is Manny Machado being the $300 million man they paid for ... Eric Hosmer being the $144 million man they paid for ... a full healthy season from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Chris Paddack ... and Myers either getting back to his 2016 All-Star form or playing well enough for the Padres to be able to trade him for more pieces.

The Padres play their first Cactus League game of the year on Saturday against the Mariners with Cal Quantrill getting the start.

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