That's a wrap, folks. The Padres' 2018 season is in the books. It ended on a walkoff-strikeout to beat the Diamondbacks, which is the most predictably 2010's era Padres-thing I've heard in a while (see below).
Speaking of 2010's era Padres, 2018 was more or less representative of your typical Padre season this decade: they were bad, but not the worst. They didn't win 78 games like I predicted all the way back in April, but they also didn't lose 100 games, which is also nice, I guess. Let's recap the good, meh, and the Eric Hosmer ugly in the year that was:
The Good
- A.J. Preller was able to flip Brad Hand for an elite prospect in catcher Francisco Mejia. While the team now has a logjam of talent at catcher, that's never a bad thing, and more teams are beginning to use two starting-caliber catchers to their advantage. Despite some struggles with breaking pitches, Mejia's bat already looks legit- in one of the high points of the season, Mejia hit a thrilling walk-off grand slam against the Rangers. Mejia also was responsible for the aforementioned walkoff-strikeout. Whether he remains as a full-time catcher or begins to transition to the outfield (at least part-time) remains to be seen, and will be one of the major offseason narratives for the Padres this offseason.
- The Hot Talent Lava began to solidify into Major League Rock. Joey Lucchesi, Eric Lauer, Jose Castillo, Robert Stock, Brett Kennedy, Trey Wingenter, Rowan Wick, Brad Wieck, Jacob Nix, Mejia, Javy Guerra, Luis Urias, and Franmil Reyes all made their Major League debuts for the Padres in 2018. Lucchesi, Urias, Castillo, Reyes, and the aforementioned Mejia all made notable contributions to the big league club and look to be important contributors to the 2019 team.
- After missing a significant portion of the first half of the year, Hunter Renfroe absolutely EXPLODED in the second half, and emerged as a legit power threat. I was skeptical of Renfroe's future with the team, but after getting a glimpse of what Hunter is capable of when he's hot quieted any doubts I had. Can he keep it up next year?
- Fernando Tatis Jr. solidified himself as a consensus top 3 prospect in the game before his year ended in late July with a finger injury- ESPN's Keith Law even ranked him as the #1 prospect in all of baseball. He has the potential to be an "uber-shortstop"- young, athletic, and able to hit for power. Think about guys like Francisco Lindor, Manny Machado, and Corey Seager- FTJ could be that good. We'll see him in San Diego next year.
The Meh
- Many of the regulars had up-and-down years. Wil Myers would occasionally get hot with the bat, but lost nearly half of his season due to injury and played absolutely ATROCIOUS defense when the team decided to move him to third base. Christian Villanueva had an absolutely scorching April, which won him the National League Rookie of the Month award and plaudits from the national media as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate. However, he regressed steadily as the year went on, and his season ended prematurely this summer after a broken finger. Freddy Galvis did exactly what we thought he would: be durable while playing okay defense and contributing below averagely with the bat.
- Some of the more hyped Padres prospects experienced typical and expected, but nevertheless painful, ups-and-downs once they were called up to the big leagues. Jacob Nix had an excellent debut and almost threw what would've been the team's first complete game, but was also shelled by more potent lineups. Eric Lauer unleashed his devastating pickoff move on unsuspecting opposing runners and lead the Majors in successful pickoffs despite only playing a portion of the season. He was also nearly flawless in one memorable start against the Dodgers, but his reputation as a future back-end starter was painfully evident at times. Finally, despite displaying flashes of excellence, Mejia and Urias also battled the learning curve inherent in becoming a Major League hitter.
- Tyson Ross, Jordan Lyles, and Clayton Richard all took no-hit (and in the case of Lyles, a perfect game) bids up to or past the 7th inning. Unfortunately, those all ended like every other Padres no-hit bid in history: failure. Still, because batters across the league are striking out more and putting the ball in play less, the prospect of the first Padres no-hitter is more plausible than ever before. I'll believe it when I see it, though.
- Five straight series wins in June propelled the Padres as close to .500 as they've been in a while, giving fans a tantalizing glimpse of what it'll be like once this team is actually, ya know, good.
The Ugly
- Eric Hosmer was absolutely AWFUL. The most expensive free agent in team history actually produced negative value for the team, finishing the year with -0.2 fWAR. This essentially means that if you brought in a "replacement level player" off the street, he would've had a better year than Hosmer- and we're paying Hos 20 MILLION DOLLARS. Hosmer has had yearly swings wherein he bounces back nicely from sub-replacement level seasons, so we can only hope that will be the case here as well. However, he's not getting any younger and he plays in Petco. I'll be blunt- we could be entering the first year of what could be the worst contract in baseball.
- The Padres followed their five straight series wins in June winning like, a total of five games or something in July. Forgive me for not knowing the exact number- that month of baseball was so bad that I blocked it out of my memory.
- Despite only pitching a couple months, Bryan Mitchell was statistically among the WORST pitchers in baseball. Mitchell was eventually exiled to the bullpen, appearing only in mop-up situations until being banished to the disabled list for several months. He returned in September, and even worse, he appeared to resemble a respectable pitcher in the 3 or so starts he made upon his return. Unfortunately, we'll probably get another unnecessarily length look at Bryan Mitchell as a starter in 2019.
- Kaz Makata's submarine delivery was an interesting novelty, but his season turned out exactly like you'd expect for a pitcher who can't throw his fastball above 85 MPH.
- The return of Chase Headley (remember him??!!??) fell completely flat, and he was cut in mid-May. He didn't catch on, and his career is probably over, which is a shame for one of the nicest and most fan-friendly guys in team history.
- Oh yeah, we got no-hit by the Dodgers. 0/10 would not recommend!!!!
So, to sum it all up- there were many lows and a few medium-sized highs. But most importantly, however, there is real hope for this team's future- and the rest of the league is starting to take notice. I'd expect 2019 to function in the way I thought 2018 would for the Padres- the team will take legitimate steps towards contention... and maybe, if everything goes to plan, they might just shock the world.
I'll be covering the team's offseason all winter- so stay tuned for the inevitable post analyzing the massive contract that we're certain to sign Manny Machado to. *fingers crossed*
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