FALLOUT: Padres Early Exit SPARKS Major Questions About Future | Will DRASTIC Changes Follow?

FALLOUT: Padres Early Exit SPARKS Major Questions About Future | Will DRASTIC Changes Follow?

On today’s show, it is a very special edition of Mailbag Monday, where we respond to some of your questions and comments concerning the Padres’s future, concerning Michael King, concerning AJ Prowler and Mike Schill’s job security, who didn’t show up in the series, the Dodger fans hating in the comments, all that and much more. Let’s get to it. You are Locked On Padres, your daily San Diego Padres’s podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another edition of Locked Padres’s podcast, which is part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day for Monday, October 6th. As always, I’m your host with sometimes the most, Javier Reyes, and I’ve been covering this team for I’m pretty sure seven years now, or at least, no, well, six years. That’s what how long it’s been. Uh, for not just this podcast, but also various other outlets, including just baseball.com, chief. Uh, among them, today’s episode, guys, is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app today. Today’s episode, guys, we are responding to some of your comments. We are having it’s our first um 2025 Padres’s postmortem, right? This is the fir the epilogue of the season, which has been, you know, it it was tough. We got a lot of comments. Uh most of them, like not most of them actually, but a lot of them that got a lot of traction, you know, a lot of Dodger fans because again, remember guys, you must always remember they care so little about the Padres’s. They just keep interacting with our stuff, right? So, we’re going to respond to some of those comments and stuff, but you know, I want to also start off the show by just saying like my general thoughts on the season having now ended. Um, you know, and they not nothing to do with the playoffs that have happened this weekend. We’re seeing the Yankees get killed. We saw the Phillies just lose to the Dodgers. That’s unfortunate. We’re seeing the Brewers. They just killed the Cubs in game one. Which, by the way, I actually might be one of those people that’s like, “Look, I don’t Here’s how I’ll say it. I think the weekends and the reason why I wasn’t as visibly annoyed with this team the way I was last year I think in a lot of ways um where it really was a lot more painful the loss last year not just because it was the Dodgers that’s a big part of it but also because I really truly did believe that that team was the one right I think the reason this one didn’t hurt as much and the reason why I wheezen the reason why I kind of forgot about it as the weekend transpired is number one football and my fantasy team killed it but number two it also So, I hung out with some friends. But number two is that I just didn’t have super high expectations for this team to begin with. I thought that they could make it to the next round and then maybe they beat the Brewers, but still Brewers, I don’t believe that they’re going to win the World Series or anything because of the low payroll and the historical precedent when you have such a low payroll, but rather I just didn’t think that this Padres’s team had it. I never trusted the offense and that’s why I had picked the Cubs originally in the first series. So, I’m not as broken up about this series as I think some others have been. And as I talked about on Friday’s show, which everybody could go check out with my Caric Vancraman of CBS8 Sports, those two, by the way, Caric and Jake, will make more appearances on the show, as well as Big Jim of the Postcast. Don’t worry, you haven’t seen the last one yet, even though it’s now me for a little bit in the slave minds of of the Padres’s until we hear some news. I think um that I think my my takeaway has just been again, I just didn’t expect them to go far. I don’t think that they had it this year. And this goes back to a little bit why I was a little bit critical of the Padres’s trade deadline. Now, don’t get me wrong, AJ did his job. AJ Peller, who we’re going to talk about more as we answer some of you guys’ comments because there was a lot. We got a lot to go through and some of them are just funny troll comments, too. But I figured it’d be funny to just um respond to them. Um I think that the deadline worried me because I just really think that Leo Dere is a top tier asset. Now, we’re going to see how that all pans out. But one of the things that I talked about on Friday was that I think that we’ve got two categories of topics to get into, right? The first is just what are the biggest questions? And the second is um what’s going to happen to some of the other uh players on this team, right? The the way that you can take a silver lining. Um I think right so and