Grantland Murdered AJ Preller

Grantland.com- I learned early in my medical career that the doctor you should worry about isn’t the one who doesn’t know anything. It’s the one who doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does.

Not having the answers isn’t fatal if you at least have the self-awareness to know what you don’t know. “Often wrong, never in doubt” is no way to go through life. For all his flaws, Ruben Amaro — let’s bash that piñata one more time while we still can! — has failed as a GM primarily for what hedidn’t do. He didn’t acknowledge that his team was getting older and he didn’t correct course while there was still time to take the Phillies in for a safe landing. But his sin was a sin of benign neglect, and it allowed Philadelphia to experience a gentler, more gradual decline than the outright carnage in San Diego.

But what A.J. Preller has wrought in San Diego has been as quick as it has been destructive. Like an abandoned stadium earmarked for implosion, a baseball team can be demolished in a fraction of the time it takes to put it together.

Full Bloodbath article...  http://grantland.com/features/aj-preller-mlb-san-diego-padres-national-league-west/ 

Dear Lord. That was not a very positive article. An absolute pile driver of info basically detailing how every move AJ made this season has completely backfired. The writer did a pretty good job of backing up all his feelings with hard data. I thought the article was funny because anyone outside of SD must've been so confused why anyone has that strong of feelings towards the Padres. Padres basically are invisible on the national stage. They barely are shown on Sportscenter or talked about on any platform.

The Padres needed a boost of energy and good PR this offseason. AJ just went completely overboard and got drunk with making moves for names. I respect the dude at a table that takes all his chips and throws them all in to win big. But, I respect the guy more who does this with brains and a plan B. 

Preller has his work cut out for him over the next 10 days. He absolutely has to bring good young talent back to the organization with some deadline deals. If he can somehow package a bad contract into one of the deals (Jedd or Melvin) I will consider the trade deadline a huge success relatively speaking.

The higher ups in the organization aren't doing Preller any favors with recent comments. Mike Dee comments to the UT last week make zero sense with the Padres plan moving forward unless the owners are REALLY going to open the bank account and go nuts on payroll. Dee stated that the team will be not backing down and reloading for 2016. I am beginning to think Dee might be completely clueless or just makes comments that people want to hear because he hates answering tough questions. 

The Padres are in their worst spot they've been in this decade. Everything now hinges on the owners spending a ton to fix this gigantic problem. The Padres executives just seem drunk driving a boat into the middle of the Pacific. Most of their comments make zero sense.

I do give credit to AJ for going on the Air today to answer some questions and commenting on the article. Mike Dee probably would have made the janitor answer a mean article about him.

I also give Preller credit for the Shields deal which the author skirts around. I don't think Shields is an Ace by any means but he is a good #2. Given the market for better than average starting pitchers, Preller knocked that deal out of the park. Having the deal back loaded was also really smart as well.

Having the All start game in town next year also hurts in terms of unloading talent to build a core for the future as well. It would be a tough look to be a horrible team hosting the the ASG but who cares. The ASG weekend will be over in a flash and the team needs to build a product for the future.

P.S.  It is scary how accurate I was in previous Padre Blogs. If Shields gets traded, I will give myself a standing ovation. 

P.P.S.  I will end up being WAY off in my prediction on the win loss record but I was trying to be nice. Padres personnel are very sensitive and hate accepting criticism.