Baseball America has named the Padres its 2024 Organization of the Year, citing their “creativity, resilience and overall excellence.”
It all started with the 2023 Juan Soto trade and subsequent transactions, according to the publication, as the Padres re-tooled, then called up Jackson Merrill – ultimately a Rookie of the Year finalist – and brought back Jurickson Profar, who after several years as a big leaguer turned himself into an All-Star.
Credit, Baseball America wrote, goes to scouting director Chris Kemp and Pete DeYoung, who manages the Padres’ pro scouts. But A.J. Preller said some has to go to the loss of Peter Seidler, who died just over a year ago.
“That kind of had a huge effect on the whole organization,” the team’s president of baseball operations told Baseball America. “I think we rallied around that, rallied around everything as a group.”
Starter Michael King came to the team in the Soto trade with the Yankees – the star outfielder moved on yet again this week, in record-setting fashion – and on the eve of the season the Padres flipped a prospect they acquired in the same deal to nab former Cy Young Award finalist Dylan Cease from the White Sox.
A few weeks into 2024 they traded for batting champ Luis Arraez to augment the core of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts, and though the team scuffled a bit before the All-Star break they certainly didn’t after, running up the best record in baseball for the rest of the season.
Not to mention the addition of manager Mike Shildt, who took over after Bob Melvin’s departure in 2023 following a disappointing season in which the Friars, a lock on paper, missed the playoffs.
It all added up to a run that took the Padres to the National League Division Series where they arguably pressed the Dodgers, the eventual World Series winners, harder than the Mets or the Yankees in the remainder of the playoffs.
The team has set to work on various challenges, from losing starter Joe Musgrove to Tommy John surgery, to the filling holes if free agents Profar and Ha-Seong Kim depart as Kyle Higashioka did. But the Padres’ confidence Baseball America noted, remains high.
“I have no doubt we’re gonna be knocking on the door every single year,” Tatis said after the NLDS loss.
