Baseball folks expect the Padres to be in the free-agent bidding for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.
1) They go for seemingly every star, and had the high bids for Trea Turner and Aaron Judge (and obviously Xander Bogaerts), and with prospects for Juan Soto, too.
2) Owner Peter Seidler has made a commitment to fans, and though his pockets aren’t nearly as deep as Steve Cohen’s, Seidler is as focused as anyone on winning (and Ohtani has made winning is his clear priority, too).
3) GM A.J. Preller is said to have impressed Ohtani last time by memorizing a 15-minute presentation in Japanese, and though the Padres were among the seven finalists, word was their inability to use a DH back then prevented them from being a true contender.
The rival Dodgers are seen as the early favorite for Ohtani, and Padres people surely know this. (Preller said by phone they are concentrating now on their current team).
With winning the only real goal, at least for now the Padres intend to stay in it. Though their record is similar to the Mets, they can claim to be unlucky. The Padres have a plus-39 run differential, and are a league-worst 0-8 in extra-inning games, a league-worst 5-15 in one-run games and are a league-worst .223 batting with runners in scoring position. …
Word is they are hopeful to add a bat and maybe a reliever. The Padres will be protective of their top half-dozen prospects now, starting with shortstop Jackson Merrill and catcher Ethan Salas, but if their record starts to approximate their talent, you have to know they will do something.
If they do sell, they could have a very good sale, starting with free agents Blake Snell and Josh Hader.
“I hope I don’t get traded. But it’s out of my control, right?” Hader said. “The guys up top decide what to do. If that’s me getting traded, that’s me getting traded. But if not, I believe we have the team to do a lot of special things.”
Brewers star Corbin Burnes confirmed the report here weeks ago that the Brewers don’t intend to sell like they did last year, when they traded Hader — who was standing two lockers from Hader in Seattle as Burnes spoke.
“From what I’ve heard, that won’t happen. I’ve heard we’re actually trying to win baseball games,” Burnes said. “I think a lot of people probably know that wasn’t the best thing to do last year after the way the year finished.”