the silver lining is that I think that the Padres’s rotation, if they’re able to bring back Michael King next year, could be actually pretty good. Um I I really do believe that. And not to mention AJ Prowler and company’s ability to manifest prospects out of nowhere. I do think they could be good, but I do maintain my belief that it’s all weekend. That’s what I was thinking about. Like, dude, you had it your moment when they lost last year in the playoffs, you were like, that was it. That was the best chance they’re going to have it. It really felt like that. And it felt like the trade for Mason Miller, while not necessarily bad because he might be converted especially to a starter next year, which will be huge, but rather I just thought I didn’t it didn’t feel like a team that you should go as all-in um and it feels like a team that could really use some fresh blood uh right about now, right? If this is a team that instead of trading for Juan Sodto, you’re rocking CJ Abrams on a club friendly contract hopefully, right? He’s still under club control and you’re rocking James Wood in left field who’s under club control. I just wonder if you’re feeling a little bit better about that. I’m wondering if what we’re going to be talking about for a lot of this off seasonason is just not that AJ Per should be fired, but maybe Padres’s fans and everybody should remember, hey, we had a really good season last year and it was a lot of minor moves that were made. Don’t get me wrong, the Luis Arise trade and especially the Dylan Cas trade were big and trading to get back some pieces, but AJ did really well at just building out a more complete team, I think, is what you saw happen last year. Um, so I’m just wondering like maybe we need to really start once again and I’ve been saying this for a few years now. I I am on the record saying I didn’t think that they needed to do the Wanoto trade. Although I was ecstatic when it happened, of course. Um, I just think you need to readjust your philosophy uh when following this team. I think that this idea that they should always be going for the top top player on the market is a little bit fraught. And I think yes, don’t get me wrong, our top top players have not shown up in big stops and and big spots, right? Tatis was awesome last year and the and his previous playoffs, don’t get me wrong. So, he’s a little bit excused, but didn’t happen this year, right? Manny Machado didn’t happen this year, didn’t happen last year, didn’t happen the year before that. Like, there are my view is this. You’re supposed to spend money to get your crop of stars and then the rest of it is little bit minor contracts and a lot of prospects. That’s what I think you’re supposed to do. The Padres’s have the top stars. So, what they should be doing is trying to get those little middle tier free agents and a lot of and building up a lot of prospects in my opinion, right? So, they have part of that, which is why this off season you’re going to hear some people saying, “Well, we need to go after Pete Alonzo.” And my response to that is, I actually don’t think they need to do that. I actually think that maybe, you know, if some money clears off the books, if they get fortunate in some ways, just kind of get some decent players and go from there. Don’t don’t handcuff yourself when you don’t need to unnecessarily. Don’t tie every life raft to this ship that is a little the engine’s all messy, right? Like I know that they’re close to the island. You’re This is a horrible analogy, but stick with me. I’m going to land it. I know that you’re really close to landing, but it’s a bad engine. Maybe you should wait for that other ship that’s a two miles backwards and say, you know what? Let’s actually hitch our life raft to that one. Let’s spread out the wealth a little bit more. But again, that’s just my main diagnosis of the season. It’s there’s so much to talk about and there’s so many comments that I got that we’re going to get into in the next segment and the segment after that that I probably won’t finish them all today. But don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s going to be fun and I’m going to talk to you guys more about what to expect from this show uh throughout the course of the offseason because believe me, lots of content. Lots of content. And when it’s the Padres’s, you know dang well that AJ Prowler and just something is going to happen, right? Things tend to happen with the Padres’s. It’s never a boring team. that much you could say about them even when it goes bad. But first folks, let me talk to you about one of our longtime sponsors, and that is our good friends over at FanDuel. Here’s the thing, ladies and gentlemen. With the NFL season here, FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five buckaroos, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300. $300, not three. 