San Diego Padres: Baseball America's 2024 Organization Of The Year

Image credit: Padres manager Mike Shildt (left) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Xander Bogaerts spoke quietly as reporters gathered around him in the tiny visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. The finality of the Padres’ Game 5 loss in the National League Division Series had only begun to wash over the 32-year-old shortstop as he and his teammates dressed for a bus ride back to Petco Park and into the offseason.

They had planned to go so much further.

“Roster wise, we had it all, to be honest,” Bogaerts said.

The injury-ravaged Dodgers, buoyed by National League MVP Shohei Ohtani and an MLB-high $328.5 million payroll, went on to win the World Series, stiff-arming both expensive New York clubs on the way to their first full-season title since 1988.

Los Angeles’ biggest test in 2024 resided some two hours down Interstate 5 in the form of a Padres team that rose from the ashes of the most disappointing season in franchise history, the death of a beloved owner and a sobering new financial reality to push baseball’s No. 1 seed to the brink of elimination.

To orchestrate a rebound with a heavy heart following chairman Peter Seidler’s death from an infection related to a compromised immune system, the Padres traded away Ju a n Soto to begin to rebuild a competitive roster minus some $90 million from the 2023 Opening Day payroll.

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They paired some of the fruit of that Soto trade with several Day One draft picks, including their last two first-rounders, to add stars to the mix. They called up Jackson Merrill—one of the top prospects in baseball—changed his position and watched him blossom into an all-star. Jurickson Profar started the All-Star Game as a $1 million lottery ticket signed on the eve of spring training.

The Padres’ pro scouting department recommended important role players for both the lineup and the bullpen. And they reloaded the farm system via another top international signee and several early 2024 draft picks with promising upside.

The Padres’ creativity, resilience and overall excellence make them the Baseball America Organization of the Year for 2024.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be in a situation like that again (with the death of) somebody who I obviously worked closely with and love and respect,” Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. “That kind of had a huge effect on the whole organization. I think we rallied around that, rallied around everything as a group. Each offseason brings up a lot of questions, always . . . and brings up its own set of challenges.

“It’s kind of one of the fun parts of the job.”

The build-up to 2024 was anything but fun.

***

Preller was already searching for a replacement for Padres manager Bob Melvin—who was allowed to leave for the Giants after he and the front office butted heads—when Seidler’s unexpected passing shifted leadership to an interim control person who would not allow emotions to outspend a budget facing massive cuts.

The most expensive roster in franchise history had missed the postseason altogether in 2023. The Padres also lost their TV deal when Bally Sports San Diego’s parent company declared bankruptcy, halting payments toward a pact that had guaranteed the team $1.2 billion over a 20-year term that ran through 2032.

The team was also out of compliance with MLB’s debt service regulations and was preparing to pay nearly $40 million in luxury tax penalties on top of the more than $280 million spent on an 82-80 team.

That made trading Soto, who wound up making $31 million in his final year of arbitration, a necessary first step if the Padres were going to slash payroll to below $200 million. Scores of moves to replace departing free agents NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, all-star closer Josh Hader and breakout starter Seth Lugo would have to follow if the club was going to remain competitive.

There was no other course for the Padres to take, not with an expensive core led by Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bogaerts; an attendance that ranked in the top five each year since the pandemic—peaking at No. 3 in 2021 and 2023—and Seidler’s uninhibited vision for the small-market franchise that will one day pass to his children.

“When you look at building a roster and a team with a 26-man roster, it’s really that 40-man roster and into the minor league system,” Preller said. “Those are huge parts of our story this year.”

Backed by a farm system reloaded time and time again by scouting director Chris Kemp and a pro scouting group led by Pete DeYoung, the Padres began their roster overhaul at the Winter Meetings, targeting the Yankees for their ability to address a number of holes.

Righthander Michael King was the first must-have, and his transition to a full-time starter saw him finish the 2024 season with a 2.95 ERA and 201 strikeouts over a career-high 173.2 innings and the Game 1 assignment when the Padres began the postseason.

Righthanders Randy Vasquez and Jhony Brito picked up important innings as up-and-down arms, while Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove battled midseason injuries. Career backup catcher Kyle Higashioka hit a career-high 17 homers and started every postseason game. Finally, prospect righthander Drew Thorpe headlined the mid-March deal with the White Sox for Dylan Cease as Preller got a jump on the trade market and acquired one of the best pitchers who changed uniforms in 2024. Cease went on to throw the organization’s second no-hitter, finish tied for third in the majors with 224 strikeouts and placed fourth in NL Cy Young voting.

Preller also struck early on his trade for first baseman Luis Arraez in early May, including 2023 first-rounder Dillon Head and Arizona Fall League MVP Jakob Marsee in a package rich enough for the Marlins to give up a two-time batting champion and pay his salary.

Arraez wound up winning a third straight batting title and representing the Padres in the All-Star Game alongside Tatis, Merrill, Profar and closer Robert Suarez.

Of that group, it’s hard to decide who had longer odds to make the trek to Arlington, Texas, for the Midsummer Classic.

