At season's one-third mark, Padres it's clear where the Padres must improve if they are to be one of teams to go from disappointing to contending
No, it’s not that bad.The Padres are 24-29. So the $246 million team is two games better than the $102 million team was 53 games in.But this season has not reached the point where the standings tell the whole story. As poorly as the Padres have played, there can be little debate a team with Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr.
At least one team that had a losing record 53 games into a season has made the playoffs every year since 2012. Bob Melvin’s 2012 A’s were 23-30. The 2013 Dodgers were also 23-30. Four teams that were below .500 at the 53-game mark made the postseason in 2014. Their .303 OBP with runners on is second lowest. Their .205 batting average with runners on base is lowest in MLB by 22 points.This is closely related to the above category, but it deserves its own special place in the documenting of the Padres’ hell.
Combined with their paltry home run totals until the past eight games , being unable to string together hits is the main culprit in this team’s struggles.Plenty of blame — arguably the bulk of it — rests on the shoulder of Machado and Bogaerts. When a ridiculous amount of money is put in a man’s hands, ridiculous expectations are put on his shoulders.
Among the players getting the bulk of at-bats in the bottom five spots in the order – so more than half of the batters in a given game — only Ha-Seong Kim is hitting batter than .215.It hasn’t helped the Padres that Machado has missed the past 11⅔ games with a fractured bone in his left hand. But it arguably has not hurt all that much, given that he is batting .231 with a .654 OPS and five home runs. The Padres are 5-7 and are scoring nearly a half-run more per game without him.
But he is batting just .246 with a .294 on-base percentage. Those are well off his career numbers of .293 and .369 entering the season.
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