The San Diego Padres Are The Most Fun Team In Baseball

The San Diego Padres just might be best team in Major League Baseball … when it comes to being fun to watch.

Prior to last weekend, this team already had several of the elements to make them a can’t-miss kind of team. They had an offensive star (Manny Machado), a player currently holding the crown for the game’s next big thing (Fernando Tatis, Jr.), a starter who could become the team’s ace in the near future (Chris Paddack) and a flair for the dramatic – check out those five grand slams in a week that led to a new nickname: Slam Diego.

But over the weekend and through Monday, as the MLB trade deadline approached and the Padres looked to keep their hold on one of the eight playoff spots in the National League, the team’s polarizing general manager, A.J. Preller, went all in, as he’s one to do sometimes. 

In the span of hours, Preller wheeled and dealed to get Mitch Moreland from the Boston Red Sox, catcher Jason Castro from the Los Angeles Angels, and catcher Austin Nola two relievers from the Seattle Mariners. Then on Monday morning, Preller got off a nine-player trade with the Cleveland Indians that landed them starter Mike Clevinger among a couple others before a final deal with Seattle for another reliever.

In all, there were six separate deals and 26 players moved, the kind of fun whirlwind that could leave one dizzy while showing the Padres are in this thing to win now. It was a record for most players traded in a three-day span in MLB history. 

And Preller was able to do this without giving up the entire future of the franchise. With all the moves, San Diego kept its top three prospects and eight of their top 10, according to Baseball America. 

That is critical for a team still in the early stages of contention and that will have to rely on its farm system for future blockbuster trades or to fill spots on the big league club.

The Padres aren’t just dealing in pennies, either. Two winters ago they signed Machado to a 10-year, $300 million deal. And the winter prior, they signed first baseman Eric Hosmer to an eight-year, $144 million contract. And there are now expectations that the team will extend star shortstop Tatis in the near future, likely for another nine-figure deal. 

These moves are the proof that Preller is trying to build a team that can contend in the National League West, a division that is being held captive by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have the cash and talent to keep it there for the next several seasons. 

Before the season started, Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler called 2019 “embarrassing” after the club finished under .500 for a ninth year in a row. And he vowed that “heads will roll, beginning with mine,” if the losing continued in 2020. 

Because no matter how much money is spent or how many trades are signed off on, the fun and excitement don’t exist without wins. And going into Tuesday, the Padres were seven games above .500, and according to Fangraphs, they have the second-best chance (behind the Dodgers) to win the World Series.

“It’s definitely calculated,” Preller said Monday. 

And with a month to go before maybe the wildest playoffs the sport has ever seen, the Padres are already claiming the crown the most fun team in baseball.