“It’s a huge disappointment.”
Should the San Diego Padres have had a fire sale right before the trade deadline? ESPN takes a look back at the month since the trade deadline for all 30 Major League Baseball teams. “Huge disappointment,” they said of San Diego.
Heading into the trade deadline, there was speculation that the Padres would deal free agents Blake Snell and Josh Hader, as well as Juan Soto, who has one year left on his contract. At the time, it was clear that a postseason berth was out of reach, but the front office didn’t give up, and instead tried to keep the flickering hopes alive by signing Choi Ji-Man, Rich Hill, Garrett Cooper, and Scott Barlow.
A month later, it’s been an abject failure. San Diego is tied for seventh place in the National League wild-card race with a 62-71 record through 30 days. They are a whopping 7.5 games behind the third-place San Francisco Giants. Considering that they were within five to six games of each other before and after the trade deadline, the Padres have lost a lot of ground over the past month.
ESPN analyzed San Diego’s odds of making the postseason from before the trade deadline to after, and found that they dropped from 41% to 7%. That’s a whopping 34% drop. “At the trade deadline, San Diego’s chances of making the postseason were boosted by a forward-looking projection of the roster, which gave San Diego talent,” ESPN said.
However, ESPN noted, “Has there ever been a season in the majors where the total underperformance relative to expectations has been as pronounced as this one? San Diego, the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Mets, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees have been huge disappointments.”토토사이트
Kim ranks fourth in the majors with a 6.2 WAR per Baseball-Reference. His 4.5 offensive WAR is ninth and his 2.2 defensive WAR is fourth. With the exception of Soto, it was an impossible task for Kim to make up for the collective lack of superstars.
Furthermore, the players acquired just before the deadline have generally underperformed. Take Choi, for example. Surprisingly, in his first seven games, Choi has gone 0-for-11 with five walks and three runs scored. After a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on December 12, he went to the disabled list again, this time with a rib injury.