The San Diego Padres Begin Spring Training

By Steve Atkinson

The baseball offseason was a complete dud. The Padres fired Bob Melvin and hired Mike  Shildt to manage the team. They traded Juan Soto to the Yankees and got some pitching and prospects. But overall nobody is talking about the baseball offseason. Everything is run on analytics, the games are four hours long, and they do nothing to promote the sport.  What happened to back in the 2000’s when all you heard was “Hot Stove” talk. Now, you barely get any talk about it because of the NFL and NBA. MLB has done this to themselves they want more teams like Tampa Bay and Boston less teams like the Dodgers, Padres, and Yankees.

The Padres acquired Michael King from the Yankees as part of the Juan Soto trade. King was a relief pitcher for them but for the Padres he will be a starter. Mike Shildt spoke last week telling the San Diego Union Tribune that King will start.

You start with King. he has made 19 (career) starts. He has pitched in the bullpen in the past but has started all the way back at Boston College and has done a nice job in his (MLB) starts. He’s coming in as a starter for us, and we’re excited about him. His reputation of being a real pro, having a high care factor, good work ethic, all the positive intangibles you want, are true in spades. This guy is really a together guy. So he’s clearly gonna get the opportunity.

King will join Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish in the rotation.  The struggle with the Padres last year started in he clubhouse when Melvin couldn’t vibe with his players from spring training. I hope this year they have a better start because even though its only spring training its important to start on the right foot you don’t want a repeat of last year.

The bad part of baseball is there’s a new thing about how starter’s can’t face hitters a third time through which is ridiculous. It’s an analytical thing and I don’t understand it. You shouldn’t have to rely on your bullpen all the time especially if the starter is performing well. Why take him out for a bullpen game? Shildt spoke about what they will do.

“We’ll just see how it unfolds as we go,” Shildt said. “I do think our bullpen is gonna be a strength of our club. But one of the reasons your bullpen is a strength is based on your starters being able to eat innings. We can’t be living in our bullpen early often. … I’ve been really impressed with the group and always impressed with Ruben (Niebla, the Padres pitching coach) and his group. I’m confident we’ll get the best out of what we have and (navigate) the balancing act of making sure we’re competing and keeping these guys healthy. The bottom line is we’re gonna have to have people step up and perform.”

The Padres still need an outfielder which there are rumors they are in on Jarren Duran maybe in the coming days something will happen.