Dodgers: Padres’ roster overhaul proves AJ Preller is a wannabe Andrew Friedman

It’s still a bit “early” in the San Diego Padres‘ roster overhaul and quest to become a contender, but the immediate returns haven’t panned out. At the moment, the Pads are a game out of the NL Wild Card picture as they continue to freefall after dropping their fifth straight game on Tuesday night.

And all the Los Angeles Dodgers can do is laugh.

This team thought they’d be inserting themselves as the new San Francisco Giants in the heated NL West rivalry. Instead, all we’ve gotten were some fun, tense matchups early on in the season.

Funny how a few months can really change things.

The narrative really got flipped on its head when the Dodgers stole Max Scherzer from the Padres at the trade deadline. That was the nail in San Diego’s coffin. While that move would’ve certainly shifted the Pads’ fortunes, many of the other deals swung by general manager AJ Preller really haven’t … yet.

Though he stole Jake Cronenworth from the Rays and shrewdly acquired Joe Musgrove from the Pirates, everything else doesn’t seem to be panning out.

The Padres’ lagging roster overhaul is comedy to the Dodgers.

Look, what the Pads didn’t wasn’t wrong. They possessed a ton of young talent and wanted to contend now given the ascension of Fernando Tatis Jr. as well as the signings of Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado. Preller was right to go for the jugular with a number of colossal trades.

After all, how else are you supposed to try and beat the Dodgers?

But trading 33 players for 11 players, all of whom have combined for a 6.2 bWAR is what you’d call — to put it nicely — a concern. Some of these guys might still be adjusting to the change of scenery and the moves may not truly pay off until 2022 or 2023, but even the most loyal Padres fans will tell you that wasn’t the plan. They needed to win now.

In San Diego’s defense, all of Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Mike Clevinger and Austin Nola have dealt with injuries while Daniel Hudson and Adam Frazier have witnessed wild regressions beyond comprehension.

Still, the results are the results. How many trades do you see Andrew Friedman make that turn out like this? Certainly not many. And what’s even more of a gut-punch for the Pads is that years of their work were swiftly out-done by the Dodgers acquiring Scherzer and Trea Turner at the trade deadline. Scherzer was nearly a Pad, and Turner used to be a Pad (he was traded in the Wil Myers deal years back)!

The narrative could indeed change — feel free to Freezing Cold Take us if it does … because that’s just sooo funny! — but right now, these last two years are proving that Preller is a wannabe Friedman, and nothing more.

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