03 $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Whether you’re casual, whether you’re hardcore, you want to build parlays, you want to do player props, you want to do spreads, whatever you want, FanDuel has you covered. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fandle.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. FanDuel, go check it out. And just like that, everybody, we are back thriving and vibing despite it all. Maybe I might have to change the um that little tagline, the thriving and vibing. By the way, leave comments below for what I should change it to. This is I This is inspired by um Clyde Frasier, who does coverage for the New York Knicks. If anybody doesn’t know, he loves rhyming. Like driving and finding, he says, roasting and toasting. He says stuff like that. A little two two-word rhyme if you guys can think of one. But we’re going to get into your questions in a second. The last thing I want to bring up, I think, um for the for the Padres’s just with this show. All right, we’re gonna be doing player pre uh player reviews. I’m gonna go through every major player for the Padres’s this year, talk about their season, whether or not it was good, give it a letter grade, all that stuff. Some of them I think will be really fascinating to discuss like Tatisa Jackson Merrill. Some of them are a little bit more cut and dry like Manny Machado, like um Jay Cronorth to a degree. Um and Nick Paveta is going to be a lot of fun to get into. Uh we’re going to have free agents early free agent wish list, right? Going to talk about that. I love giving my free agent um desires every offseason. Right. We’re also going to talk about the biggest questions. Tomorrow’s episode probably going to be talking about Mike Schill and AJ Prowler and whether or not they should stay. Uh because I genuinely think it is we’re on like year seven of the debate about AJ Prowler, by the way, which is insane. But let’s get into some of your questions, guys. The first thing I want to mention though is give a shout out to a listener of the show, and that is someone by the name of Andrew. my man my man my man big Jim of the postcast said that he was hanging out in some hotel place or whatever and he’s told me that he ran into you and he says hey yeah I do and I’m and he’s like yeah I like the show and whatnot so shout out to you man he said that you were a fan of mine shout out to you if you’re listening love you so much man u feel free to leave a comment as well thank you for listening to the show that’s crazy that you ran into Jim I’m glad you enjoy what you’re seeing and don’t worry I’ll be your Padre’s therapist I guess for the rest of the summer Um, but moving on now to some actual questions and comments that we got. I got a lot along the lines of this, right? With substituting a couple players, but at Lil Casino Music says, “Get rid of Manny Tatis Croninworth.” Is that an actual possibility? I’m tired of watching this crap. So, here’s the thing. I think that this speaks to a couple things. Number one, Jay Croninworth, I think it’s important to remember that he’s one of the lower tier players on the team anyway. Not that he can’t show up big, but remember he’s had some big hits for this team. He was one of the best the team’s best um players this year in high leverage situations. It’s true. You could go look at fan graphs. And also, he’s had some big hits before this, right? Remember the big double against the Dodgers in 2022? Like, he’s had okay playoff moments, right? Okayoff moments. And considering he’s not like a star, I just don’t think he’s the one to talk about getting rid of right now. Then there’s Manny Machado, who I totally understand. Manny Machado, it feels like it’s time to start discussing that maybe we love him, but it’s also fair to say maybe if you could choose a superstar out of all the superstars we’ve had in the game, maybe Manny Machado isn’t the one, right? Only gets one hit this postseason, right? It was a big hit, don’t get me wrong. It was the three-run home run or was the two-run home run, but other than that, 682 ops in his lifetime in the playoffs. He had one stretch. It was in 2022 season. In my opinion, he should have won MVP that year. By the way, he had a 910 OPS. Like, he was pretty good. But overall, what you’ve seen is just not a lot for Manny MC. So, I get that it there’s a sense, I think, among Padres’s fans that are like, did we attach ourselves to the wrong stars? As I was talking about in the first segment, you got to spend to get your big stars, like your anchors at the top of your team, and then you filter out through the rest of the way. I get it. And lastly, Fernando Tatis Jr., who I received a lot of comments about, and I’m not hating on you, Mr. uh the person who sent