Padres Spring Training Games Start This Week

The San Diego Padres started spring training this week against the Seattle Mariners. The Padres are the most talked about team because of the talent on the roster They only have a World Series championship as their goal for many years to come. The stacked Padres will be losing most of their roster to the World Baseball Classic which begins in March. But that would be good to get the prospects more into the games in the spring and see what they can do.

Padres top prospect looking to make noise this spring.

We will see top prospect Jackson Merrill get some playing time this spring. The shortstop was a 2021 draft pick. In single A he’s batted for an average of .325/.387./.482. Merrill watched Xander Bogaerts growing up and is excited to be able to play with him.

Padres Will Lose Manny Machado after the 2023 season.

The other person making headlines is Manny Machado who is opting out of his ten-year contract after the 2023 season. He signed a 10-year $300 million deal in 2019 with a chance to opt-out after the 4th year. Well, it seems he will do just that as he probably wants to have the richest contract in baseball.

“Obviously, the team knows where I stand,” the 30-year-old said. “I think I’ve expressed that I will be opting out after this year, but I think my focus is not about 2024. I think my focus is about 2023, what I can do to this ball club, what I’ve done for this organization and what we’re going to continue to do here.”

Machado finished second in the NL MVP voting last season and posted a .298 batting average.

Padres Projected Lineup for the 2023 season.

When the season officially starts let’s see what their projected lineup will look like:

1. 1B Jake Croneworth
2. C Austin Nola
3. 2B Ha-Seong Kim
4. 3B Manny Machado
5. SS Xander Bogaerts
6. LF Fernando Tatis (after he comes back from suspension)
7. CF Trent Grisham
8. RF Juan Soto
9. DH Matt Carpenter

Their starting rotation could look something like this:

1. Yu Darvish
2. Jose Musgrove
3. Blake Snell
4. Michael Wacha
5. Seth Lugo

With a stacked lineup and a pretty good rotation/bullpen, there is no excuse why this team doesn’t win the division. I think they have what it takes to take down the Dodgers and win the NL West. Padres manager had this take on the players missing time in the spring to play in the WBC but he wasn’t too concerned about the teams dynamic.

“I don’t know about challenges. Obviously, when your players are in the WBC you worry about injury,” said Melvin. “The guys that we have going are going to get the proper amount of at-bats. But you worry about injury.”“As far as the team dynamic, I think we have enough core guys from last year where we feel good about our group and know our group,” said Melvin. “It’s just getting everybody together for a period of time leading into the season. It’s nothing that nobody else is going through as well.”

Lastly, Bob Melvin is excited to have leader Xander Bogaerts in the clubhouse. He’s the one guy who knows how to win at a high level having won a World Series himself. Melvin said this week you can’t have too many leaders on your team.

“Just watching his time in Boston, how much of a leader he is, and not only from a coaching perspective but players, as well. And I got plenty of messages about how this is a real guy in the clubhouse and on the field as far as leadership goes and you can’t have too many of those guys.”