A.J. Preller signs Padres extension, Ty France
A.J. Preller finds time to sign his Padres extension before signing another 1B/DH lottery ticket in Ty France.
Good morning! I wasn’t planning on writing anything today, but the very quiet San Diego Padres offseason has transitioned into a blitz of news coming out of Spring Training in Peoria, AZ.
First, the one we’ve been waiting for…
A.J. Preller signs contract extension
If you were wondering who was going to be the man in charge of baseball operations for the Padres after this season, wonder no longer.
The Padres had been working to extend Preller for months and now, for a non-publicized number of years, he will remain as the team’s President of Baseball Operations and General Manager.
Preller is a bit of a lightning rod for online discourse, so I’ll keep from weighing in on whether or not I think he deserved an extension, but I do think this is the right move for an organization currently marred in chaos (manager quits team, owners working on selling team, expectations, etc.). Knowing that Preller will be here to help create a strategy after a new CBA is ratified makes it feel as though as least one part of the organization can be predictable.
Also, based on how even Preller himself had been talking about this situation in the last few days, this does make me hopeful for what is to come in terms of a team sale. I don’t know that A.J. would’ve signed had he worried that the new owner would be 1) stingy or 2) delayed in arrival, which has me excited.
Ty France comes home
The lesser piece of news this morning is that a former member of the Padres (and Aztecs) is trying to make himself a current member of the roster.
Okay, here’s why I like this a lot:
First, Ty France won a Gold Glove Award at first base last season. As in, he was voted the best defensive first baseman in the American League the last time it was voted on.
For a team that, as of yesterday, I talked about having Gavin Sheets and Miguel Andújar as maybe their best options as first base (others talked about Castellanos as an option there and I hate it!)…that’s a dramatic potential defensive upgrade. All of this, of course, relies on how much value you put in Gold Glove Awards.
That being said, Ty France is not a toolsy player. He’s not fast, he doesn’t hit for power anymore (if he ever really did), he doesn’t even walk a lot. Even the position he won a Gold Glove at is the one where defense makes the least amount of impact. Not to mention the fact that France wasn’t even starting for the Blue Jays after they traded for him at the deadline.
During his most valuable MLB seasons, Ty France was good enough at everything for it to net out in total to an above-average player. Now, heading into his 8th MLB season, all of those things have taken a small step down to where he’s more like league average.
As I wrote about yesterday, France fits perfectly into the category of lottery tickets. He’s in Padres camp on a minor league deal because they don’t have anyone set as their starting 1B yet and France is betting that he can win that job (either out of Spring Training or eventually), not because he didn’t have offers to join other MLB teams on a major league contract.
After an up-and-down season offensively for the Twins (and then Blue Jays), I think France is thought of around MLB as a bench player whose best days are behind him. San Diego is buying low on the potential that is incorrect.
The Padres now have the following four guys fighting for two starting jobs (1B & DH):
Ty France
Gavin Sheets
Miguel Andújar
Nick Castellanos
In a perfect world, the Padres would probably love to keep all four. From a price perspective, that shouldn’t be a problem. Sheets and Andújar would make a fine DH platoon, assuming France or Castellanos can handle the bulk of the work at 1B (which feels like a big ask).
What is more likely is that one or two of these guys end the upcoming season at home or on another team, but we’ll worry about that later.
As of today, with both the Preller and France signings, the Padres have bought a couple of more lottery tickets…which improves their odds.