that comment, right? I’ve got some people who are bringing up um at Gio Truang 8067 says, “Tatis arise, but shadow 0 for 12. These three never win big games.” I get it. The thing that I will say, the thing that I will say is that Fernando Tatis Jr. is still a very good overall player. I discussed this on Friday’s show that he is a potential like fringe Hall of Famer if this is just who he is for the rest of his career. Because remember this year he was still 10th in wins above replacement guys among all players 6.1. In fact the only players that had more wins above replacement than him are some names that you might recognize. Francisco Endor, Jos Ramirez, Corbin Carroll, Trey Turner, Geraldo Prada which was a random one this year. Show Otani, Bobby Wit Jr. Cal Rally and Aaron Judge, right? So that’s an elite tier of players. Now, what is true is that his hitting has left a lot to be desired, which is why the player review when we talk about that is going to be really fascinating to the point where like it’s not going to be the first one I do because I actually don’t fully know how to feel about Tatis going forward. But I will say this, he’s still very much a starle player because of the walks, because of the speed, and because of the defense. These things matter. They absolutely do matter. And even still, in a down year batting, it’s at least worth saying, “Hey, he still had 25 home runs. He scored 111 runs. He swiped 32 bases, right? That’s still pretty good. 131 WRC plus, that’s still good and that’s a star level player. The difference is, and I think where this is where a lot of the frustration is showing up, is it’s not superstar level. And it feels like Tatis before these before the peed suspension. Admittedly, it looked like he might be Griffy. You know what I mean? That’s what it looked like he might be. And instead, this is his second most wins above replacement total. He’s more of an all-around player these days. And maybe this is just who he is. And if that’s the case, this is still a good player, a great player, guys who makes that whose contract is totally worth it. Like really, like if he’s just a five, six win player every year, that’s still really good. So again, that’s my thing. Um, but we weren’t done there. We got some more comments. Uh, akid13 says, “When I saw they were starting Darvish, I knew we were screwed. Dude always chokes in the postseason.” So is this true about you, Darvish? Um, not entirely, but it it doesn’t come without merit, right? He has one of the most infamous blowups ever in the postseason, right? He finished, what was it, the the 2017 uh postseason with an RA of 6.14 and he was really bad with Texas as well, a nine erra in the one game that he did start. He was really, really bad. But the the Dodgers game, I mean, blowing up for them in the World Series was really tough. But as a Padre, his ERA by year, he’s had two playoff appearances, I’m sorry, he’s had six starts in the postseason, guys, before this year. And his erra was was incredible, right? Like, this was a guy who absolutely showed up for the Padres’s before this season. So, I understand why there was some confidence that he could be great. 2.56 RA across six starts as a Padres’s prior to this this recent season. So, I don’t know if calling him a playoff choker is great. Also, he was really good against the Dodgers. That is a team that he’s historically just owns. So, playoff choker, I don’t agree with that. What I do agree with, though, is that having him start that game was really rough. And more importantly, I think the bigger issue is that he’s just old. He’s old. You know what I mean? I think that that’s actually the biggest issue with Udarvish at 38 years old. You’re kind of hoping for miracles at this at this point, right? He ain’t Clayton Kershaw. He ain’t, you know, Bob Gibson. He ain’t, you know, um, Tai Young, whoever, right? like he’s not one of those type of guys. Um, and I think that’s what happens. So, playoff choker, he’s had some bad moments, but as a Padre, I understand why they were um potentially leaving him out there. But one of the big questions, which I posed on Friday’s episode, what happened with Michael King? I still don’t really have an answer for this. Only going one inning, he wasn’t available to start. There must have been something going on there. I don’t know fully what it was. That’s the big question because I don’t I just don’t understand why he wasn’t ready or why he wasn’t available I should say to go longer because that one inning that he went did look amazing. So again that’s just my vibe on it but I understand why people are saying that. And speaking of Michael King at Robin Rob um 9471 says seems like King was saying farewell in the locker room. If the Padres’s aspire anything they may have to they may have to sign him. Right. That’s