Padres made the big division move by locking down shortstop Xander Bogaerts as Dodgers, Giants remained relatively quiet
It’s interesting who did and didn’t put the “Wild Wild” in the NL West during free agency. The Padres made the big move. The GiantsThis is not your father’s division. The Padres become the group’s free-wheeling big spenders? The bedrock Dodgers and Giants swing and miss?
The Dodgers, it still should be said, are good enough to win it all despite the milquetoast offseason and loss of Turner & Co. Freeman, Mookie Betts, Julio Urias and more are enough to make that possible.And the Giants. Oh, man, the Giants. They thought they had landed AL home-run king Aaron Judge, only to be stiff-armed by the Yankees.
The Padres? Urgency buzzes around the tight window on which they clearly are trying to capitalize. There’s two more seasons, trade deadline 2024 pending, with Juan Soto. There’s Manny Machado’s possible opt-out after next season. Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Josh Hader sit one lap away from testing the free agency surf. The farm system absorbed massive body blows in the pursuit of Soto and others. The luxury tax penalties are piling up.
Still, it’s a bit of a head scratcher as the Padres continue writing big checks. They also locked down wipeout reliever Robert Suarez, the eighth-inning baton passer to Hader. The return of PED-sidelined Fernando Tatis Jr., if he can return to some semblance of pre-surgeries Tatis, has the potential to feel like a major addition to a suddenly lengthened offensive lineup.
There’s no arguing, though, about whether the Padres made themselves better since 2022 closed. The same can’t be said for the Dodgers and Giants in a division that has been a one-team afterthought for a decade.
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