How Preller's plethora of moves crafted 2024 Padres' chemistry
AJ Cassavell
@AJCassavellSAN DIEGO -- The 2024 Padres took the Dodgers to the wire in the National League West race, then romped in the Wild Card Series to earn a trip back to L.A. for the NLDS -- which begins Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
Did anyone see that coming from the Padres team that reported to Spring Training in early February?
Well, no. Because these Padres, quite clearly, are not those Padres.
San Diego has seen a remarkable amount of roster turnover in-season -- largely the product of general manager A.J. Preller addressing each of his team's biggest needs on the fly.
He traded for Dylan Cease on the eve of the season as the team boarded its plane to Seoul. He traded for now-three-time-batting-champ Luis Arraez in early May. He signed Donovan Solano and David Peralta to early Minors deals. Then, at the Trade Deadline, Preller completely revamped his pitching staff.
The outcome? With Joe Musgrove out for the postseason with a UCL injury, Mart¨ªn P¨¦rez seems the likeliest replacement. If so, the NLDS roster will feature 13 players -- a whopping 50% -- who weren't on the 40-man roster when camp opened.
"Our roster was clearly in flux," Padres manager Mike Shildt recalled. "They did a well-documented tremendous job of putting it together over the season. But there was a lot of questions going into Spring Training."
The first move seemed innocuous enough. The Padres signed Jurickson Profar to a one-year, $1 million deal with incentives. That signing set the tone. Juan Soto was gone. But from Day 1 of Spring Training, Profar raked -- and he never stopped, en route to his first All-Star Game.
Speaking amid the celebrations on Wednesday, after the Padres had clinched their spot in the NLDS, Preller brought up Profar as he reflected on the roster overhaul. The most unique part, Preller said, was the way every piece fit. And not from a baseball perspective. From a human perspective.
"This team, you talk about the chemistry, and the pieces just fit," Preller said. "A lot of people ask me: Is there one player, two players who drive that? No. It's legitimately everyone.
"Jurickson Profar, [it's] his energy, his smile and how that fits with Tatis and Manny. Solano, his experience, Peralta's energy and his edginess, Jackson Merrill as a young guy that's brought so much to this group -- you can point to so many guys in this room as to why it all fits. That's the beauty of this team."
The baseball world is a tight circle. The Padres knew their new teammates to some extent. Still, they hadn't endured the daily grind alongside them. There was no telling how well the group would blend.
Shildt pointed to the players who have already been locked up long-term -- Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, Musgrove and Yu Darvish. That group welcomed its new teammates with open arms, he said.
"The good news is we had a core of guys that have been here and are established to be here for a while," Shildt said. "So we built off that foundation with Manny and Joe and Bogey and Croney and Darvish and Tati. That group is the pillars. Now we've added to it. We knew we had a foundation."
The additions came fast:
? Profar signed in mid-February
? Cease arrived in mid-March
? Merrill and Tyler Wade were non-roster invites added to the roster before Opening Day
? Solano signed in mid-April amid a surprising lack of offers elsewhere
? Arraez landed via trade in early May
? Peralta signed in mid-May
? Jason Adam, Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing and Mart¨ªn P¨¦rez arrived at the Trade Deadline
? Elias D¨ªaz and Nick Ahmed signed Minor League deals in August, then were called up in September along with Brandon Lockridge (acquired at the Deadline) to fill out the Padres' bench
On a 26-man roster, that's 13 new players and 13 holdovers. And yet, it clearly hasn¡¯t felt that way.
When the Padres clinched on Wednesday, it was the newcomer Peralta who addressed the clubhouse. Just before bottles popped and champagne sprayed, Peralta said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to keep together, got to stay together.¡±
The room exploded.
"It's honestly just a great group of guys," Machado said. "I don't really know how to explain how it happened. We're just united, and we're all pulling for each other. It's one big family in there. From Spring Training, Shildty said it: It's going to take all of us."
Including half a roster that hadn¡¯t yet arrived.