what a lot of people are thinking. That’s what I may even be thinking. Now, here’s what Michael King did say in the locker room just to get the full quote, right? And quotes, I’ll let it digest for a little bit. King said that I’m sure it’s a conversation I’ll have with my family and my agent. I don’t even know. These guys have all been incredible the last couple years. You know, AJ, general manager, uh, Per knows how to put together a team. We had everybody going for one goal, all pulling for each other. It was really fun to be part of these. It was really fun to be a part of these last two years. So, I get what you’re saying. My bad. Is Michael King alluding to maybe he will be leaving? I don’t know. But here’s what I will say. I do not know what Michael King’s market is because of how he played this year. Not that he was atrocious, but just because he missed so much time, right? And for a guy who only converted to being a full like big time starter, right? Like for um basically last year with the Padres’s. There’s a lot of questions around if you come after that first season right in 2024. He was excellent, don’t get me wrong. But after that, if you show up the very next season and you only throw 73 innings, is the big big deal out there? I don’t personally think so. But there could be a moderate deal out there and maybe King just wants to cash in. Maybe he wants to do a Blake Snell type of thing where you get a year an opt out after each year. It is one of the biggest questions for the Potters going forward. And maybe him not playing this year might end up being a nice little a break that they got in the sense that now it might be easier to retain him given what his likely salary will be. Uh like I think he’s $150 million plus pitcher. Um but the fact that he didn’t pitch much this year and if I’m a team I’m wondering why weren’t you ready in the postseason? You pitched it at the end of the regular season. You were a starter there. Why is it that the team was more confident with starting the 38-year-old who had a an RA above five, right, over you in a winner take all game? If I’m a team, I’m wondering that. So, again, maybe it helps the Padres’s, but that is something that is going to be, in my opinion, one of the two biggest questions. It’s the Michael King health slash can they retain him slashy why was he unavailable and then AJ Par and Mike Schill I think are the two biggest questions for the Padres’s. But there’s a lot more questions and comments that we got to get to, guys. And I’ve been taking way too much time talking about the ones so far, frankly. Although, I love all of you. That’s your comments. I really do. You’re the best. Thank you so much. But first, a break from our sponsors. And folks, the break. We got to talk about our friends and homies over at Monarch Money. We love Monarch Money. Do you know why? Not because of that, let me tell you. But with Monarch Buddy, terrible coughing moment there. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. I mean, you don’t have the full picture. You can end up leaving money on the table. And that’s why there’s Monach Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. It’s built with PE for people with easy uh busy lives. Not easy, but busy lives. Right? If you’ve been putting off all of your finances like myself, Monarch is the type of app for you. You don’t have to use a spreadsheet, man. You’re going to just fully feel control of all your money. You’re going to have all these data visuals. 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That one I think I liked it because of how stupidly dumb it was. The Lord of No Rings, like you really thought you hit with that one. You know what I mean? You thought you cooked, you know what I mean? But um I will say I don’t understand where this idea that the Padres’s fans are like the main trash talkers come from. And I don’t understand this idea that like the Padres’s like they just so desperately want to beat the Dodgers. Like yeah, that’s how sports work. You want to beat the best team. I just I’ve never understood that line of thinking whatsoever. But what can you expect from people on the internet? What can I say, folks? Moving on though. I’m gonna actually I want to save this question. I have this this one locked and loaded for later. Um, Tatis and Machado are nothing. And it’s without the syringe emoji referring to PEDs. Uh, I’m gonna say what I’ve been saying about Tatis for a while with the PEDs. You can go through baseball history and find plenty of players that looked absolutely stupidly great at the beginning of their career and then faded away after that and just became pretty good players, right? There’s actually plenty of them, right? Carlos Koreah. H Carlos Ka was. Yeah, I don’t know. He’s weird. But George Springer, um, you