No player was worth less fWAR in 2023 than Profar, whose $1 million signing in February resulted in a career year for the 31-year-old left fielder.

Merrill had not advanced higher than Double-A when the Padres asked him to move from shortstop to center field in spring training. No problem, he said, as he paired 24 home runs with myriad key late hits to turn in the rare five fWAR season by a 21-year-old.

Merrill did much of his damage in the second half as the Padres surged to an MLB-best 43-20 record after the all-star break.

That run, of course, wouldn’t have happened without minor league deals for David Peralta, Donovan Solano and Tyler Wade turning into significant contributions while Tatis (femur), Bogaerts (shoulder) and Ha-Seong Kim (shoulder) missed large chunks of the season and while Machado rounded into form following offseason elbow surgery.

Waiver claim Jeremiah Estrada struck out an MLB-record 13 batters in a row to establish himself at the back of the Padres’ bullpen. Matt Waldron, a knuckleballing player to be named, fronted the rotation depth that helped the Padres weather months-long absences for Darvish and Musgrove. And former NL Manager of the Year Mike Shildt pressed all the right buttons following the team’s divorce from Melvin.

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Given all the finger-pointing that followed the disappointing 2023 season, Shildt’s influence proved as important inside the clubhouse as it was between the lines.

“It’s a family in here,” Machado said. “. . . I think this team’s gonna be together for a very long time . . . and we’ve created so many great relationships. It was a special type of group here.”

Then came Preller’s final trick: transforming the bullpen into a postseason weapon.

To do it, Preller dipped into the farm system he had depleted time and time again to fortify postseason pushes in 2020 and 2022.

Top pitching prospect Dylan Lesko, drafted 15th overall in 2022, headlined the deal for two-plus years of the Rays’ Jason Adam as a set-up man in front of Suarez. Then Preller pushed in two more Day One draft chips—Robby Snelling and Adam Mazur—to add Marlins all-star closer Tanner Scott, a pending free agent.

That flurry of trade activity left the farm system with just two Top 100 Prospects—catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries—and the hope that Kemp nailed the 2024 draft class.

On that front, lefthanders Kash Mayfield and Boston Bateman, shortstop Cobb Hightower and third baseman Kale Fountain all are 2024 draft picks who rank as Top 10 Prospects in the system heading into 2025.

Time will tell if any of them will join Tatis and Merrill as cornerstones of the franchise, or if they will follow the likes of MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood, Lesko and Snelling as hyped prospects who were ultimately traded to fortify an MLB roster that in 2024 entered the postseason as a chic pick to run down the Padres’ first World Series championship.

It wasn’t just the pundits saying that, either.

“At the time, to be fair, they were way more talented than we were,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said on his podcast after the season. “That was probably the most talented team I’ve seen. They were the best team in baseball.”

Perhaps.

That team won the regular season series against the Dodgers for the first time since 2010. The Padres’ 93 wins were the second-most in franchise history, behind only the 1998 team that lost in the World Series. They even competed for the NL West title into the last week of the regular season before claiming the top wild card spot and two Wild Card Series home games against the Braves in front of a fanbase that drew 3.33 million fans to break the Petco Park attendance record set the previous season.

The Padres even had a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the best-of-five NLDS before their bats—which led the majors in batting average and strikeout rate—suddenly, inexplicably went scoreless for 24 consecutive innings.

Just like that, a team that “had it all” was going home empty handed, and their rivals were celebrating.

***

Not wanting to let go of an impactful first year in the majors, Merrill watched the ensuing party the longest from the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium.

“I’m 21. There’s so much room to grow and so much room to improve,” Merrill said. “I just want to come back and help these guys compete. I felt like I didn’t do the best I could (in the NLDS).

“I’m sure a lot of us feel that way, but I just want to put in the work and get better.”

The 2025 Padres will have their own set of challenges to overcome.

Musgrove exited his WCS start and had Tommy John surgery the day the Padres were eliminated from the postseason, wiping out his 2025 season. Preller will also have to address holes vacated by Profar, Scott, Kim and Higashioka leaving as free agents.

But a foundation is in place. Machado and Merrill won Silver Slugger awards. Merrill finished as the NL Rookie of the Year runner-up to Paul Skenes. Shildt did the same in NL Manager of the Year voting after signing a two-year extension.

Darvish’s 1.98 ERA over 12.2 postseason innings against the Dodgers proved he’s got plenty left in the tank at age 38. King and Cease are on the rise, and Tatis’ big-stage heroics—1.500 OPS in seven postseason games—reminded the world of his impact potential.

“I don’t expect this to be a one-off,” Shildt said moments after the Padres’ Game 5 loss. “I firmly expect this group to come back and be ready to go for the consecutive playoff runs for two, three, four years. That will be historic in San Diego baseball history.”

Added Tatis: “We have a strong core over here. Man, the sky’s the limit, and I have no doubt we’re gonna be knocking on the door every single year.

“And (I) can’t wait.”