Once a Scrappy Underdog, the Padres Adjust to Penthouse Life

SAN DIEGO — Xander Bogaerts confronted a dilemma. He had simply unboxed a customized pair of spiffy brown cleats with yellow accents that popped. And as he sat at his locker dealing with them some 4 hours earlier than his first opening day with the Padres, he requested somebody standing close by a colourful query.

“Do you like white or brown laces?”

Across the sport, most others on today had been treading rigorously into the brand new season, questioning about extra weighty points. Where will the runs come from? Is there sufficient depth within the bullpen for the approaching six-month grind of the common season?

But these Padres are totally different, set aside by an unlimited payroll, vivid swagger and distinctive workforce colours.

From the guests’ dugout this weekend, they had been unrecognizable to the Colorado skipper, Bud Black, from when he managed in San Diego. Then, from 2007 by 2015, his Padres wore blue. And they had been a deteriorating franchise overseen by an proprietor, John Moores, who for all intents and functions had checked out. His different companies and a messy divorce had been occupying a lot of his time.

When Black managed the Padres to a shock 90-win season in 2010, contending for a playoff spot by that season’s closing day in San Francisco, he did so with a workforce payroll that had been chopped to $37.7 million. It ranked twenty ninth in Major League Baseball, nestled between the Oakland Athletics at No. 28 and the dead-last Pittsburgh Pirates.

The cumulative payrolls of Black’s first 4 groups in San Diego ($213 million) didn’t even add as much as the franchise’s estimated payroll this season ($237 million) — by far a franchise report.

“I’ve never been in those shoes. You know, those higher payroll teams,” Black mentioned, smiling. “So I don’t know what that’s like.”

According to Spotrac’s estimates, solely the Mets ($335.9 million) and the Yankees ($268.9 million) are spending extra on their workforce payroll to chase a World Series title this 12 months than the Padres, now managed by the proprietor Peter Seidler. Seidler and Ron Fowler, who stepped down after the 2020 season, led the group that bought the workforce from Moores in 2014.

As the superstars Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Juan Soto and Joe Musgrove had been launched earlier than Thursday’s opener, the sellout crowd of 45,103, lots of whom had misplaced curiosity in baseball whereas watching the workforce divest itself of the 2007 National League Cy Young Award-winner Jake Peavy, the slugger Adrián González and the long run Hall of Fame nearer Trevor Hoffman, stood and roared.

When the introductions had been completed, there was an mixture of 37 All-Star Game picks standing alongside the first-base line, or residing someplace on this star-spangled roster. Nelson Cruz (seven All-Star picks), Machado (six) and Yu Darvish (5) led the best way, with Bogaerts and nearer Josh Hader chipping in 4 every.

“I wish I’d have had some of these teams when I was here,” mentioned Peavy, who was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2009 even after signing for a hometown low cost of $52 million over three years. He was on the town to throw out the season’s ceremonial first pitch earlier than being inducted into the membership’s Hall of Fame later this summer time.

“San Diego is on fire,” Peavy added enthusiastically.

Different days, totally different occasions.

“I remember when I first came into the big leagues, everything was different here,” mentioned Rockies outfielder Kris Bryant, who debuted with the Chicago Cubs in 2015, two years after they made him their first-round select of the University of San Diego. “Different coaches, different players, different field dimensions.

“Everything has changed.”

That contains the expectations. After bouncing the Dodgers final October earlier than shedding to Philadelphia within the N.L. Championship Series, the Padres will play essentially the most anticipated season in franchise historical past. All 4 video games this weekend bought out, setting a brand new membership attendance report to open a season. Fervor is so excessive that within the late innings of Thursday night time’s 7-2 loss to Colorado, there have been even a smattering of boos from this principally sunny and optimistic fan base — after which extra because the Padres dropped to 0-2 on Friday night time.

Nevertheless, the membership introduced earlier than the season’s third recreation Saturday that infielder Jake Cronenworth had signed a seven-year, $80 million extension.

Another day, one other whopping examine.

“Baseball is a weird sport,” mentioned Machado, a voice of expertise, earlier than the season’s first pitch was thrown. “Over 162 games you have ups, you have downs, there are a lot of highs, a lot of lows, a lot of streaks. It goes both ways.

“But with these guys in here, we have a lot of tools in the box.”

In Bogaerts, a key a part of Boston’s 2018 World Series triumph, and in Soto, who helped lead Washington to a title in 2019, the Padres have two gamers with latest championship pedigrees on whom they’re counting to be influencers.

“If I’m going to compare it to a team that I was privileged to be on previously, it would be that one,” Bogaerts mentioned of the 2018 Red Sox workforce that gained 108 video games and rolled by a postseason that culminated with a five-game World Series breeze over the Dodgers. “That ’18 team, we were that much better than every team in the league. And with the expectation, we went out and we delivered.”

Bogaerts delivered on Saturday night time by smashing a two-run, first-inning homer to assist push San Diego to its first win of the 12 months. He homered once more on Sunday because the Padres gained a second straight recreation to separate the collection with Colorado, an N.L. West rival.

As with any worthwhile influencer, there was a transparent and pointed message in his feedback: The precise supply of a well-appointed blueprint isn’t a assure. Charlie Blackmon, Colorado’s designated hitter, has witnessed many vital modifications within the N.L. West since his rookie season in 2011, together with the assorted permutations in Petco Park.

“They’re a good team, but this is the big leagues and every night you’re facing All-Stars,” Blackmon mentioned, including: “A few years ago, San Diego went for it and had a bunch of big contracts and had to blow it up. It’s not necessarily a sustainable model, what we’ve seen so far. So it makes you wonder.”

Specifically, he was referring to 2015. That was the primary full season for A.J. Preller, then the final supervisor, now the president of baseball operations, at all times the aggressive architect no matter his title. Preller traded for the All-Stars Matt Kemp, Derek Norris and Craig Kimbrel and signed free agent pitcher James Shields that season. The Padres began slowly, fired Black in June, completed 74-88 and began yet again after ending 68-94 in 2016.

The payroll reached a then-Padres report $108.3 million in 2015 and $99 million in 2016. The 90 wins in 2010 with a payroll a 3rd or so of these stays essentially the most victories for the membership in any season since San Diego’s 1998 N.L. pennant-winning workforce.

“That was maybe the most fun we had, that group of players,” Black mentioned of a workforce led by González and infielder David Eckstein that squeezed 14 wins every out of starters Clayton Richard, Jon Garland and Mat Latos. “What a great year that was. That was a ton of fun. Those seasons are special because nobody expects you to do anything, and then you do it.”

Now in his seventh season in Colorado following eight summers and a part of a ninth in San Diego, Black was named because the N.L. Manager of the Year in 2010. As typical, he has one other underdog workforce now in Colorado, with the Rockies’ $166 million payroll in the midst of the pack, simply above the league common of $148.6 million.

“Those are the shoes that I’ve been in,” he mentioned. “And I love being in those shoes because it is a great challenge.”

Across the diamond, the Padres’ embarrassment of riches prolonged all the best way to their shoelaces.

“Brown looks like a funeral,” Bogaerts mentioned, assessing the brown-on-brown scheme, sorting by his choice.

He eradicated switching out to yellow laces (“too wild”). Finally, he opted for white, and relaced them himself.

“I know white is going to get dirty,” he sighed.

He is aware of staying utterly clear is an not possible ask, anyway. No matter the dimensions of the workforce’s payroll, a part of the fantastic thing about a season is that, in some unspecified time in the future, all should choose themselves up and shake off some filth.