know, just to name a few. Evan Longoria, to name another one. He started falling apart. Not falling apart, but becoming a very normal player, like good, decent player at like age 27, 28. It’s not always PES. And again, with Manny, it’s like, what are you talking about? The guy’s been in the league for like 16 years. There’s no PEDs with him. Um, at new theus uh new is I don’t know. I think or New Thus, I don’t know how you say this, but the Reds stink, but both these teams aren’t much better. Neither could win on the road. They can’t beat good teams. All they could do is beat up on um teams below 500. The Brewers would have beaten the Padres’s just as they will beat the Cubs in the next round. Yeah. I mean, hey guys, again, I maintain my belief this one didn’t hurt me as much. It it only I think the reason it might be it might hurt is only because of the feeling of how do we fix this? It it hurts for three reasons. How do we fix this? especially with a potentially depleted farm. And the fact that you went for it, right? Like you went for it with a Mason Miller trade. You gave up a lot and they didn’t show up. And the third reason I think why a lot of people are upset, it’s the second year in a row that you’ve lost and gone out disappointingly in the playoffs. Specifically because your superstars and your big name brand players didn’t do anything in the playoffs. This year it was Arise, Machado, and Tatis. Last year it was Machado, Profar, Arise, Cronin. It was everybody last year, frankly. Right. It was it was basically everybody. Tatis was the only one that showed up offensively for the Padres’s for the most part. The others had a couple hits, but you guys get my point, right? So, I understand the frustration, but again, I wasn’t expecting much, right? I really wasn’t. Um, really kind comments from a lot of Cubs fans at Bradiala, Brad Skilaba, I don’t know how to say it, but Cub fan here. This is a tough team and we won by the slimmest of marges. Our infield defense saved this series. Council ran out of arms in the ninth. Very close to blowing it. Your bullpen is something else. Thank you so much, man. Yeah, I agree. I And and here’s a couple things. One more from Chasingdreams_. Good series, fellas. That bullpen, you guys got lights out. Especially Miller. Wow. Surprised Darvish uh started for you guys, though. Again, that’s the that’s what I’m talking about when it comes to uh we need to find out what’s going on with Michael King. And there was someone who made a comment that I think is important at super reviews for you said, “I wouldn’t say the Cubs got lucky. Sure, there were great plays by the Cubs, but I would say hitting the ball soft and expecting hits is trying to get lucky as well.” Well, here’s the thing. We talked about on the show that the Padres’s actually did hit the ball pretty hard in a lot of cases and they had a lot of baseball savant has a number expected batting average that just is a nice gauge to give you an idea of how amazing your defensive play was. Like if it says 700 expecting batting average and it was an out. Usually that means like you got like it’s I should say the hitter got unlucky that the other team made a great play. Does that make sense? That’s kind of how I view it. So I’m not saying the the Cubs got lucky. I’m saying the Padres’s got unlucky and I do think that there’s a difference. Um, and I’m only saying that in the sense that Rhino probably was robbed of like four hits this series by Danby Swanson and there was a couple more. Nico her made a made a great play. There was some plays that were like low dribblers. Again, Cubs defense was great. I’m not taking away anything from them. Just a little bit unlucky by the Padres’s. And yes, I do agree. When it comes to the the slow rollers, that’s not necessarily being unlucky, right? That’s just a good defense and maybe you should get better ball on um bat to the ball. Um what else we got here? Um at Rusty Thompson said, “I’m a Cubs fan. The part of the series I didn’t understand was the amount of use that he used of Mason Miller in that game. To me, it felt like the Padres’s were in complete control of game two. I would have saved some of Miller’s bullets. I would have put him in relieve Darvish let him pitch as long as he could. A pitcher like that will zap the confidence right out of a lineup and would have pumped up the Padres’s hitters just like the Padres’s manager blew his wad in game two. Um, look, I I sort of get that, but again, I don’t know why Michael King wasn’t available for longer than an inning. It still has not been answered just yet. So, that’s my thing of why he was like, I got to manage as if this is the last game. You do not want to be Buck Sho Walter who didn’t go to Zack Britain and his like 03 RA on the year in a wild card game. You don’t want to be that manager that didn’t use Mason Miller as much as he could have. So, that’s what I think is a response to that. And I know I’ve been going all over the place, guys, with the questions and comments, but still, you know, it’s what do you want from me? I’m not perfect. Um, and I’m sorry about the late upload, by the way. At Inquisition 96722, at least Darvish didn’t implode on you all dur during game seven of the World Series. That one was gut-wrenching to witness. Yeah, I get it. Dodger fans, I think most of them on the internet are like really mean about this and they like actively hate and rude against you, Darvish. Um, that’s just what I’ve seen. I think that that’s just dumb internet Dodger fans, but it it always takes me off guard because I’m like, y’all have choked plenty of playoff series before the Darvish one. You know that, right? Like, you know that, right? This was a thing. Like, it’s why they spent like $1.8 billion because they were like, “We keep choking every year. We need to get some stars that hopefully won’t do that.” Got Moto, T Oscar, Glass Now, Snell, all those guys. That stuff matters. But I totally get you. Um, it wasn’t as much of a disaster as that. And the bigger disaster is the offense. So, I’m not at all blaming Udarish. And again, still need to find out what’s going on with um Michael King at Brian Beltran says, “Thank you for covering this team for another fun season, Jav. Tough loss, but we will be back with a solid core next season.” Thank you, sir. And thank you, Andrew, who I mentioned at the top of the show, um, the mailback segment as well. Just it’s tough, man. It’s tough. It really is. It really is. Like, I don’t I just wish that they could have maybe made it past the wild card round, but overall going to keep covering the team, at least for for now. U because there’s still a lot to get into. And I really do think that it’s important to remember that like as we we close this out, as we close out this episode, it’s important to remember that the Padres’s are in a position that very that there are so many other teams in Major League Baseball that would dream of. Right. Red’s fans are like, I dream of this. The A’s fans, the Guardians fans even. Yes, even the Guardians fans. I know that the Guardians like made it have made it to a World Series, right? in in my in my lifetime and the Padres’s haven’t not in my lifetime but as of recent, right? But those are teams where they’re just we know with our ownership we never really have a chance to really go for it and be exciting and win a championship because our ownership doesn’t spend despite all the other good pieces, right? At least they’re not the Rockies. At least they’re not these teams. It’s so rare in sports to be what the Padres’s were in 2015. A team that would not pay for Chase Headley, like three years, 50 million or whatever it was, and be a team now that’s shelling out 11-year deals to Xander Bogarts, which might not be a good deal. I know, but at least that is such a big hurdle to overcome. Look at the poor Angels fans. They thought their owner was leaving and then he didn’t, right? And now they’re screwed, right? They’re bad again. And they wasted Mike Trap’s entire career of a a first bout Hall of Famer, one of the best players to ever play the sport. completely wasted his career. Like I think that that’s an important thing to remember as Padres’s fans is at least there’s like constant movement. There’s like interest, there’s excitement, there’s things to look forward to. There’s a sense that this team has evolved into a different version of themselves. And that’s such a rare thing to happen in sports. It feel like if you’re a bad organization, unless an ownership change happens, it usually stays that way like for the foreseeable future, especially in baseball. So, got to hang on to that and be positive, right? And as we’ve talked about on today’s show, there are still some silver linings for this team going forward and a lot of questions. And who knows, they might surprise us. The Nick Paveta signing was a surprise. The Padres’s, it wasn’t exactly known if they were going to be able to spend a lot of free agent money, right, with the payroll reduction and all that stuff. That’s another big question for this offseason. But AJ found a way, right? AJ found a way. Um at Dan and Dan R154 says, “Gadres, I still like your team. Unfortunately, they’re in the way of our rightful blood feud with the Brewers and then the Cubs got killed in Gabe Blood. So, that’s just really funny. Um, look, it’s really it’s there’s so much there’s so much that we could go over from this series like genuinely. Um, at 9 in Nells, which is hilarious. By the way, Javi, I’m watching game one right now. I could see Paveta shaking his head. Knew he wasn’t in a good space. He literally said out loud, “Oh no, you know, or I I literally said out loud, oh no, he needs a mouth visit.” Next pitch, Suzuki takes him deep. Next batter, boom, home run. Then Reuben comes out. Two batters, too late, next batter. I can see this from my couch. How in the world didn’t Ruben shield see it? A lot of complaining about the managers. I get it. We’ve gotten a lot of it and I understand your frustration there. My explanation, by the way, for the Paveta one would be you got to keep your guy in. This has been our guy all year, right? Like you got to uh in my opinion, but bottom line is this. They didn’t play well. Um you had some really unclutched performances from you Darvish, right? and and the offense and this is just I just don’t think this team had it. I really don’t. And I think that’s why I come to you on Monday not super upset, right? But again, there’s so many questions. And if they go out and sign Yandandy Diaz to play first base for a decent contract, will we be upset? No. Can they afford Yandandy Diaz? Maybe. I know they have a better chance probably at getting him than Pete Alonzo, but this is still a team that AJ Prowler has done a lot of crazy things before. So, do not be surprised if they’re able to pull some stuff off. And at the very minimum, it’s still a team that could at least be good, right? And sometimes that’s all you can hope for. But for all of you guys that are complaining, all of you listeners, I leave you with this because we’ll get into the comments and questions again tomorrow where we also talk about the big question of AJ Peller and Mike Schill. That’ll be tomorrow’s episode. I leave you with this. A lot of y’all that love the big moves, love the big trades and all that stuff. You love it when they go for Mason Miller guys like that. It comes off a little bit like this is the price you pay when you do that, right? When you’re making all these big moves, sometimes it’s about going for the under the radar guys. The best version of the Padres’s was last year. And what were some of the biggest moves they made? Donovan Solano, Shuriken, Proofar, um G getting some relief help, right? Um and then and then Kyle Hagioa being a really solid catcher. It was stuff like that that I think is really really important to keep um keep focused on, right? You don’t need to do the biggest moves. You just don’t. And they’ve been doing them for a while and it’s made them contenders. Four out of six years they made the playoffs, but they don’t always show up. And to me, I would like it if they had a little bit more depth uh to prepare for the future. But again, I think that AJ knows this. He’s a lot smarter than me. So, he’s probably tinkering as we speak and had a plan for if this didn’t go well. And he’s like, “Don’t worry, I can go out.” There’s a great athletic article that talked about this. He genuinely believes in himself and that he’s just going to find more prospects. I’m just saying, will it shock you if by the end of next year the Padres’s FB system all of a sudden is improving again? It won’t shock me. Folks, this has been another episode of the Locked Up Potties podcast. The only pod that may be better than the pot dre themselves. It was a little bit all over the place. I apologize for that. It’s the post-mortem. We’re all We’re all coping. What can I say? We’re all coping. Tomorrow’s episode, I want to talk about the first big question of the offseason, which is Mike Schill and AJ Prowler. Should they be retained? Right. We’re going to talk about that. Talk about kind of both sides of the spectrum on that. Please leave me your comments that you uh on how you feel about the matter. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Um, and if not, still got more comments to go through tomorrow. It’s going to be a lot of fun. So, until that next time everybody, you’ve been watching the Lock Podies podcast. Stay safe and stay faithful, my five faithful homies. Take care.

Padres playoff dreams shattered: What’s next for San Diego’s star-studded roster?

Host Javier Reyes dissects the San Diego Padres’ disappointing 2025 season and early playoff exit. From Fernando Tatis Jr.’s offensive struggles to Yu Darvish’s postseason start, Javi gives his full manifesto on where the Padres seem to be at. He explores A.J. Preller’s roster construction strategy, questioning the balance between big-name acquisitions and prospect development, while answering a TON of listener comments about Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth, and the pitching staff’s usage in crucial games. Go Padres.

0:00 Intro: Special Mailbag Monday edition
5:06 Reassessing Padres approach to team building?
10:51 Machado, Tatis, Cronenworth hate
16:58 Michael King’s future with the Padres
27:14 Reflecting more on the season and looking ahead

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